SEDANIA TO EXPAND WITH AS-SIDQ ACQUISITION
KUALA LUMPUR: Technology empowerment company Sedania Innovator Bhd is set to create a five-pronged business model with its acquisition of an established syariah-compliant financial technology (fintech) platform, As-Sidq.
The acquisition is targeted for completion in the second half of this year.
Sedania’s existing business model encompasses four segments: core and intellectual property-protected airtime share (ATS), Internet of Things (IoT), green technologies and big data analytics.
As-Sidq is a Tawarruq commodity trading system that uses prepaid telecommunication airtime credit as the traded commodity.
The electronic and fully-automated As-Sidq system is used by 21 financial services companies in Malaysia, including financial institutions and cooperatives, to facilitate Islamic financing.
As-Sidq has processed more than 300,000 transactions worth more than RM25 billion to date.
Sedania managing director Datuk Azrin Mohd Noor said AsSidq had only facilitated Islamic banking transactions for personal financing thus far.
“Upon its merger with Sedania, pending shareholders’ approval, we wish to grow the current business model to also include other components of financial transactions such as factoring, hire purchase and credit cards,” he told NST Business.
The As-Sidq acquisition will provide Sedania with a guaranteed net profit of RM1.5 million a year for this year and next, ensuring the company’s positive cash flow and sustaining its turnaround plan.
While pursuing opportunities in emerging technologies, Sedania’s core ATS business will be retained and is projected to be back on the growth path this year, in line with the turnaround of the telecommunication (telco) sector.
“We are excited to collaborate with established and expansion focused telco partners for our ATS platform, such as U Mobile which is constantly adapting new product offerings to suit user preferences.
“We intend to run more campaigns with U Mobile as well as other telcos this year as we roll out new services such as data and network sharing.
“These new offerings will complement the ‘conventional’ credit sharing and propel new user markets onto our ATS platform,” said Azrin.
Sedania has also made great strides in its IoT venture, where its wholly-owned IDOTTV Sdn Bhd in December last year entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Iscada Net Sdn Bhd to jointly provide IoT smart devices in designated buildings that allow instant connectivity with the Fire and Rescue Department.
“We are on track to complete the installation of 6,000 sites before year-end. We are confident of capturing other opportunities and partnerships for our IoT and green technology segments to sustain our performance,” added Azrin.
Sedania posted a RM200,000 net profit in the first quarter ended March 31, compared with a net loss of RM800,000 a year ago, driven by strong delivery of its IoT contract.
The company’s revenue jumped 243.3 per cent to RM6.1 million versus RM1.8 million a year ago, boosted by new contributions in the IoT and green technology segments.