BFM: THE LONG ROAD TO LEARNING CORPORATE MALAYSIA

November 1, 2023 2 mins to read
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SMR Technologies Chairman & CEO Dato’ Dr R Palan discusses the following questions:

  • You’ve been a trainer all your life. At what point did you realise the necessity to institutionalise your work into a corporate structure
  • Discuss the path to SMR – and then the path to becoming a PLC

BUSINESS PLAN – REVENUE STREAMS

  • Discussion on each — and which is the biggest contributor to group revenue – and whether overdependence on one or the other Professional HR solutions (events/consulting/outsourcing/search)
  • HR Software (HRDPower.Net Enterprise, HRDPower SAAS)
  • Education (National Capacity Building: english language, vocational skills, tertiaryeducation)

OPERATIONS

  • Challenges: people / fee and pricing pressure / adoption / preference for foreign professionals and not local?
  • Challenges: developers / upgrades? –
  • Challenges: dealing with a government which has back-shelved English as a means of learning science and maths
  • Positioning? What is SMR? A software firm? Event manager? A university / education provider? A trainer? Clarity of focus
  • Whether the street / investment community values SMR accordingly – Client breakdown: GLC / Private sector

GROWTH – EXPANSION

  • With most — 95% — of group revenue coming from OCHR (Outsourcing, consulting and HR activities) where is the next leg of growth coming from
  • Tertiary education: ISSUES

CORPORATE – PLC – EXERCISES

  • Purchase of 70%-stake in In-Fusion Education Sdn Bhd – RM27.5 mln – Reasons for purchase
  • Loss after taxation of RM4.9 mln with a BV of RM14 mln at FYE Dec 2011. .. Explain? “operating issues”?
  • Many of the 1,400 students are government sponsored … PTPTN – issues

FINANCIALS

  • Reasons for big revenue increase in FY2011 and in FY12
  • SMRT: listed since 2005 and remained on ACE Market since then. Intention to stay “junior” — big fish in small pond — or larger plans to graduate to the Main Market
  • Liquidity – coverage issues – Vastly undervalued: 3.2x PE
  • Concentrated ownership – why stay listed?

Source: BFM.my