This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 17, 2016.

M3 Technologies (Asia) Bhd (-ve)

The rarely traded shares of M3 Technologies (M3Tech) (fundamental: 1.55/3; valuation: 0.3/3) triggered our momentum alert for the first time yesterday, rising as much as 10.71% to 15.5 sen before easing to close at 15 sen sen, still up 7.14%, with 14.32 million shares traded.

The company released its financial results for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2015 (2QFY16) on Feb 29. Revenue for the quarter grew 31.9% to RM11 million, from RM8.3 million a year ago. However, net loss widened 55.8% to RM1.2 million, from RM798,000 in 2QFY15.

Quarter-on-quarter, net loss nearly tripled from RM424,000, despite flat revenue. The higher loss was attributed to foreign currency fluctuation and lower profit margins from the Trading and Distribution segment, in order to maintain competitiveness.

M3Tech has been aggressively selling its new products – i3Displays and Getsnapps platform – both overseas and locally. According to the company, feedback was encouraging and the products generated positive results in 2QFY16. Going forward, it will continue to maintain the momentum to increase growth in the coming quarters.

The company also has new software products in the pipeline, which will be rolled out to its other subsidiaries by 3QFY16.

Meanwhile, it is continuously restructuring and rationalising some subsidiaries, e.g. Indonesia, Thailand and China, to ensure efficient use of resources with a view of long term success.

M3Tech is a mobile value added services provider, and is involved in the delivery and settlement of mobile messaging and data services, including SMS, MMS and WAP. It is connected to more than 175 mobile operators around the world.

Last Wednesday, M3Tech announced that it has collaborated with Indonesia’s largest mobile operator, Telkomsel, to launch T-Bike Smart Assistant for Motorcycles (T-Bike) on March 3. A machine-to-machine initiative, T-Bike allows vehicle owners to monitor, guide, and control their motorcycles directly from a smartphone.