Silverlake Axis half-year profit up 5%
Ry-Anne Lim
ENTERPRISE technology, software and services company Silverlake Axis (SAL) posted a 5 per cent increase in profit after tax for the six months ended Dec 31, 2022, to RM99.7 million (S$30.4 million), up from RM94.8 million the year before.
Earnings per share climbed by 12 per cent to RM0.0396 for the period, from RM0.0353 a year ago.
Revenue hiked by 9 per cent to RM392.3 million, compared to the RM358.5 million recorded in the previous year. It was driven by higher contributions from project-related revenue segments, which remained “robust” and rose 18 per cent to RM96.9 million, said the mainboard-listed group in a business update on Tuesday (Feb 14).
This includes revenue from software licensing, which grew 39 per cent to RM56 million, from RM40.3 million – mainly due to a broader base of new software licence sales across countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Revenue from sale of software and hardware products also shot up 192 per cent to RM17.3 million, while revenue from retail transactions processing surged 172 per cent to RM1.9 million.
Revenue from software project services, on the other hand, slipped by 2 per cent to RM40.9 million, as the progression of actual project delivery varies from quarter to quarter.
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“There was additional revenue recognised from recently closed contracts from countries such as Thailand, UAE and Malaysia, hence bringing project services revenue to a level comparable to (the previous year),” said SAL.
Some 11 per cent of this revenue was delivered through cloud computing and 7 per cent from the group’s software-as-a-service segment.
Total expenses for six months amounted to RM107.6 million, up 22 per cent from the RM88.4 million posted in the year-ago period. These were mainly attributable to higher administrative, selling and distribution, as well as financing costs.
The resumption of travel post-pandemic and increase in headcount had also contributed to the overall increase in total operating expenses, said the group.
SAL highlighted that this increase was “anticipated” and planned for in this financial year to support the “growth and sustainability” of the business, amid growing inflationary pressures and the tight labour market.
Looking ahead, the group said it will continue investing in cloud, artificial intelligence and other technologies to expand its suite of solutions.
Despite the current macroeconomic climate and “local complexity”, which could affect SAL’s growth, managing director Andrew Tan emphasised that the group is prepared and have “the right mix of products and project delivery to meet these challenges”.
“We continue to see strength in all our core revenue segments and we remain confident of our prospects going into the second half for the financial year,” he said.
Shares of SAL closed flat at S$0.37 on Tuesday, before the release of the business update.
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