Dear Shona, you wrote:
Please explain the rationale for the liquidation of the Philippines and Malaysia wholly owned subsidiaries in greater detail.
There is a concern that by doing so, it appears that the company business is contracting and that the increase in revenue for this period is only temporarily.
Thanks for taking my above questions.
We recently announced the liquidation of two subsidiaries, TeleChoice Philippines Inc and NWave Telecoms (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. Both companies had been dormant for some time and we did not see the need to continue to maintain them as we have other companies in both Malaysia and the Philippines to serve our needs. The closure of these two companies have no material impact on the TeleChoice Group's ("Group") financial performance and in no way affects our ability to do business in these two countries.
In Malaysia, we operate through four subsidiaries that cover our Personal Communications Solutions ("PCS") Services, Network Engineering ("Engineering") Services and Info-Communications Technologies ("ICT") Services businesses. In the Philippines, we have two subsidiaries that cover our ICT Services and Engineering Services businesses.
It should be noted that we also have subsidiaries in Indonesia and Thailand, and a representative office in Vietnam.
Please be assured that the closure of these two companies does not affect, nor reflect, the Group's growth strategy. Through our acquisitions of S & I Systems Pte Ltd ("S&I") and NxGen Communications Pte Ltd ("NxGen"), our ICT Services division has gained the scale and capability to effectively compete in the ICT space and gained a valuable foothold in the financial services and hospitality industries in the area of enterprise IT infrastructure, business solutions, system integration, managed solutions and cloud computing solutions. The Group has also established an important presence in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines through their existing business networks. PCS Services has expanded its scope of services to U-Mobile Sdn Bhd ("U-Mobile"), Malaysia's fourth largest 3G service provider, which had a positive impact on performance. It is also continuing to expand its retail network in Singapore where it operates 15 outlets through its subsidiary, Planet Telecoms Pte Ltd. Engineering Services, meanwhile, has established itself as a leader in radio network planning and optimisation projects in Indonesia and has built a strong portfolio of projects in Malaysia. It will pursue other regional market opportunities.
We are optimistic of our mid- to long-term growth and see rationalisation as a necessary, ongoing process to ensure business efficacy across all our markets and not as a contraction of our business.
Dear Janice Soh, you wrote:
May I know what prospects TeleChoice could provide investors/shareholders should we remain invested in the company?
I have been a shareholder of the company for many years and did not see much growth in the company, so to say increase in shareholders' value reflected in its share price.
Thank you for your continued support all these years. As you know, a company's share price is dependent on many factors, not just growth prospects. We are focusing on the continued and sustained growth of TeleChoice over the mid- to long-term so as to ensure shareholder returns not only in terms of capital gains but also in the form of dividends. Towards this end, we have put in place a strategy for the transformation of our businesses to an integrated info-communications technology, cloud computing and network engineering solutions provider in line with prevailing market trends. This process has taken place over the last few years and we are beginning to see the positive results of this strategy. In addition to having grown its business in Malaysia, through an expanded agreement with U-Mobile to provide management, mobile handphone fulfilment and supply chain services, PCS will leverage on the strong demand for smartphones as another avenue of growth as well as continue to strengthen its relationship with StarHub. ICT Services has taken steps to adjust its operations to be in alignment with corporate sector demand. It will continue to roll out product and services which meet the needs of a mobile workforce as it seeks to grow its enterprise solutions. Engineering Services' performance is expected to remain strong in the near term. It will strengthen its presence in Malaysia, pursue regional market opportunities and increase its portfolio of product and service offerings.
Dear Choo Soon Kiah, you wrote:
Will TeleChoice go for bidding of the mobile phone license in Singapore, like SingTel, M1 and StarHub?
TeleChoice's three main business units are working on various opportunities presented by the NGNBN rollout and other developments in the info-communications space. We have no plans to bid for a mobile phone licence in Singapore.
Dear Jayster, you wrote:
U Mobile is the fourth largest telco in Malaysia. How many mobile subscribers does U Mobile currently have? What is mobile penetration rate in Malaysia? How many outlets does U Mobile currently have? What are the expansion plans?
From its official records, as of 21 May 2012 U Mobile has two million registered subscribers although this figure could be substantially higher as the records have not been as yet updated. According to Regulator Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission ("MCMC"), the mobile-phone penetration rate in Malaysia, is 133.3% or almost 38.5 million subscribers. U Mobile currently has 17 points of touch, 14 retail outlets and three RadioShacks. Unfortunately, we are not in a capacity to comment on U Mobile's expansion plans.
ST Telemedia, your parent is bidding for a Telco licence in Myanmar, is TeleChoice involved?
Due to commercial sensitivities, we typically do not disclose, confirm or deny any such activities.
Dear Gilbert Tan, you wrote:
Your infocomm acquisition isn't working, any asset impairment soon? The cloud business that you have been expecting doesn't seem to be panning out. Did you lose the government cloud tender to SingTel? I think focusing on the ERP business would be more profitable.
Our acquisitions have demonstrated consistent profits and from our projections will require no impairment (confirmed by our auditors). Our cloud business has expanded well and our subscriber base has tripled in 2012. As for the government cloud project, yes Singtel has won the tender and we are in partnership with them to supply the Oracle application portion of the tender. We are in the ERP business and we will continue to leverage this amongst other solutions to drive further synergies and growth for our info-communications business.
Dear Investors,
Thank you for all your questions and your interest in TeleChoice International Limited. We have come to the end of this On-Line Q&A session.
We have enjoyed the session and have learnt form your questions. We hope that through the Online Q&A, you have gained better insights to our Company and our operations.
Regards,
The Management Team
TeleChoice International Limited
