PUC gets shareholders’ green light for full control of Pictureworks
KUALA LUMPUR: PUC Bhd yesterday received approval from its shareholders for the acquisition of the remaining 67% stake in its associate company Pictureworks Holdings Sdn Bhd (PHSB) for RM142.02 million.
Its group chief strategy officer Cheong Tze Wai said there are a lot of synergies from the acquisition, especially for its aim to build a digital platform.
“Pictureworks’ reach through its theme parks partners and access to consumers in various regions will provide us a platform to cross our products and services over our online platform,” he told the media after the group’s EGM yesterday.
Pictureworks is involved in the provision of imagery capture and distribution platforms for theme parks, leisure and entertainment industries as well as licensing of imagery systems.
Cheong said PUC has always intended to acquire the stake of the business from the start but it wasn’t sure that it could be integrated into its other operations as the group has just brought up its digital business.
“Because of that we decided to acquire a 33% stake first, to ensure that the business is actually a viable option and feasible for integration,” he explained.
For the group’s initial acquisition, Pictureworks has delivered a profit after tax of RM17.75 million in FY2018, exceeding its profit guarantee of RM14.8 million.
With the acquisition of the remaining stake, the group will receive a profit guarantee of RM21 million for FY2019 and RM25 million for FY2020.
“These are the expected contributions of the acquisition. For the time being, we are focused on the existing growth of the business as it is and there wouldn’t be any additional investment plans in relations to the acquisition,” Cheong said.
Apart from the acquisition, PUC shareholders also approved a 5-to-1 share consolidation and a 30% private placement exercise.
The private placement is expected to raise up to RM35.49 million, with bulk of it to be used to partly finance the acquisition of Pictureworks.