KUALA LUMPUR: The deployment of the fifth-generation network (5G) in Malaysia is poised to benefit the end-users in numerous areas and create jobs for the people with the rollout being on track.
Prof Ir Dr Hafizal Mohamad, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said Malaysia could see more new jobs with the advancement of the network, coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) applications, particularly in the education, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
Being one of the first countries in the region to build a 5G ecosystem, he said some projections estimated that approximately 148,000 new jobs would be created as the new 5G rollout progresses.
"These new AI and AR applications are not possible with the current network, unlike the 5G network. Therefore, we should be able to see quite a number of startups blooming soon to provide new services for 5G," he told Bernama recently.
According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), a total of 500 5G locations have been completed under phase 1A as at December 2021, covering areas in Cyberjaya, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, while phase 1B would see another rollout of 3,518 5G sites by year-end.
Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), the government-owned special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the 5G rollout, is committed to an accelerated schedule to roll out 5G coverage to 80 per cent of the population by 2024.
Hafizal said the new generation of network enables small and medium enterprises to have secure, stable and reliable connectivity to promote their product with creativity.
"If you look back to the 3G era, if companies wanted to promote their services or products, they're able to circulate the information using videos and audios to describe (them) but with 5G, we might see more advance methods being used, including high-definition videos," he said.
Under Jalinan Digital Negara (JENDELA), he said the government has provided a high-quality initiative for a 5G wireless network, where the MCMC has identified three bands, namely low-band, mid-band and high-band, in accordance with other countries.
"With 5G, we can also see high-speed data and ultra-low latency application emerging, particularly in industrial usage as it is important in the era of industrial revolution and some other applications of vertical that require very low latency.
"If you do a speed test, end users can see several megabit per second speed for 4G-compatible devices, but 5G can deliver up to a gigabit data per second, besides increasing capacity by about 100 times compared to 4G," he explained.
The 3G network is being retired effective Dec 31, 2021, while the 4G network is being strengthened as part of the JENDELA initiative that aims to upgrade Malaysia's digital communications infrastructure in preparation for the 5G rollout.
On Nov 10, 2021, the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia launched the country's first 5G network in a bid to improve connectivity and become a high-income nation.
The rollout of 5G will not affect the 4G connectivity for the public as both networks are being deployed independently, Hafizal said, adding that the network would support more devices, including the internet of things (IoT) devices.
Furthermore, he said the combination use of 5G and AI is also important in smart farming to analyse data on soil acidity, nutrient levels and temperature remotely through the use of sensors.
"Additionally, one of the common deployments of 5G is the smart city. For instance, Langkawi has demonstrated transmission and monitoring for enforcement purposes using 5G through the setting up of traffic cameras in strategic locations to recognise and analyse human behaviour.
"We can also see use cases in the oil and gas industry such as Petronas' deployment of autonomous robots to conduct inspections, 4K video streaming and some other sensors for their operations," he said.
As such, Hafizal opined that the government's plans have been implemented with a clear goal in mind, and he hopes that the synergy and coordination among relevant agencies would be strengthened to make sure the plan is executed as planned. — BERNAMA
The golden rule of investing in value stock is the profitability of the company. Although that might not be the case from some market leader, but commonly, a company needs to be profitable before it could reward shareholders. So, is ARBB profitable? Let’s take a look at their 5 years revenue and net profit trend.
Revenue
FYE2016 – RM35.0 million
FYE2017 – RM11.4 million
FYE2018 – RM15.3 million
FYE2019 – RM102.6 million
FYE2020 – RM219.5 million
1QFY2021 – RM49.5 million
For those who are new to ARBB, the increase in revenue is mainly caused by a shift in core business model. ARBB had evolved from a traditional lumber upstream player to an enterprise solution provider as well as IoT player. But again, revenue doesn’t prove anything. What about their bottom line?
Net Profit After Tax
FYE2016 – (RM15.6 million)
FYE2017 – (RM3.6 million)
FYE2018 – RM4.2 million
FYE2019 – RM32.8 million
FYE2020 – RM42.9 million
1QFY2021 – RM6.8 million
It seems like the turnaround of core business from timber to a technology company had really paid off. But unfortunately, the company suffered a minor setback in their 1Q results due to lagged overview of the market. The next quarter is likely to be stumped by the Movement Control Order too. However, based on their performance since FYE2018, I believe there is a good chance for them to back on track for growth.
Dilution has always been a hot topic for discussion for ARBB due to their complex derivatives structure of ICPS. Let’s take a look at the number of shares from FYE2016 to date.
FYE2016 – 61.1 million shares
FYE2017 – 61.1 million shares
FYE2018 – 67.2 million shares
FYE2019 – 289.8 million shares
FYE2020 – 454.9 million shares
1QFY2021 – 588.4 million shares
Before we proceed, I would need to explain the structure of their ICPS. In order to fund their conversion of business, ARBB issued up to 15 times of their initial share base of 61.1 million in order to raise funds. Due to the unique characteristic of ICPS, ARBB per share value was not immediately diluted – but instead, only dilutes whenever there are conversions from ICPS to the common share.
In short, ARBB did 2 rounds of funding – one via issuance of ICPS and upon conversion, ARBB would receive funds from shareholder on the basis of 20 cents per conversion.
However, there is a maximum dilutive effect of these ICPS. For starter, there are approximately 419.8 million ICPS left in the market. If these ICPS were converted, the maximum number of shares for ARBB would be 1008.2 million shares.
Based on 1QFY2021 results and if we average it by 4 quarters and discount it by 20%, a very conservative net profit figure would be RM21.8 million, or 0.0216 in EPS. By using the closing price on LDP 25.5 cents, this would translate to an approximate PE ratio of 11.81 times.
Kah Fui, can we buy the product? Do u understand the business? According to Warren buffet, he only invests in businesses that he understands. Does arbb sells anything related to 5g? The public is watching bro
Sadly, we do not have too much great software-based technology companies in Malaysia. The closest peers I could find would be the newly listed RAMSSOL, CENSOF and probably MICROLN. The PE ratio for these companies are 42.44 times, 10.20 times and 19.38 times.
On average, ARBB should deserve an 18.00 (conservative basis) times PE ratio to 24.01 times PE ratio (fair value) and 30.00 times in bull scenarios. Thus, the share price should be:
18.00 times PE ratio under maximum dilution – 39.0 cents
24.01 times PE ratio under maximum dilution – 52.0 cents
30.00 times PE ratio under maximum dilution – 65.0 cents
In order words, ARBB is currently trading at a plenty margin of safety left
One last key concern of investors on ARBB is the trade receivables. I totally agree that after the SERBADK incident, investors should keep an eye on trade receivables.
Also, this might be the only weakness for ARBB thus far.
Under the financial period of FYE2020, the company had a total of RM132.4 million in trade receivables.
It is important to point out that out of the RM132.4 million had not past due the “grace period” of the company, given to its clients.
There is potential risk, however, on the remaining RM30.1 million which has past due between 31-120 days and RM27.3 million which past due between 121-210 days.
Should you be worried? Yes. But to be fair to ARBB, let’s find out why the trade receivables are increasing.
ARRB is principle involved in enterprise solution, which to be more specific, that would ERP for business.
ARBB focuses on delivery customised ERP solution for small and medium businesses. However, ERP is known for a very high entry costs for small and medium businesses.
The solution given by ARBB is a profit-sharing scheme where they would enjoy the growth of these businesses.
In the year of 2020, most businesses suffered loss – some even shut down for good. The trade receivables are mainly coming from their client and not ARBB itself directly.
Hence, we should expect that once the economy turns over, ARBB should see a sharp decrease in trade receivables.
Also, the auditors had done an impairment test on the trade receivables for ARBB in FYE2020, but the results are positive towards ARBB.
Very useful info and analysis, Kahfui. The trade receivables are a concern which may become bad debts. By the way, where did you manage to obtain all these info?
Based on some shareholders’ feedback we see for ARB, the software nature of the company had lacked clarity and coupled with malicious intent from some parties, it is hard to structure investors confidence on the company. But with involvement in traditional business with a twist of technology, investors are likely to have a light-hearted mind to understand ARB better.
As such, the single digit price-earnings valuation will no longer sustain once investors realizes the potential company. Can you spot any similar tech related companies with low single digit price-earnings valuation?
Hehe…. Peer comparison. Neonstrife and Kah Thui always feel 5G going to affect ARBB. So companies directly involved are Axiata / Maxis…. But axiata we understand what they do … we know their products. But arbb what they do? Track record? I want to buy their product…. They imply cannot….
But yes I do understand EastWestTalker’s logic. Some companies have specialised products. So they hide their products. I also have specialised handphone shop! Why can’t I buy arbb’s product? Why so much fuss… is it because I’m not so rich!
Analysis of arbb… it touched 50 cents and dropped to 11 cents. It’s a hidden gem, that was once upon a time a gem, then become rock… and now u say will be gem back? Is it? Arbb is play gem rock trick is it?
Kah Thui which sme subscribed to arbb’s erp? I also run a sme? Why im not allowed to buy? What kind of sme can Buy these super specialised IOT - ERP products?
Specialized handphone shop is not smart home related, and industry is so big. You think you own the whole market and most important you are not industry player. (Forgot : you only get limited knowledge from the youtube you shared.)
Neonstrife warren buffet said must understand the Business? Did he Talk about valuation First? I know u guys will Talk about millions? But does this Company do? Pity uncles and aunties
Public is watching bro…. From 50 cents drop to 11.5 cents. Asking money from Public when So much of profit. Products cant be bought easily…. Can we buy it ?
Ignore Line - 1) Can't recognize what is IoT, take a none related video from YouTube and explain this is IoT. 2) SPAM More than 20 pages+ FULL OF ARBB 3) Copy paste the question over and over again. (Even all question is answer by different people) 4) Cursing on everyone family. 5) Line can browse i3 but cant read/download report (joke of the day) 6) Predict tomorrow number .
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This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
neonstrife
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Posted by neonstrife > 2022-05-23 11:37 | Report Abuse
KUALA LUMPUR: The deployment of the fifth-generation network (5G) in Malaysia is poised to benefit the end-users in numerous areas and create jobs for the people with the rollout being on track.
Prof Ir Dr Hafizal Mohamad, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said Malaysia could see more new jobs with the advancement of the network, coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) applications, particularly in the education, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
Being one of the first countries in the region to build a 5G ecosystem, he said some projections estimated that approximately 148,000 new jobs would be created as the new 5G rollout progresses.
"These new AI and AR applications are not possible with the current network, unlike the 5G network. Therefore, we should be able to see quite a number of startups blooming soon to provide new services for 5G," he told Bernama recently.