Green Packet seeking JV for hyperscale data centre in Malaysia

Group MD and CEO CC Puan said on Wednesday this centre will create a new sustainable recurring income for its communication segment, augmenting its current global voice and data wholesale business.

KUALA LUMPUR: Green Packet Bhd is actively exploring potential joint ventures with domestic and regional players to set up a hyperscale data centre here, it said in a statement after it reported improved financial results in the third quarter ended Sept 30.

Group MD and CEO CC Puan said on Wednesday this centre will create a new sustainable recurring income for its communication segment, augmenting its current global voice and data wholesale business.

“Meanwhile, our solutions segment is ready to launch the newly developed 5G customer-premises equipment (CPE) to tap and support the global roll-out of 5G networks, ” he added in the statement.

Puan was confident the wave of digital transformation will drive the group’s future prospects as more individuals, companies and governments are embracing the utilisation and adoption of digital services and processes.

“Green Packet is reinventing and reinvesting in our future as we are passionate to pursue life-improving digital innovations. We continue to look for opportunities to grow by leveraging on strategic partnerships, ” he said.

Puan said Green Packet’s collaboration with Tencent Cloud to offer cloud services in Malaysia, which is expected to go live by 1H FYE2021.

“This will contribute significantly to its digital services segment by 2022, as we continue to position ourselves to join the journey of accelerated growth in the digital economy while providing innovative technological solutions to benefit more people, enterprises and the public sector.”

Green Packet said in the third quarter ended Sept 30,2020, it turned earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) positive to RM20,000 compared with an Ebitda loss of RM6.45mil in 2Q.

Its revenue increased by 12% to RM162.7mil from RM145mil a year ago.

It also said loss after tax narrowed to RM7.7mil from RM13.3mil in 2Q mainly due to the settlement of the EMTNs via the divestment of its interest in Webe Digital Sdn Bhd to Telekom Malaysia Bhd.

The settlement resulted in a gross annual interest savings of RM21mil and placed the group in a net cash position of RM43.5mil as at Sept 30,2020.

As for its communication segment, it posted a positive Ebitda of RM100,000 which was up by 103% on quarter, on the back of a 6% revenue growth to RM135.4mil from RM127.5mil in 2Q.

Revenue from its solution (software and devices) segment’s revenue grew by 73% to RM25.9mil. However, Ebitda loss was RM8.5mil, of which RM7.9mil was due to the MyTV project.

Stripping off the MyTV impact, Ebitda loss would have narrowed significantly from RM4.1mil to RM600,000 on-quarter.

Its digital services segment’s revenue fell 44% to RM1.4mil in 3Q due to the expiry of a material contract, though Ebitda and loss after tax improved by 11% and 7% respectively, signifying improved margins.

For the nine months ended Sept 30,2020, revenue rose by 11% to RM454.7mil from RM407.9mil a year ago. Solution segment’s revenue increased by 63% to RM52.8mil, digital services by 57% to RM6.9mil and communication by 6% to RM394.9mil.