“There are significant opportunities in the oil, gas and energy sector, as energy demand remains high long-term as it is a key economic driver globally. The current market conditions will allow structural industry-wide initiatives on cost optimisation and capital discipline that will strengthen long-term resiliency of the industry. For Malaysia and the region, I expect the energy sector to remain robust as it is a critical enabler to economic growth of the region,” said En Zainal Abidin Jalil, Group Managing Director of DNeX.
Kuala Lumpur, 24 June 2015 – Dagang NeXchange Berhad (“DNeX”) is beefing up efforts in its diversification into oil, gas and energy while at the same time strengthening its leadership position in providing e-commerce services for Trade Facilitation.
The diversification into oil, gas and energy, which will serve as another revenue pillar for the company in the near future, is a strategic move for the company to create long-term sustainable growth.
Since the company announced its diversification plans in June last year, several early moves have been made, which are critical building blocks to develop a business of scale that will propel profitable growth for the Group and improve earning resiliency.
These early moves include DNeX’s proposed acquisition of OGPC Sdn Bhd and OGPC O&G Sdn Bhd, a leading provider of equipment and services for oil and gas, petrochemical and power industries, to jumpstart its venture in the industry. The Group has also acquired 51 per cent stake of Forward Energy Sdn Bhd, a company involved in power plant, energy, energy-related business specifically in the area of Independent Power Producer.
In addition, DNeX has entered into a sales and purchase agreement with Baker Hughes (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (“BH”) for the acquisition of tools and equipment for USD4,217,326 (about RM16.0 million) and an equipment rental agreement for renting the equipment to BH for USD87,860 per month for a tenure of four years with option to extend for two years on a year to year renewal.
For its e-commerce services for Trade Facilitation business, the company strives to continue providing end-to-end, comprehensive e-commerce services for Trade Facilitation particularly expanding on Business-to-Government (“B2G”) services to Business-to-Business (“B2B”) services, he said.
DNeX will soon introduce a Trade Facilitation portal, which will feature all its B2G and B2B e-commerce services as well as other value-adding services, and offer the convenience of a one-stop portal for access to these services to help companies and organisations improve their processes and operational efficiencies, he added.
Under the B2B segment, the company has introduced new services starting with myTrade2Cash, which is a centralised online trade financing service aimed at providing timely and efficient electronic trade finance service for exporters, particularly those in the small and medium enterprise (“SME”) category.
In addition, the company has also introduced another service – myCargo2U – Malaysia’s first all-in-one solution for cargo and trade management. Targeted at forwarding agents, freight forwarders, exporters and importers, myCargo2U offers end-to-end services for cargo and trade management from the point of data entry to Pre-Declaration, Declaration and Post-Declaration services.
The company reported solid turnaround in performance bouncing back from a loss-making position to profitability for the financial year ended 31 December 2014 (“FY2014”). For the full year FY2014, the company posted profit after tax of RM17.77 million as compared to net loss of RM21,000 in the financial year ended 31 December 2013 (“FY2013”).
Its FY2014 revenue of RM86.80 million registered an improvement over its FY2013 revenue of RM85.80 million. The company’s earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (“EBITDA”) improved by 18.7 per cent from RM33.0 million in FY2013 to RM39.2 million in FY2014.
In addition, its return on equity (“ROE”) improved to 16.5 per cent from -5.7 per cent in FY2013. DNeX’s sterling performance was a result of an increase in its Trade Facilitation business, and focused efforts in improving operational efficiency in all areas of business.