KUALA LUMPUR (June 30): ACE Market-listed enterprise data management and storage solutions firm Kronologi Asia Bhd said the group is still looking for merger and acquisition (M&A) plans to bring it up to the next level of growth.

“We are looking at M&A if the opportunity arises. This is the strategy to expand our footprint and increase our market size for our services and solutions,” said its chief executive officer Edmond Tay Nam Hiong during a video briefing today on the group’s latest financial results.

However, he said the group is still exploring the opportunities and has no details to share.

In line with its strategic growth plans for geographical expansion, the group has recently closed the deal to acquire the remaining 83.33% equity interest in Quantum China Ltd, to further expand its sales, marketing and customer coverage footprint to an enterprise data management (EDM) and cloud computing market.

“China is the largest market in Asia and the world. We want to be relevant to this market. Deals are proven to be much larger, rapid and [growing strongly],” said Tay.

Meanwhile, Tay said he is confident the group is able to grow at a “healthy pace” this year, underpinned by the growth of the group’s existing markets, such as ASEAN, China and India.

Tay said these countries are recovering from Covid-19 lockdown which will spur the data demand.

He also noted the group’s products and services demand are strong, as demonstrated by three consecutive quarters of increasing customer orders.

Kronologi Asia announced yesterday that it returned to the black by posting a net profit of RM4.02 million for the first quarter ended April 30, 2021.

In comparison, the group posted a net loss of RM11.24 million a year ago.

Its revenue, meanwhile, rose 13.19% to RM58.82 million, from RM51.97 million a year ago.

According to Kronologi Asia, the majority of the group’s revenue was derived from the Philippines, amounting to RM30.98 million (52.67% of total revenue), followed by Singapore, which recorded RM17.72 million (30.12% of total revenue).

By product category, the EDM infrastructure technology segment continued to dominate the group’s revenue, amounting to RM46.55 million or 79.14% of total revenue, with EDM as-a-service making up the balance.

At the time of writing, Kronologi Asia shares rose one sen or 1.59% to 64 sen, valuing the group at RM395.67 million.