PUC shareholders approve diversification plan

PETALING JAYA: PUC Bhd, which has been actively expanding its reach in the technology space recently, has won shareholders approved for the acquisition of a 33% stake in Pictureworks Holdings Bhd today, paving the way for its diversification into the digital space.
“We are happy to see the support from shareholders for the acquisition. Moving on, there will be a lot more work for the group to do, to integrate what Pictureworks has into our Presto platform under PUC, to help enhance the value for Presto. Especially given that we will be launching our e-wallet very soon. So, we will leverage on what Pictureworks has in terms of accessibility on theme park and travel industry,” said group managing director and CEO Cheong Chia Chou.
“The team is very busy ensuring that our upcoming digital and technology platform is in good shape and also up to global standards to help Malaysia’s digital community excel into the next level. Meanwhile, we keep our solar plants as it is and we’ll come back to that business after we settle down with the integration and expansion of our digital business,” he told SunBiz at its EGM today.
Cheong said it will be business as usual for its solar segment, which contributes less than 10% to the group, and expects its media business, especially digital media and payment business, to take on a larger percentage of its total revenue.
“Last time we used to have almost 94% of our business from traditional media. In the coming year, we will see that it will be more balanced out especially from the increase with our payment business,” he said, adding that the three key pillars of its business moving forward would be media, payment and technology.
Last year, it obtained Bank Negara Malaysia’s approval to issue electronic money and launched Presto, a social marketing and e-wallet platform.
More recently, it announced plans to take up to 24% stake and management control in e-commerce platform 11street Malaysia owner Celcom Planet Sdn Bhd for up to RM90 million.
It also entered into a three-year joint agreement with Chinese industrial research institute ShenZhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to set up the Presto Intelligence Technology Laboratory.
However, Cheong said its immediate focus will be on the RM52.8 million stake acquisition in Pictureworks, which will see PUC issuing 64.6 million new shares at 32.2 sen per share or RM20.8 million, while the balance of RM32 million will be paid on a staggered basis when Pictureworks meets its profit guarantee.
The deal comes with a guaranteed profit after tax of RM14.8 million and RM20.5 million for the financial years ending Dec 31, 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Pictureworks provides imagery capture and distribution platforms for major theme parks and leisure and entertainment sites, an industry that Cheong is upbeat on.
“The theme park industry, in Asia particularly, is actually a fast growing market. Big players are constantly expanding their existing resorts like Shanghai Disneyland’s grand opening of their Toy Story Land today,” he said.
PUC’s share price fell 2.44% or half sen to close at 20 sen today with 68.98 million shares traded.