KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — The bonuses paid out to employees despite a RM763 million deficit in 2011 was to stop them from running away to other firms, a government-linked company has said.

Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (SPNB), the country’s public transport giant, had paid out between 1.5 and two months’ bonuses to employees despite the loss recorded in 2011, the Auditor-General’s 2012 Report revealed this week.

SPNB’s group managing director Datuk Shahril Mokhtar indicated that the bonuses, which he said was handed out to employees based on their performance, was necessary in a highly-competitive industry.

“The bonuses are given based on our employees’ score card. We have to retain our talent as this (transport) industry is booming elsewhere around the globe.

“If we don’t reward them appropriately, they will run away... We are doing our best to be operationally sustainable and ultimately profitable,” Shahril was quoted as saying by The Star today.

Shahril also said the scrutiny of GLCs has to be “fair and reasonable”, pointing out that these firms offered services to the public and have to operate under fares or tariffs set by the government.

“People must understand that Prasarana is operating under a difficult environment of providing and upgrading public transport services.

“Our fare structure has not been reviewed for the past 12 years and we have to operate in non-profitable routes,” he said, pointing out that 80 per cent of the firm’s 167 bus routes in the Klang Valley do not generate profit.

Shahril explained that RM400 million of the RM763 million loss borne by SPNB was due to depreciation cost, while financing cost contributed RM300 million to the total deficit figure.

But SPNB has cut down the losses by boosting businesses that contribute non-fare revenue, including property development, advertisement and consultancy services, Shahril said.

SPNB, a company set up under the Ministry of Finance Incorporated in 1998, also owns and runs bus services in Penang and Kuantan.

SPNB’s assets also include the light rail transit (LRT) and KL monorail, two key railway systems in the Klang Valley which it also operates.

SPNB was one of seven GLCs who rewarded employees with bonuses despite booking a combined loss of nearly RM2 billion in 2011, national auditors highlighted on Tuesday.

The most generous loss-maker was MIMOS Bhd, the government’s technology researchers, who lavished its workers with a minimum of two months bonus and up to three months for some employees. It recorded a loss of RM4.6 million for 2011.

KTM Bhd employees took home the least in ex-gratia payments among the seven firms’ employees, pocketing just an extra half month’s salary or a minimum of RM500 in the same year the railway operator lost RM103 million.

Others who doled out rewards to employees despite the red ink on their balance sheets were Amanah Raya Bhd (RM707 million loss/RM1,000 bonus), Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd (RM42 million loss/1 month’s bonus), Indah Water Konsortium (RM98 million loss/1.5-2 months’ bonus), and Cyberview Berhad (RM254 million/2.5 month’s bonus).

Responding to the Auditor-General’s Report, the Treasury explained that GLCs were formed with social responsibility and nation-building in mind, and was not designed for profitability.

As such, it said the role that profits — or losses, in this case —played in determining if a GLC has met its key performance indicators (KPI) was up to the discretion of Ministry of Finance Incorporated.