KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 17): KUB Malaysia Bhd, which is 23.62%-owned by Ministry of Finance Inc, has named its group chief operating officer (COO) Datuk Zainal Abidin Salleh to the newly created position of group chief executive officer (CEO) with immediate effect.

Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Wan Ahmad, 61, previously helmed KUB Malaysia as its group managing director, but left the position in November last year after his contract expired.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, KUB (fundamental: 1.15; valuation: 0.9 ) said Zainal Abidin, 52, had served in his previous position from September 2014 until April 16, 2015, where he was tasked to oversee the group's oil palm plantation business.

Prior to that, he held various senior positions in KUB including as the executive director (ED) and CEO of KUB Agro Holdings Group Sdn Bhd, as well as the ED and COO for both KUB Sepadu Sdn Bhd and KUB Maju Mill Sdn Bhd.

He has extensive experience in corporate, strategic and operational management, particularly in the plantation industry and educational and management policy.

KUB shares closed up 1.5 sen or 3.41% at 45.5 sen today, bringing a market capitalisation of RM244.84 million.

(Notes: 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.)