Datasonic Group Berhad 20 Chairman’s Statement Furthermore, we managed to win several contracts in FY2022 despite the tough conditions, which is a testament to the team’s capabilities and track record. All in all, our business fundamentals remained largely intact with all the measures in place alongside prudent management and strict cost discipline. The various MCOs introduced in the financial year under review had impacted our financial performance, as the demand for smart cards and its consumables were affected. Nevertheless, the orders for MyKad and passport recovered very strongly especially in the fourth quarter (“4QFY2022”) of FY2022 and enabled us to close the financial year on a stronger note. This drove our profit attributable to the owners of the Company (“net profit”) to RM10.2 million in FY2022 from RM7.3 million a year ago. On the other hand, revenue in the financial year under review stayed relatively stable on a YoY basis at RM136.4 million. In tandem with our improved performance and long track record of rewarding our shareholders consistently since our listing in 2012, we declared a total dividend of 0.6 sen per share in FY2022, amounting to RM17.2 million. This works out to a dividend payout ratio of 168.6% based on FY2022 net profit. For more detailed analysis of our financial performance, please refer to the Management Discussion and Analysis section of this Annual Report. HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (“R&D”) Human capital will always be the most valuable asset for Datasonic. Talent plays an instrumental role in growing our business and driving our R&D where our in-house R&D team has developed most of our customised systems and solutions. Therefore, Datasonic has been continuously investing in our talent and R&D regardless of the pandemic. By doing this, it would enable us to preserve and boost our competitive edge and remain as one of the most prominent security-related integrated information and communications technology (“ICT”) solutions providers in Malaysia. We have a robust human capital strategy that involves the hiring, retaining and upskilling of the right talents who are aligned with Datasonic’s culture and goals. In FY2022, we conducted employee engagement activities to gain insights in order to strengthen our human capital development while taking into account our employees’ input. It is also important to point out that there were no retrenchment or salary deductions in FY2022 due to the pandemic. Every year, Datasonic continues to make new breakthroughs in our R&D. Last year, we developed a new generation of e-gates with facial recognition and enhanced multimodal biometric solution with improved efficiency and processes. We are proud to share that these new e-gates have been successfully deployed to the Immigration Department of Malaysia’s checkpoints. As the digital transformation journey gains further traction, our efforts on the design architecture and the revamp of existing processes to digitalise the processes and procedures to adapt to the changing needs and demands have accelerated as well. Datasonic aims to develop more integrated and highsecurity products and solution services for the market that we serve and also potential markets while continuously delivering exceptional quality and delivery services to our customers. SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA Sustainability is core to us at Datasonic, as it is important for us to take into account of the Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) considerations in building a longterm sustainable business. Our business and operational approach must take into account these considerations and adapt and/or change accordingly in order to deliver longterm value to our stakeholders, as we want the actions taken today to build a better tomorrow. We have been channelling more efforts in our sustainability initiatives with the objective of continuous improvement every year. Datasonic has successfully developed several new internal guidelines, which would further improve our ESG initiatives and compliance. Despite this, we are not resting on our laurels and are exploring more ways to enhance ourselves. In the financial year under review, we continued to exercise our corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) and contributed to the local communities. There were a series of donations to charitable causes, which included monetary contribution to registered non-profit retirement and underprivileged homes, school donation drive, and national sports agenda, among others. For more in-depth elaboration on this, kindly refer to the Sustainability Statement section of this Annual Report.
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