Successful Entreprenuer

Tan Sri Dato' Francis Yeoh Sock Ping was born in 1954. Studied in Kingston University, UK where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Civil Engineering and was conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering in 2004.

He become the Managing Director of YTL Corporation Group in 1988 and under his stewardship, YTL Corporation has grown from a single listed entity into a force comprising six listed company worth more than USD$9 billions today.

Dato' Francis Yeoh expectation is to turn YTL Corporation into a "construction supermarket" handling housing development, renovations and production of building material. In the international arena YTL Corporation plans to bid on overseas construction project and to expand into hotel development.

According to Dato' Francis Yeoh himself, YTL Group investment decisions is to always focus on their core business. At YTL, their strength is in construction therefore their investment will only be in construction-based activity. This is important as it provide YTL Corporation with a head start for lower cost strategies. Because of their construction capability, they are able to build its power plants at a comparatively lower cost. And when one's capital cost is lower, it will naturally need to gear less and hence YTL Corporation incur lower interest costs and depreciation costs, which in turn makes the power concession more profitable.

For an example in the earlier year YTL acquired three properties namely, Lot 10, Star Hill and Marriott Hotel. Although the properties are in prime locations but they are yielding negative cash flows at the time of purchase. Hence immediately after taking over the properties, more investment efforts are being implemented for house-keeping measures. As the result, the yields have now turned positive. Dato' Francis believed that proper investment management is the key to generate positive cash flow. Only when the assets are generating cash flow, can the underlying worth appreciate.

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