Datasonic targets 50% of card renewal market within next 2 years

CYBERJAYA: Datasonic Group Bhd is targeting to grab a 50% share of the renewal of credit cards and automated teller machine (ATM) cards market within the next two years.

At a press conference after the company’s AGM yesterday, chairman General Tan Sri Mohamed Hashim Mohd Ali (pix) said the company is poised to benefit from the card market, which has an estimated business potential of 52 million cards.

In keeping with the goal, he noted that Datasonic is aiming to ramp up its production to 10 million cards a year compared with only two million to three million at present.

“We hope to capture the migration from chips to MCCS (Malaysia chip card specifications) …we are ready to get more business from this space,” he added.

Under the payment card reform framework announced by Bank Negara last year, banks are required to migrate to a pin-based model credit card payment system, from the current signature-based model, by the end of 2016.

“We’ve secured contracts from Bank Islam, AEON, and some other potential customers like foreign banks,” Hashim said. Datasonic, which was queried by Bursa Malaysia last week on the sharp rise in share price and trading volume, has submitted three proposals to the Home Affairs Ministry in relation to passport and information and communications technology solutions. On the proposals, Hashim said the discussions with the government are still on-going.

Despite having talks to expand presence abroad, Hashim cautioned that the company has to be very selective and is more interested in governmentto-government plans.

“Our focus is still in Malaysia as we see a lot of opportunities here,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hashim said, the company is looking to expand its closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera business to other states in the country after being awarded the CCTV and surveillance solutions by the Penang government.

Datasonic’s earnings are mainly from the supply of MyKad cards to the National Registration Department and the supply of polycarbonate datapage to the Immigration Department.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2015, Datasonic reported a net profit of RM71.82 million.

Datasonic’s share price went up 2 sen to RM1.26 yesterday on some 8.20 million shares done.