This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on November 16, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Key Asic Bhd expects its earnings growth to be better in the coming years, boosted by its healthcare and smart transport segments, after the group started turning around in its first financial quarter ended Aug 31, 2017 (1QFY18).

Chief executive officer Eg Kah Yee said the group is at the stage of monetising its research and design (R&D) efforts.

“For the last two years we have been designing and selling the chips only and now we are selling a system. So it is a bigger dollar. We are at the stage of monetising our R&D and that’s the key.

“For the last quarter (1QFY18) we were making money, so you should expect this quarter (2QFY18) to be better,” Eg told reporters after the group’s annual general meeting yesterday.

Key Asic, which specialises in the design and manufacturing of Internet of Things (IoT) chips and systems, sees a good outlook for the group in the IoT industry as “it is a huge and good market”.

Eg said that under the smart transport system, the group is working with a major system provider in Russia to supply its chips for the “connected car”.

It involves getting the car connected to the Internet, he said, adding: “All the data related to the car will get uploaded to the cloud [and] can be used to collect toll, for parking and for safety purposes. For example, when the car gets stolen, breaks down or lost, it can still be tracked,” he said.

“We hope Malaysia will also adopt the connected car once it is established. If you have a connected car you don’t need the gantry anymore,” he added.

Key ASIC has been in the red since 2009. It narrowed its net loss to RM9.99 million for the 17-month financial period ended May 31, 2017, from RM13.93 million in the previous financial year.

For 1QFY18 Key Asic managed to post a net profit of RM394,000 and revenue of RM7 million. There were no year-on-year comparative figures as the group had changed its financial year end from Dec 31 to May 31.