CYBERJAYA, Selangor: Datasonic Group Bhd will submit fresh proposals to the Home Ministry to contract produce Malaysian passports following the change in government after the 14th General Elections last month.
Managing director Datuk Abu Hanifah Noordin said all proposals submitted in the past will have to reviewed and resubmitted as the new government has different priorities, constraints and objectives.
"We will submit new proposals on Malaysia passports as we have always offered the best value, and our pricing is lower than the previous tender.
“Our project awards are mainly from competitive tenders," he told reporters after the company's shareholders meeting here today.
He said for example, the company's passport project when first introduced, was 15 per cent cheaper than the existing vendor and the quality of the company's passports are 10 times better.
At the shareholders’ meeting today, Datasonic shareholders approved of the issuance of 675 million free warrants on the basis one free warrant for every two existing shares.
If the warrants are fully exercised at RM1.01, the gross proceeds will be RM681.75 million, which will be utilised to strengthen Datasonic’s capital base and provide the group with additional working capital.
Two months ago, Datasonic announced it is buying a factory in Klang for RM18.88 million for smart card manufacturing.
Incidentally, its unit Datasonic Technologies Sdn Bhd had also secured a RM270.71 million contract from the Ministry of Home Affairs to supply 9.96 million polycarbonate biodata pages to the Immigration Department of Malaysia.
Datasonic has furnished a RM3.5 million performance bond to the ministry, effective from 1st February 2018 to 30th November 2022.
Datasonic’s profits rose 7 per cent to RM67.24 million for the year ended March 2018 from RM62.66 million posted in March 2017.
Revenue, however, fell 19 per cent to RM258.6 million from RM318.35 million previously.
Separately, it is noteworthy to highlight the group's unit Datasonic Smart Solutions Sdn Bhd (DSSSB), the developer of the new MyKad for the government, enjoys tax exemption up until 17th May 2022.