13/08/2025

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | AUG 13, 2025

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Malaysian Paper

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AirAsia X spreads wings with KL–Istanbul direct service

destination in this new phase. For 2026, we are looking at London, Azerbaijan, Russia, all very exciting markets,” said Benyamin. He acknowledged that the launch had been delayed due to Middle East airspace closures. “We should have started earlier, but we held back. Now we see things are okay, so this is the best time,” he said. AAX has ordered Airbus A330XLRs for future medium-haul routes of five to eight hours, targeting destinations in Central Asia, India, smaller Australian cities and Japan. Turkey Ambassador to Malaysia Emir Salim Yüksel hailed the new route as a “tangible step” in streng thening bilateral ties. “We established diplomatic relations in 1964 and last year celebrated the 60th anniversary. This air link will not only boost tourism flows but also expand business links, foster industry collaboration and open new pathways for education, innovation and people to-people engagement,” he said. Nearly 93,000 Malaysians visited Türkiye last year, with the figure expected to surpass 100,000 in 2025. To mark the milestone, AAX is offering promotional all-in one-way fares from RM499 for economy and RM3,999 for premium flatbed. The promotion runs until Aug 20 for travel between Nov 14, 2025 and Sept 14, 2026, bookable via airasia.com or the AirAsia MOVE app. Passengers can also enjoy up to 45% off checked baggage. Looking forward to the rest of FY2025, Fadzli said Zetrix will be exploring ways to integrate its two core technologies, blockchain and AI, as part of its long-term growth strategy. “What we’re most excited about is to get the AI part of our vertical strategy to be better tested.” He added that the company will announce several initiatives to improve the usability and stickiness of its services. “We see blockchain as the data layer, which stores and references information, and AI as the processing layer,” he said. He said Zetrix will look to work with the best, whether through collaborations with ecosystem partners or by hiring top talent. “Competing in this space is a global challenge, so we are working to build strong, borderless teams that can collaborate across technologies.” In April, Zetrix was appointed the core chain for the Malaysia Blockchain Infrastructure, a government-linked initiative with Mimos Bhd aimed at linking various blockchain systems and making the technology more accessible across industries. The platform is also integrated with China’s national blockchain network to enable secure trade facilitation and digital identity exchange between Asean and China.

KUALA LUMPUR: Zetrix AI Bhd, formerly known as MY EG Services Bhd, is eyeing a global Muslim population of two billion with NurAI, the world’s first syariah-aligned large language model (LLM). Co-founder and head of AI development Datuk Fadzli Shah said the initial rollout will cover Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, a combined market of 340 million people with majority following the Shafi’i school of thought, before expanding to other madhhab . “Yes, we have active plans for those and we have partnerships in place to be able to address those markets,” he told reporters at the launch of NurAI yesterday. He described the “One Madhhab at a Time” strategy as a deliberate and scalable approach. “As we fine-tune this for a specific madhhab , it will help inform us on how to handle the model when we cross to serve the second, third and ultimately the fourth madhhab .” Although the model was developed with China’s DeepSeek, Fadzli said, there is little to no risk of state intervention from either Asean or China. “From a governance perspective, although we are grateful that this initiative originated from the Asean PETALING JAYA: AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) will return to Europe for the first time in over a decade with the launch of a direct service between Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul, Turkiye, starting Nov 14. The new route, operated four times weekly on an Airbus A330-300, will connect Kuala Lumpur Inter national Airport to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport. Speaking at the launch, AAX CEO Benyamin Ismail said Istanbul had “always been a dream destination for many of our guests” and was a natural next step following the airline’s expansion into Central Asia. “Hot on the heels of our recent growth into Central Asia, this long awaited route takes us one step closer to delivering longer connectivity across continents. As the only city in the world built on two continents, Istanbul perfectly captures our vision to bridge Asia and beyond through affordable, medium-haul travel,” he added. o New route to take off on Nov 14, will operate four times weekly on an Airbus A330-300 Ű BY DEEPALAKSHMI MANICKAM sunbiz@thesundaily.com Ű BY HAYATUN RAZAK sunbiz@thesundaily.com

Carlsberg Malaysia confident of sustaining profit margins KUALA Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd does not expect volume growth this year but will implement a single-digit price adjustment towards year-end. While the ringgit has streng thened and raw material costs have improved, the company remains optimistic about its out look and confident of sustaining profit margins. Declining to elaborate on the price adjustment, managing director Stefano Clini ( pic ) said macro economic challenges will continue to create uncertainty for sales and margin growth. “Despite the challenges, the group remains optimistic that the recent OPR (Overnight Policy Rate) reduction, together with the govern ment’s ongoing fuel subsidy rationalisation, electricity tariff re structuring, lower interest rates, and targeted cash assistance, will help boost consumer confidence,” he said at a media briefing yesterday. Clini added that the company hopes there will be no excise duty hikes and trusts that the govern ment is mindful of the industry’s operating conditions. Looking ahead, he said the group will continue navigating a challenging macroeconomic land scape marked by external head winds and prolonged soft con sumer sentiment. Cost optimi sation will remain a key focus to support investments in brand premiumisation, product inno vation and digital transformation. For the second quarter ended June 30, 2025 (Q2’25), net profit rose 3.18% to RM81.93 million from RM79.40 million a year ago. Revenue, however, fell 3.41% to RM490.17 million from RM507.48 million due to a shorter Chinese New Year period, which dampened sales. Malaysian operations recorded higher revenue and operating profit. Earnings per share for Q2’25 stood at 26.80 sen versus 25.97 sen a year ago. For the first half of FY25, net profit increased 5.4% to RM176.5 million from RM167.3 million. Revenue, however, decreased 6.5% to RM1.15 billion from RM1.23 billion, also due to the shorter festive period, with some sales captured in December 2024. LUMPUR: Ű BY JOHN GILBERT sunbiz@thesundaily.com

AirAsia X launching a new route to Istanbul at AirAsia RedQ yesterday.

He also pointed to untapped potential in Indonesia and the Philippines. Turkiye, ranked fourth in the world for most international visitors, is seen by AAX as a high-priority market. The airline plans to start with four flights a week and, if demand is strong, increase to daily within six to 12 months. “This is our first European

He said Turkiye is already one of Malaysians’ favourite holiday desti nations, with 22 weekly flights currently offered by other carriers. “With us, it will be an added benefit because we will offer the cheapest fare,” he said, adding that the important thing is that they want to connect with people who have never flown before from Europe or Turkiye to Kuala Lumpur and onto their network of 130 destinations.

Zetrix AI to promote use of NurAI to global Muslim population

Fadzli speaking at the launch of NurAI yesterday.

view, NurAI delivers guidance aligned with syariah rulings across a wide range of subjects, from contemporary issues such as law, healthcare and finance to classical themes including Islamic history, philosophy and Quranic studies. The platform will feature specialised channels, including an Islamic finance channel developed in partnership with Inceif University, an affiliate of Bank Negara Malaysia, alongside channels led by Islamic scholars worldwide.

China AI Lab, there is no influence from any government,” he said. He said NurAI remains an independent project focused on its purpose as a syariah-aligned and syariah-based LLM. “Having said that, we welcome partnerships with all states to further not only their local Muslim com munities but also others who can benefit from the worldview of a syariah-aligned LLM.” Built on Islamic principles and reflecting the Global South world