SERBA DINAMIK BANKING ON ICT PUSH
Recurring nature of O&M order book will also ensure earnings sustainability
SERBA Dinamik Holdings Bhd expects its business to grow exponentially, driven by the expansion of its information and communications technology (ICT) segment.
Group managing director and chief executive director Datuk Dr Mohd Karim Abdullah said the ICT segment would be a new source of growth for the company as many oil and gas (O&G) clients were ramping up investments in ICT applications globally.
“We have targeted a minimum RM350 million in revenue from the ICT segment for our financial year ending Dec 31 this year and I believe that is something we can achieve.
“If we look at a growth of 15 to 20 per cent as our target, then we should be ending up somewhere around RM5.7 billion in revenue,” Karim told the New Straits Times recently.
He said the company was bolstering its ICT capability in a big way, emphasising on internallydeveloped mobile applications, an e-commerce platform and digital theme parks.
“We are a company that takes care of our stakeholders by emphasising sustainability elements and we are a company that believes in technology.
“We will work hard to acquire that technology in-house and collaborate with other companies that have the capability. We believe this will allow our company to compete in the future,” he said.
Serba Dinamik’s ICT scope is segmented into cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cyber security, financial technology and frontier technologies divisions.
Meanwhile, Karim said the recurring nature of its operation and maintenance (O&M) order book would ensure earnings sustainability in the future despite lower prospective contract wins in its financial year 2021.
“We have multiple O&M contracts that are expected to be renewed and when combined, the contract value is sizable.”
Karim said the company had sufficient liquidity to support intermediation activities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The company has sufficient liquidity of RM1 billion. If we look at contracts we have in hand against the debts that we need to pay, including the dividends of the sukuk and other borrowings, we are optimistic that we are in a good position.
“We are expecting more sizable jobs next year. We are quite confident that we will be able to move forward irregardless. Moving forward, we will have room to relook our debts and raise further sukuk,” he said.
Commenting on the O&G sector outlook, he said Serba Dinamik was targeting oil price at US$50 to US$55 per barrel next year.
He said the potential rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in the short term would be a turning point for demand as it could lead to a more sustainable economic recovery.
“Vaccines are expected to be rolled out next year. This means that factories can resume full operations and, thus, the use of oil can return to normal.
“We are of the opinion that everything will gradually return to normal next year.”
Serba Dinamik’s net profit in the third quarter ended Sept 30 soared 30.8 per cent to RM148 million from RM113.2 million a year ago while its revenue jumped 41.8 per cent to RM1.48 billion from RM1.05 billion.
Its earnings per share (EPS)
climbed to 4.39 sen from 3.36 sen previously.
For the nine months to September, Serba Dinamik’s net profit grew 20.8 per cent to RM429.6 million from RM355.8 million a year ago while its cumulative revenue rose 32.5 per cent to RM4.2 billion from RM3.17 billion previously.
It reported an EPS of 12.75 sen for the period from 10.56 sen previously.