business

SMRT Holdings post better earnings driven by technology division

KUALA LUMPUR: SMRT Holdings Bhd (SHB) registered revenue of RM17.6 million for the sixth quarter (Q6) ended June 30 2023 (FY23) stemming from its technology division, an increase of 19.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) from RM14.7 million in the immediate preceding quarter.

SHB has changed its financial year end to June 30 2023, from December 31 2022. 

As a result, comparative figures were unavailable for the preceding year's corresponding quarter and period.

The company, however, reported a net loss of RM69.3 million, mainly due to a one-off non-cash loss from its discontinued education operations following the disposal of its 100.0 per cent equity interest in SMR Education Sdn Bhd that was completed in May 2023. 

SHB also recognised a RM5.2 million provision for bad debts related to non-core business that has since been disposed of, along with RM5.9 million in employees' share grant expense.

For the 18-month (18M) financial period, SHB recorded a revenue of RM90.8 million from the technology division. 

Meanwhile, the company turned in a smaller net loss of RM16.6 million in 18M FY23 despite the RM69.3 million loss in Q6 FY23, as a prior gain on the disposal of another subsidiary, SMR Properties Management Sdn Bhd offset the impact of discontinued education operations.

Group managing director Maha Palan said the past 18 months have been challenging and exciting for the company. 

"Challenging in part due to the complexities involved in our restructuring exercise to consolidate and refocus our organisation towards our technology business, yet exciting as we finally completed the restructuring and successfully transformed SHB into a pure technology player offering enterprise Internet of Things or IoT solutions with an ASEAN growth focus.

"At present, over 50 per cent of our technology revenue stems from recurring sources," he said in a statement.

Maha Palan said the main clientele SHB serves in Malaysia is the utility sector, while in Indonesia, the company is growing fast in both the utilities and financial services sectors. 

"And if all goes as planned, we should mark our presence in a new ASEAN country within 12 months. 

"We are upbeat on the outlook for SHB, underpinned by our expansion plans and rising recurring income stream backed by a lean balance sheet post-restructuring," Maha Palan said.

To recap, in addition to disposals of its education and property management subsidiaries, SHB also completed, in May 2023, the acquisition of the remaining 36.0 per cent equity interest that it does not own in N'osairis Technology Solutions Sdn Bhd (NTS), making NTS a wholly-owned subsidiary of SHB. 

NTS provides custom enterprise wireless network connectivity solutions that cover the design and setup of telecommunication infrastructure and hardware, connectivity management services, sensory devices, programming, and network surveillance services.

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