Datasonic Group

Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Mon Mar 13, 2017 9:01 am

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Datasonic hopes fine domestic record will boost overseas venture

BY TOH KAR INN

Last Thursday, Datasonic secured a RM79.72mil contract to supply an additional 2.8 million passport polycarbonate datapage and personalisation services to the Immigration Department.

As such, the total quantity of passport polycarbonate datapage and personalisation services has risen from 10 million to 12.8 million units.

This also increases the total contract value from RM284.7mil to RM364.42mil over a period of five years commencing from Feb 1, 2013 to Jan 31, 2018.

Datasonic commenced its new role as the official supplier of national passport booklets in December 2016.


Datasonic’s first venture into fintech was the Maybank self-service re-carding kiosks, which significantly reduced waiting time for the replacement of PIN-enabled cards.

Other financial institutions, including some from Indonesia, have since approached Datasonic for strategic partnerships in the group’s self-service kiosk solutions, which can later be adapted to carry out opening of accounts as well as processing e-payments.

In addition, Datasonic is the number one provider of chip-based Euro MasterCard Visa financial cards in Malaysia.

Its customers include Maybank, CIMB Bank, RHB Bank, and Hong Leong Bank, among others.


The group also plans to supply driving licences and road tax stickers for vehicles.

According to RHB Research, Datasonic is in the midst of finalising its proposal with an official submission.

The presentation to relevant authorities is likely to be held in May or June, with the official award to take place in the second half of the year.

“Official statistics from the Road Transport Department state that there are 26 million registered vehicles on the road and 14.7 million registered drivers as of 2015.

“Based on an average selling price of RM7.50 to RM8 per driving licence and RM2.30 to RM3 per road tax sticker, this could translate into an annual revenue stream of close to RM100mil,” said RHB Research in a recent report.


For the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2016, Datasonic registered 4% lower revenue of RM73.21mil and 50% lower net profit of RM7.97mil, compared to the preceeding quarter.

This was attributed to the lower quantity of components delivered for smart cards and lower gross profit margin.

For the current quarter, Datasonic has received an order for one million units of MyKad and one million units of MyKad consumables, after two consecutive quarters of low MyKad deliveries.

RHB Research expects future deliveries to match the current demand of 3.3 million to 3.5 million copies per annum.


Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... s-venture/
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:51 am

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Eye on stock: Datasonic Group

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/business/busi ... nic-group/
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Mon May 07, 2018 10:16 am

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Datasonic sees net profit surpass RM100m in FY19

by Wong Ee Lin

KUALA LUMPUR: Datasonic Group Bhd expects its net profit to surpass the RM100 million mark for the first time in its financial year 2019 (FY19) ending March 31, 2019, driven by growth across all its business segments.

Its managing director Datuk Abu Hanifah Noordin said once the level is broken, he expects the group’s net profit to stay above RM100 million from thereon.

His confidence is on the back of Datasonic securing new contracts.

Abu Hanifah believes the potential to expand its smart ID and e-Passport project both in Malaysia and overseas is huge.

This year, the group has set its sights on penetrating new foreign markets as part of its aim to be a leading security-related solutions provider in the region by 2020 and in the global market by 2025.

“We are looking out of Malaysia for future growth,” he said in an interview with The Edge Financial Daily.

“We have been receiving a lot of inquiries from neighbouring countries, particularly about our passport products,” said Abu Hanifah, adding that countries in Africa and the Middle East have also expressed interest in its products.

For the cumulative nine months ended Dec 31, 2017 (9MFY18), the group’s net profit rose 11.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM49.83 million, despite a 14.1% y-o-y drop in revenue to RM193.96 million owing to lesser supply of smart cards and personalisation services.

Abu Hanifah said the group expects its performance for the full FY18 to be better than FY17, on higher revenue contribution from the supply of passport booklets and effective cost control measures.

The last time Datasonic pulled in record earnings was in FY13 ended Dec 31, 2013 when it posted a net profit of RM81.9 million. The group changed its financial year end to March 31 in FY14.

The group saw a slight dip in net profit to RM62.66 million in FY17, compared with RM63.05 million in FY16, due mainly to higher direct costs for new projects undertaken in FY17. Revenue, however, was up 31.9% to RM318.35 million from RM241.31 million.

On its joint venture (JV) with Tanzania-based telecommunications equipment firm Global Agency Ltd (GAL), Abu Hanifah said the group is still awaiting final approval to proceed with the border control-related security project, which it hopes to receive by the end of this year.

Under the JV, Datasonic will be offering its expertise in e-Gate and e-Visa systems.

In 2016, the group announced that it was buying a 67% stake in GAL. It was previously reported that Datasonic, through GAL, would be securing a US$192 million contract from the Tanzanian government, and once materialised, the deal would contribute up to RM15 million per year to Datasonic’s bottom line over eight to 10 years.

“We have to identify good partners who have the same passion as us. As such, we have to be very careful and selective in choosing our partners,” Abu Hanifah said, adding that the group is also eyeing national ID and polycarbonate data page passport projects in other African countries, besides Tanzania.

Meanwhile, Datasonic has been conducting a lot of research and development to create the latest generation of e-Gate system in Malaysian airports, as well as other innovative products.

“We have built the next-generation e-Gate, which cuts the time [for passengers passing through the gate] by almost half to less than seven seconds. We have patented it for nine months locally and will patent it internationally. This technology is the first in the world,” said Abu Hanifah, noting that the e-Gate system has received positive responses from other countries.

The new e-Gate system will no longer use fingerprint scanning, but will feature facial recognition technology instead. It will have two cameras; one of which will first identify the passengers before entering the auto-gate while waiting in line, and the second camera will reidentify the passengers upon passing through the auto-gate.

Besides the auto-gate, Datasonic has been exploring other potential areas to drive growth such as chip-based driving licences and electronic driving licences.

“Under this e-driving licence, we have proposed to the ministry of transport a one-stop solution where users can apply for a digital driving licence through the web. Users can also renew their driving licence, road tax and also pay their summons [online],” Abu Hanifah said, adding that Datasonic hopes to kick-start this project after the 14th general election.

Datasonic is investing up to RM25 million in capital expenditure (capex) for FY19, of which RM16.8 million will be used to buy buildings and another RM8 million for machinery.

Abu Hanifah said the capex will be funded via a combination of both internal funds and bank borrowings.

Datasonic currently produces 3.3 million MyKad cards per year and has the capacity to produce up to six million MyKad cards per year out of its two manufacturing plants.

Earlier last month, it acquired a factory in Klang, Selangor for RM18.88 million. With this newly acquired factory, Datasonic expects its production capacity to increase to 10 million cards per year.

“The factory is expected to commence operation in the first half of 2019 and will be catering for both local and overseas demand,” said Abu Hanifah.

Datasonic’s order book currently stands at RM957.5 million.

Shares in Datasonic closed unchanged at 91 sen last Friday, with a market capitalisation of RM1.23 billion. The stock has fallen 30.4% from its one-year peak of RM1.31.

Abu Hanifah believes that Datasonic’s share price does not reflect its true value, as the share price has been trending downwards even though the group has been growing steadily.

Source: The Edge

http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/d ... m100m-fy19
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:54 pm

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Datasonic says no payment made to Ahmad Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: Datasonic Group Bhd has refuted a news report alleging that it had issued payments to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the supply of 12.5 million chips for the Malaysian passport.

At midday on Friday, its share price had tumbled 25.5 sen to 44 sen with 58.89 million shares. This was the lowest in recent years.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, Datasonic stated it had won the five-year contract to supply the chips to the government was based on lower pricing compared with the previous tender.

It refuted a news article entitled “Datasonic, MyEG implicated in charges against Zahid” which appeared on TheEdgeMarkets.com on Friday.

“Datasonic Technologies Sdn Bhd (DTSB) won a five-year contract to supply passport polycarbobate datapages and printing system based on per passport produce through open tender in April 2012.

“DTSB was awarded for the supply of 12.5 million chips on Dec 15, 2015 based on value proposition of enhanced chips security (to put the chips bonded into the polycarbonate datapage instead of at the back of passport cover) and 15% lower pricing as compared to the previous vendor that provided a total saving of RM56.25mil to the government over a period of five years,” it said.

Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... Wemdvsp.99
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Fri Oct 19, 2018 9:54 pm

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Datasonic says no payment made to Ahmad Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: Datasonic Group Bhd has refuted a news report alleging that it had issued payments to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the supply of 12.5 million chips for the Malaysian passport.

At midday on Friday, its share price had tumbled 25.5 sen to 44 sen with 58.89 million shares. This was the lowest in recent years.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, Datasonic stated it had won the five-year contract to supply the chips to the government was based on lower pricing compared with the previous tender.

It refuted a news article entitled “Datasonic, MyEG implicated in charges against Zahid” which appeared on TheEdgeMarkets.com on Friday.

“Datasonic Technologies Sdn Bhd (DTSB) won a five-year contract to supply passport polycarbobate datapages and printing system based on per passport produce through open tender in April 2012.

“DTSB was awarded for the supply of 12.5 million chips on Dec 15, 2015 based on value proposition of enhanced chips security (to put the chips bonded into the polycarbonate datapage instead of at the back of passport cover) and 15% lower pricing as compared to the previous vendor that provided a total saving of RM56.25mil to the government over a period of five years,” it said.

Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... Wemdvsp.99
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Fri Jul 05, 2019 8:26 am

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July 3, 2019

Growing sentiment in Datasonic to continue

According to the research house, Datasonic has seen a return in investor interest after obtaining a contract extension for providing preventive maintenance services on card personalisation centres at the National Registration Department (NRD).

"The extension was awarded by the Home Affairs Ministry for two years (1 Jun 2019 to 31 May 2021) and is valued at MYR28.79m (or MYR14.39m pa).

The group's share price has risen 46.6% since early June.

Datasonic's total outstanding orberbook now stands at RM772mil which is expected to anchor its earnings recovery in FY20, said RHB.

The resumption of MyKad orders in 4QFY19 should also continue in the upcoming quarter as the NRD's investory level is currently low at two million pieces.

"As such, its orderbook may improve further with potential job wins such as Public Key Directory- (PKD) and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)-related solutions.

"Management remains optimistic on the upcoming government-related project bids or requests-for proposal related to foreign workers, immigration system upgrades, e-visas as well as the facial recognition system," said RHB

The research house maintained its buy call on Datasonic with a higher target price of 77 sen from 65 sen previously.


Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... 46ASkLH.99
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Fri Aug 02, 2019 11:19 am

Datasonic eyes new immigration job

by Chester Tay

KUALA LUMPUR: Datasonic Group Bhd has expressed an interest in taking part in the government’s open tender for a new Integrated Immigration System (IIS).

“Basically all components of the tender, we are there. We have experience in every facet of the tender,” its managing director (MD) Datuk Abu Hanifah Noordin told reporters after the identification products and solutions provider’s annual general meeting yesterday.

He said the group’s track record of supplying better quality MyKads and passports would help it secure more new projects.

“Put it this way, the former [passport] vendor had been there for about 20 years, but it never won an award. When we got into the passport project, in our first year we already won an international award.

So when we do something, we do it in [a] world-class standard, without compromising on security,” he noted, referring to rival Iris Corp Bhd.

In May, the home affairs ministry issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the new IIS after the Sistem Kawalan Imigresen Nasional (SKIN) project, reportedly worth RM3.5 billion, was scrapped.

The closing date for submission is Aug 19, and Datasonic deputy managing director Chew Ben Ben said the company is confident of its high chance of winning the project.

“The project involves four core modules, one of which is the visa and permit system. This is a very complicated system, involving 20 years of data, which we are well versed in,” said Chew.

“The second core module in IIS is a passport system, which we are also well versed in.

[The] third one is border control, meaning all the check points and auto gates [are] with biometric system. The current auto gates at various checkpoints, 136 of them, [are] all maintained by us. The 20 new auto gates at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport with facial recognition are also maintained by us.

“The feedback from the customs and immigration departments and travellers have been positive, especially with our facial recognition system as many people do not have good fingerprints.

The fourth core module, meanwhile, is on enforcement, that is, to support the immigration,” he added.

Chew is of the view that the government should award the project to a single company rather than a consortium. “That’s because if something goes wrong, the companies in the consortium would blame each other instead of focussing on resolving the issues,” he said.

On July 22, The Edge Malaysia weekly, quoting sources, reported that the IIS project is likely to be awarded to a single company.

Talk of the government calling for an open tender for IIS has lifted shares of e-government services providers like Datasonic recently.

Year to date, Datasonic’s share price has risen 68% from 41 sen on Dec 31, 2018 to close at 68.5 sen yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM924.75 million.

Chew also said as the government has resumed orders for MyKads from Datasonic, it will help the group normalise its financial performance going forward.

“Last year, the sharp drop in orders was due to the change of government which has been cautious about spending. Currently, there are up to 25 million MyKads in circulation, of which three million are old,” he said.

Putrajaya’s MyKad order has since resumed to the normal 600,000 level. “Based on current demand, the government would need up to 2.7 million MyKads per year,” said Chew.

Meanwhile, Datasonic is confident of securing the next tender for the supply of MyKads as the existing RM260 million contract is expiring end-2019.

“For the supply of 12 million MyKad contract, it will expire at end-December. But so far the government has only completed about 40% of the order.

“So, we expect there will be an extension. Based on the unused order, it can last for another three years,” he said.

Chew also said the group is setting up a factory to produce financial cards for banks in a move to improve margins. It currently sources the cards from third parties, giving it a margin of only 5-10%.

“If we have our own factory and system, we will be able to enjoy better margins. We bought a factory in Klang, Selangor. Once it is commissioned, we would be able to supply financial cards to banks, [and] margins would go up,” he added.

Source: The Edge

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/ ... ration-job
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Fri Dec 06, 2019 9:14 am

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Trading Buy: DSONIC - 5216
Flag breakout to retest RM1.11-1.25
(Last price: RM1.06, Potential upside +17.9%)


Company Profile

Datasonic Group (DSONIC) is involved in the provision of ICT solutions including the smart card personalisation (such as secure ID or chip-based credit / debit / bank cards), customisation of software and hardware solutions, project management, consultancy, R&D and technical consultancy services. Besides, Datasonic also provide biometric solutions.

Trading Catalyst

As the net profit jumped 75.5% YoY to RM27.9m in 1H20 vs. RM15.9m in 1H19 on the back of higher supplies of consumables, passport and provision of personalisation services, the share price has stabilised around the RM1.00 level.

Meanwhile, the group is continuing its effort to negotiate better pricing for its raw materials from its suppliers, which may contribute to mild margin expansion moving forward.

Currently, its orderbook stood at RM673m which is likely to sustain its earnings for the next 2-3 years.

We noticed trading volumes have picked up following the flag formation breakout yesterday.

Technical View
Resistance: RM1.11 / RM1.18 / RM1.25
Support: RM1.00 / RM0.980
Cut loss: RM0.970

Key Financial Stats
1H20 net profit: RM27.9m (+75.5%)
Dividend yield: 2.12%

Source: Bloomberg, HLIB
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Sun Jan 05, 2020 1:59 pm

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Datasonic Group Bhd
Price: RM1.48

The company that is in the provision of solutions for immigration-related services saw a rebound in its share price following improvements in its bottom line last year.

This was a change compared with 2018 where its profitability was on a downtrend.

Datasonic supplies chips for passports and identity cards, which is a critical component for the documents.

People passing through the electronic gates at the Immigration points in the airport would sometimes see Datasonic personnel at hand to assist passengers.

Going forward, Datasonic is in the running for two major border control projects under the Immigration Department. One of them is the provision of e-Visa services for foreign national from China, India and other countries.

It is learnt that the proposal by Datasonic is for the revenue to be shared with the government in return for the company providing the infrastructure and maintaining the system.

The other project for Datasonic is an integrated system for the Immigration Department where all segments of border control are in communication with each other to trace fugitives coming in or leaving the country. This was previously known as the Sistem Kawalan Immigration Nasional or the SKIN project which is up for re-tender.

Although the share price of Datasonic has risen in recent months following its better results and speculation of upcoming projects, I feel that Datasonic still has some room to go pending the announcements of the two projects.

At the moment, its supply of chips for passports and identity cards already provides the company with a stable income.

Datasonic also has a new shareholder and new management team.

Source: Phillips
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Re: Datasonic Group

Postby winston » Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:09 am

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Razali raises stake in Datasonic Group

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Razali Mohd Yusof, who emerged as a key shareholder in Datasonic Group Bhd last month, has upped his stake in the technology firm.

Razali’s vehicle, Demi Mekar Sdn Bhd now has a 6.45% stake in the group after acquiring an earlier 3.9% stake on Dec 18,2019.

Datasonic, in a filing to the stock exchange, stated that Demi Mekar had acquired 87,162,000 shares on Jan 2,2020.

Razali, who was recently appointed as Datasonic’s deputy president, also sits on the board of MARINE & GENERAL BHD, which is mainly involved in marine logistics in the upstream and downstream segments.

With over 25 years of experience in the mining and oil and gas industry, Razali has held many roles ranging from developing businesses, managing critical projects, organisational development and providing advisory and consultancy services.

It has been speculated that there could be a revamp in the group’s top management following the recent changes in its shareholding.

The group’s long-serving managing director Datuk Abu Hanifah Noordin is expected to step down.

A StarBizweek report, citing sources, said Razali or persons related to him, will take over as the group’s new managing director.

“Razali and his related parties are increasing their stake in the company to get a better control, ” the source was quoted as saying.

On Dec 18, Abu Hanifah sold about 186.41 million shares or 48% of his total share units in Datasonic via direct business transactions.

Despite the disposal, Abu Hanifah is the single largest shareholder with 202.67 million shares in Datasonic.

This represented a direct and indirect shareholding of 10.17% and 4.84% respectively.

Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/bus ... onic-group
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