BoardWare Announces 2023 Annual Results

HONG KONG, Mar 26, 2024 - (ACN Newswire) - BoardWare Intelligence Technology Limited ("BoardWare" or together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"; stock code: 1204.HK), a leading company in the Greater Bay Area ("GBA") that offers comprehensive, high-quality and end-to-end enterprise IT solutions, today announced its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2023 ("2023" or the "Year").

Financial Performance

The potential demands of various IT solutions resumed along with the end of the influence from COVID-19 pandemic. During the Year, the Group continued to provide comprehensive and high-quality end-to-end enterprise IT solutions as well as distribution and resale business to customers under various industry sectors in Macau, Hong Kong and the PRC. The Group endeavoured to capture the resumed demands from the recovery of the economy from the pandemic to expand its market share in Macau, Hong Kong and the PRC. During the Year, the Group’s revenue increased by 23.6% to HK$717.6 million, such increase was primarily attributable to the aggregate effect of the increase in revenue generated from both enterprise IT solutions business and distribution and resale business. Gross profit increased by 15.1% to HK$115.6 million, with gross profit margin at 16.1%. Profit for the year increased by 40.6% to HK$4.5 million. Basic earnings per Share attributable to the Shareholders increased by 15.4% to HK0.90 cents.

With regard to business segments, the revenue from enterprise IT solutions increased 27.9% to HK$456.2 million. Such increase was mainly attributable to the increase in the revenue from Professional IT services resulting from the increase in the number of contracts in Macau and the PRC. In particular, the revenue generated from the PRC increased significantly. In addition, the Group also procured different IT products for resale to fulfil the needs from different customers in Macau, Hong Kong and the PRC. The revenue from distribution and resale increased 12.4% to approximately HK$251.0 million.

Maintains the Competitive Advantage in the Macau Market while Seizing the Development Opportunities in the GBA

The government of Macau SAR has been actively promoting the development of smart city for several years. According to the "Government of Macau SAR Five Years Development Plan (2024–2028)" published in October 2023, "Transformation and upgrading of high-tech industries and traditional industries" has been introduced to develop new economy growing point by (i) strengthening the business development and policy supports to IT enterprises in Macau; (ii) enhancing the existing legal framework relating to IT industries; (iii) collaborating with Hengqin on the share of talents, resources and IT infrastructure; and (iv) enhancing the quality of the services and products from traditional industries with the assistance of new technologies.

During the Year, the Group was accredited as one of the top three key technology enterprises under the "Certification Programme for Technology Enterprises" (the "scheme") in Macau. The scheme assesses enterprises in multi-dimensions, including its businesses and scale, research and development ("R&D") status, and degree of innovation and more. Qualified enterprises to be accredited, valid for three years, as "Potential Technology Enterprises", "Growing Technology Enterprises", or "Key Technology Enterprises". The accreditation has reinforced the leading position and elevated the reputation of the Group in Macau, allowing the Group to attract more businesses.

The Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin (the "Zone") officially started closed-loop operation on 1 March 2024. The Group has been active in leveraging the resource advantages of the Zone to lower the price of IT solutions and products through the tax-free arrangement in the Zone, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of the Group. In addition, that the government of Macau SAR set the new requirements on gaming operator license relating to investments on non-gaming industries aiming at diversifying away from its reliance on gaming industry, drives growth in demand for the IT solutions and products relating to the investments from those gaming operators. Benefiting from the policy, the Group successfully signed a contract with one of the gaming operators to foster the development of digital economy among small and medium-sized enterprises ("SME") in Macau. The scope of the contract consists of (i) construction of a Software as a Service platform; (ii) development of related mobile applications; and (iii) maintenance of dynamic data storage hub for SME in Macau.

The government of Macau SAR also reinforced its policies of the "1+4" adequate diversification development strategy to enrich Macau’s function as "One Centre" for integrated tourism and leisure, while facilitating the development of four nascent industries, namely the "Big Health" industry; modern financial services; high technology; and conferences and exhibitions, commerce and trade, and culture and sports in "2024 Policy Address". By gradually increasing the proportion of these four nascent industries, it will allow Macau to boost economic growth impetus and overall competitiveness. With the increasing influence of IT elements in their business operations and related support policy from the government of Macau SAR, the Group's business development is also poised to benefit from the increasing demand of IT solutions in the above industries and achieve further growth.

Besides, in response to the development goal of "Opinions on Financial Support for The Construction of The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area", the government of Macau SAR will provide financial incentives to local small and medium enterprises and help them develop e-Commerce and cross-border e-Commerce business, as well as popularising digital payment system. With the support of the relevant policies, the Group will further maintain its current competitive advantage in the Macau market.

Driving Diversified Development through Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) Businesses

To embrace the forthcoming business opportunities from the development and widespread application of Web 3.0, the Group continues to build up its own features and functions in Artificial Intelligence ("AI") technology. In the early of FY2023, the Group has relocated its existing AIoT team and BCI team to a newly established wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated in the PRC, namely Barco Technologies Limited* ("Barco"). During the Year, Barco successfully developed the BCI headband which can integrate with various application scenarios, including wheelchairs, metaverse and gaming applications. The BCI headband is currently under the stage of features' optimisation. Users can connect with designated application scenarios through the device seamlessly. In addition, the Group signed a cooperation framework agreement with Baidu Group to foster the development of the construction of BCI based metaverse application scenarios. At the same time, Barco entered into a contract relating to metaverse content of Solitary Beauty Peak in Guilin. The scope of the project is to create a virtual scene for Solitary Beauty Peak in Guilin and allow users to enter the virtual scene for immersive tourism experience by using BCI headband and AI technology.

During the Year, Barco also entered into an agreement to build a joint laboratory with Beihang University, which mainly focuses on the development of additional features and furthering new technologies as well as new applications with AIoT, BCI and AI technology. The Group believes such technologies will be the new development trend in IT and will be widely applied in various industries with the increasing awareness from the world.

Expanding Business in China and Entering New Areas of Computing Centre

The Group has also capitalised on the development opportunities in the PRC by entering into a non-legally binding memorandum of understanding with SCB Global Capital Holdings Limited (the "Vendor") with the intention to indirectly acquire the land use right to develop an internet data centre situated in Pinggu, Beijing (the "Proposed Investment"). The Proposed Investment will create value to the customers and shareholders by further diversifying and extending the current business of the Company in the PRC. As of today, the Group is still under the progress of finalising the formal sale and purchase agreement with the Vendor.

Mr. Matthew CHAO, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BoardWare, said, "the rapid recovery of the IT solutions business in the post-epidemic era and the continued supportive policies from the government have had a positive impact on the Group's development. The Group will proactively grasp the emerging new business opportunities and further expand its presence in the Hong Kong and GBA markets to broaden its profitability. At the same time, the Group will keep abreast of the development trend of AI and fully utilise its competitive advantages and leading position in the GBA by focusing on its AIoT and BCI businesses, which will help the Group diversify its business development."

BoardWare Intelligence Technology Limited

Headquartered in Macao, BoardWare Intelligence Technology Limited is the leading company in the Macao IT solutions market. With over 10 years of operating history, it has been dedicated to providing comprehensive, end-to-end and high-quality enterprise IT solutions covering professional IT services and managed services, to customers which include globally renowned enterprises or bodies in TMT, gaming and hospitality and public sectors in Macao. To date, it has business presence extended to cover the Greater China region, with a focus on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with branches and subsidiaries established in Hong Kong, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Beijing.