Over the past two to three months, you might have noticed changes to this paper in the form of longer, more analytical stories and also, more market-driven stories. From today, we are unveiling more changes to the paper as part of our continuing efforts to make it a more interesting read, and also to provide content that would help readers make more informed decisions.  

These changes include new pages like the Penang Pulse page on Monday, The Edge Billion Ringgit Club (BRC) page on Tuesday, and a Property page on Friday.

Penang is home to numerous multinational companies and homegrown enterprises, some of which have made a name for themselves in foreign markets. Unfortunately, it is not well-covered in the mainstream media. Our Penang Pulse page will shine a spotlight on business in the state, and look at companies and individuals who play an important part in the state’s economy — from electronics to tourism. To launch this page today, our Penang correspondent Regina William interviews Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on how Penang plans to tackle the next phase of growth (turn to Page 20 for the Q&A).

The Edge BRC, which consists of Malaysia’s largest listed companies with at least RM1 billion in turnover or market capitalisation, was launched on July 5, 2010 with 163 companies making the inaugural list.

Every Tuesday, starting tomorrow, we will highlight selected members of the club and their perspective on the company’s business, strategies and growth outlook.

A highlight of our new Property page on Fridays will be hot deals transacted over the week, which also appear on theedgeproperty.com website. As a service to readers, we will also feature upcoming events for the weekend, whether it’s property launches or show home openings.

One major component of the changes that we are rolling out today is the Markets pages. To make it more convenient for readers, we are starting the Markets section on the last page of the paper. Readers will then work their way inwards instead of having to flip through a huge chunk of the paper to get to the first of the Markets pages. Follow the moves of major shareholders in the Insider Moves section, which could be a signal of their views on the company’s outlook.

We also list events to watch out for on a daily basis and expectations of market data to prepare investors for what lies ahead. We hope investors will find the Markets section helpful in making more informed decisions with regards to equities, futures and commodities.

How to invest and make money, however, has to be balanced with how to spend it, and that’s where our Live it! pages come in. The revamped Live it! will focus on what to do, see and eat in Kuala Lumpur in particular, and the Klang Valley in general.

And because we believe improving a product has to be a continual process, watch out for other new content and columns that we will be introducing from time to time.

Dorothy Teoh
Editor-in-Chief

This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 4, 2010.