Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 5, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Green Packet Bhd is optimistic it will return to profit this financial year ending Dec 31, 2018 (FY18), followed by a double-digit growth in terms of financial performance in FY19, despite a delay in recognising contribution from the supply of its set-top boxes to MYTV Broadcasting Sdn Bhd this year.

“In two or three weeks, we will be clearer, as the key thing is when the analogue [service will be] switched off, because the contract is quite substantial for us,” said the group’s chief executive officer Tan Kay Yen, referring to the supply contract of set-top boxes valued at RM272 million.

In March, the then communications and multimedia minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak postponed to June the expected switch from analogue TV service to digital, to provide more time for the parties involved to prepare for a fully digital broadcast environment.

Despite the delay, Tan told reporters yesterday after the group’s annual general meeting that he expects some shipments to MYTV Broadcasting to kick off from the third or fourth quarter of this year (3Q or 4Q18).

As for its double-digit growth expectation for FY19, Tan said it applies to revenue and net profit, and will be driven by growth in its new and existing businesses.

“We expect to see single-digit growth for our existing business, while [our] new business should post a double-digit growth,” Tan added. The new businesses include financial technology and the Internet of things.

The group is also aiming to secure a 20% market share for its vehicle solutions business, under which it offers tailored solutions for insurance companies to track drivers’ behaviours, to help with the pricing of individual premiums following the liberalisation of motor insurance after July 1, 2017.

The market is huge, said Tan, highlighting “from the 28 million vehicles on Malaysian roads now, half of them are cars”.

Tan said the group is working with various car manufacturers and insurance companies to try its solutions for about 1,000 vehicles. He expects the group to translate this into orders by 3Q or 4Q18.

Tan also expects the group’s mobile wallet service application, Kiple, to further grow its gross transaction payments this year, as it anticipates its contract secured from the Selangor state government for the “Kasih Ibu Smart Selangor” project to be expanded to other state governments under Pakatan Harapan.

Tan saw Kiple’s gross transaction payments for 1Q18 surge three times from last year. He said the main objective is to increase the app’s user download. As of March 31, 2018, the app had been downloaded by 130,000 users.

 

      Print
      Text Size
      Share