Establishes a Center of Excellence to Drive the Integration and Innovative Application of IT Products from Mainland China and the Rest of the World
Focuses on the Greater Bay Area Market
News Release – August 22 2024
(Hong Kong, 22 August 2024) – Automated Systems Holdings Limited (“ASL” or “the Group”) (HKEX stock code: 771), a professional and trustworthy regional unified technology services partner, announced its interim results for the six months ended 30th June 2024 (the “Review Period”). Total revenue of the Group’s core businesses (namely businesses in Hong Kong and the other Asia Pacific regions) recorded HK$1,225.5 million (2023 Interim: HK$1,242.4 million) . Adjusted PBT recorded HK$55.9 million, up 2.1% as compared to the same period last year. The adjusted net profit recorded HK$46.0 million, up 2.2%.
In the Review Period, the Group recorded a profit attributable to the Company’s equity holders of HK$38.1 million, a decrease of 58.2% compared to HK$91.1 million for the corresponding period last year. The decrease was mainly due to a reduction in the net gain from the deemed disposal of partial interests in an associate recorded during this period. The Group’s basic earnings per share and diluted earnings per share were both 4.57 HK Cents (2023 Interim: basic earnings per share and diluted earnings per share were 10.93 HK Cents). Gross profit for the six months ended 30th June 2024 was HK$123.2 million (2023 Interim: HK$124.5 million), representing a similar result as compared to corresponding period last year.
The Group maintained a healthy financial position during the Review Period. For the six months ended 30th June 2024, orders newly secured by the Group amounted to approximately HK$1,295.0 million, representing a similar result as compared to corresponding period last year. As at 30th June 2024, the Group’s order book balance was approximately HK$1,569.3 million. The Group’s bank balances and cash and time deposits in total stood at approximately HK$718.7 million with a working capital ratio of 1.83:1, the Group has no outstanding borrowings.
The Group’s three businesses, namely DevSecOps, showed stable growth in service revenue compared to the Review Period last year. In addition to the DevSecOps business (see description below), the Group was also involved in system integration.
In terms of the Innovative Solutions Business (Application Development — Enhance customer experience with innovative applications; Dev), the service orders newly secured recorded an increase as compared to the same period last year. The increase was mainly attributable to higher orders amount for application development and the provision of IT outsourcing services. During the period, its service revenue recorded HK$249.8 million. In the review period, the Group was keen to promote the brand and technological application of ITAI (Information Technology Application Innovation) and participate in the establishment of “iAM Smart+” platform, supporting the government to develop Hong Kong as a smart city covering people’s livelihood, such as transportation and healthcare. In addition, the Group launched an inter-institutional academic platform using blockchain technology and enhanced its technical support and application of APP. The Group also supported an enterprise engaging in electronic payment system through our offshore delivery excellence center, providing cross border payment services in the Greater Bay area and Southeast Asia. It demonstrated the strengths and innovation capabilities of the Group.
In regard to Intelligent Cybersecurity Services Business (Cybersecurity — Protect your assets with intelligent security technology; Sec), the service orders newly secured recorded a growth as compared to corresponding period last year. During the period, service revenue amounted to HK$105.4 million. The main business growth was due to the ongoing demand from cybersecurity, Security Operation Center and security managed services. In the aviation sector, the Group implemented a large-scale network installation and data center revamp project. In banking and retail industry, numerous customers adopted our Security Operation Center (SOC) and security managed services. In the first half of 2024, we have been using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to improve SOC platform.
In respect of Integrated Managed Services Business (Omni-channel Managed Services — Simplify your IT operations to increase efficiency; Ops), service orders newly secured in the Integrated Managed Services Business presented growth compared to the Review Period last year. The service revenue recorded HK$244.6 million, fueled by market demand for ITSM projects, DevSecOps and managed services. During the review period, the Group has undertaken large-scale data migration and provided daily information technology operations services in certain sectors. This included migrating a mission-critical system for an entertainment organization, which was a project of significant scale and complexity. This showcased the Group’s services integration capabilities and deep understanding of customer’s business operations.
With regard to the new businesses, the Group actively promotes Information Technology Application Innovation (“ITAI”) products. In view of the Chinese government’s strategy to promote ITAI, the Group has established a “Center of Excellence”. This center aims at promoting the integration and innovative application of IT products from mainland China and the rest of the world, in order to better serve customers in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay area. The Group currently has the support of over 70 world-class IT vendors and over 30 ITAI vendors. The scale of this center is industry leading.
The Group is actively fostering its presence in the Greater Bay Area and has kept meeting the demands of various sectors and providing better applications to its customers. During the period, the Group has actively participate in activities within our competitive sectors with an aim to enhance brand awareness of the Group and keep its customers abreast of the latest technology trend of the sector, for instance, promoting digital finance across the Greater Bay area to financial sector and introducing innovative applications and integrated practices of technologies in China, such as Large Language Model (LLM) to governmental departments.
As for the business of associates, for the first half of 2024, GDH reported total revenue of US$162.9 million (equivalent to approximately HK$1,271.6 million), an increase from US$157.4 million (equivalent to approximately HK$1,234.0 million) in the first half of 2023. One of the major Asia-Pacific associate companies, i-Sprint Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively ‘i-Sprint’), saw steady performance improvement during the period, with revenue and EBITDA growing to approximately HK$68.7 million and HK$15.8 million, respectively.
Looking ahead, the Group is not only accelerating the building of a Chinese brand ecosystem but is also preparing to establish an offshore development center at the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary to undertake software development tasks from Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas. The center will feature a remote, omni-channel, 7×24 managed services support system, expected to be operational in the third quarter of this year. In fact, the Group’s omni-channel managed services adopt the ITIL standard, which belongs to the AIOps domain, equipped with the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which can help identify and solve problems more swiftly.
To conclude, the Group will continue to elevate its DevSecOps integration capabilities, expand its talent pool through, among others, attracting Mainland talents, and promote its managed services based on the DevSecOps Managed Services Maturity Model. By leveraging our sector knowledge and familiarity with customer business environments to capitalize on our strengths in customer applications, the Group will focus on developing those sectors with advantages, such as government and banking sectors, and further enhance our capability of pre-sales and after-sales services for such specific sectors, in order to meet the market demands. The Group is committed to becoming a leading Unified Technology Services Partner in the region. We will work hand in hand with customers to build a brighter future. Together, we are Unified for Success!
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