KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): Former Malaysia Airlines (MAS) group chief executive officer (CEO) Ahmad Jauhari Yahya has joined the board of directors at Taliworks Corp Bhd effective immediately.

Ahmad Jauhari, 61, has been appointed as independent and non-executive director, along with Raja Datuk Zaharaton Zainal Abidin, 66.

Ahmad Jauhari started his career with Esso Malaysia Bhd (1977 to 1979) and worked in The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd from 1979 to 1991, Time Engineering Bhd (1992) and Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (1993).

In 1994, he joined Malakoff Bhd and retired from the company in 2010. He was appointed group CEO of MAS on Sept 19, 2011 and resigned in April this year. He remains as a director in MAS.

Raja Zaharaton has served the government in various capacities for 34 years from 1971 to 2005. Principally her main task has been policy analyses and financial evaluation. Her last post in the government was as director-general of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Prime Minister's Department.

Upon retirement, the government had appointed her as chairman of Technology Park Malaysia Corp Sdn Bhd from January 2006 to December 2008. Subsequent to that, she was chairman of Ninebio Sdn Bhd from January 2009 for a two-year period.

Beginning June 24, 2014 she was appointed as chairman of Global Maritime Ventures Bhd, a subsidiary of Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd.

Apart from Taliworks, Raja Zaharaton also sits on the board of Big Tree Outdoor Sdn Bhd, Primeworks Studios Sdn Bhd, Kumpulan RZA Sdn Bhd, Raza Sdn Bhd, ASTRA Capital and ARECA Capital.

“We welcome the wealth of experience and leadership they bring, which will be an invaluable resource in strengthening our business operations. They are both extremely qualified and will bring added value to the group allowing us to maximise our effectiveness in the infrastructure sectors that Taliworks is currently involved in and pursuing,” said Taliworks executive director Lim Yew Boon in a statement today.

“The group’s business strategy of streamlining our operations while seeking out new stable recurring revenues streams in the infrastructure space is on track, as demonstrated by the increased profitability we have recorded thus far in 2015.

“With the recent addition of our second toll concession as well as the steady progress of our existing projects, we are optimistic on delivering on our growth blueprint,” he added.

In a separate announcement today, Taliworks declared a second interim dividend of 5 sen per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2015, payable on July 31, 2015.

Shares in Taliworks (fundamental: 1.3; valuation: 2.4) closed up 0.67% at RM3 today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM1.31 billion.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)