KUALA LUMPUR: When a company demonstrates innovation and possesses a first mover advantage, it's bound to improve on its performance despite the prevalence of business challenges. And one company that has probably hit that operational sweet spot is UEM Edgenta Bhd.
Describing itself as an asset management and infrastructure services company does make it quite difficult for some to grasp what it really does.
Unknown to many, services delivered by UEM Edgenta do touch many facets of our everyday lives – from ensuring the cleanliness and safety of highways we travel on to maintaining top-notch healthcare delivery services at hospitals that we visit.
For example, its asset management portfolio also includes healthcare support but with a key difference – it uses a lot of tech solutions paired with human resources.
Casual observers generally view asset management as a low-tech, mundane and labour-intensive business. Unless they take a peek at UEM Edgenta's Command & Contact Centre here, which exposes a different ball game altogether.
It employs the Internet Of Things (IOT) sensor technology to maintain the operational health of all the equipment at more than 500 buildings that it manages in the property and facility solutions services besides providing real-time statistics and data analytics on these assets.
Unknown to many, UEM Edgenta has been involved in the management of cleaning services and asset management at many government hospitals in Malaysia since these operations were privatised decades ago. Private hospitals were later added to the list.
Today it manages the cleanliness of more than 300 government and private hospitals not only in Malaysia but also Singapore and Taiwan – two countries noted for their high-level of healthcare services.
Overseas expansion resulted when it became better known as a tech-based asset and facility management company using technology for improved productivity and efficiency in daily and yet important functions.
With manpower shortages in the post-Covid-19 era, it moved in swiftly to take advantage of the disruptions to offer cleaning management services in hotels, semiconductor factories and shopping malls in Singapore and Taiwan and opened up a new revenue stream.
In infrastructure services, UEM Edgenta manages 3,500 km of highways and state roads in Malaysia and Indonesia.
The lifting of the movement control order in April this year saw improved traffic on major expressways as well as a higher volume of maintenance works locally. These developments partly helped UEM Edgenta's revenue to rise by 13.7 per cent to RM1.8 billion in the first nine months of FY2022 ended Sept 30, 2022.
It also inked a net profit of RM24.6 million in first nine months of FY2022 while pre-tax profit stood at RM55.3 million in 9M FY2022 or 22.1 per cent higher than RM45.3 million recorded in the same period last year.
Its balance sheet remains healthy with a low gearing ratio of 0.3 times while the order book remains strong at RM10.1 billion, which could last into the next decade for infrastructure services.
Of significance is that its new contracts, totalling RM972 million or 70 per cent, came from overseas, which are in line with its international expansion.
By repositioning its strategic portfolio, it's poised to enter into more profitable growth markets like the recent investment into Saudi Arabia's MEEM in facilities management.
Syahrunizam Samsudin, its managing director and chief executive officer, is steadfast in pushing the 'Edgenta of the Future 2025' march towards becoming a powerhouse in technology-enabled solutions with a strong focus on healthcare by 2025.
Looking forward to some of its market potential, it is staring at opportunities of US$65.5 billion for facilities maintenance alone in Saudi Arabia by 2025 and U$14 billion in the Indonesian infrastructure market, to name a few.
The challenge for UEM Edgenta now is how to slash costs by deploying new tech-applications against the backdrop of a healthy order book following the resumption of economic activities. Getting more businesses to know what it can do will also be key to future earnings.
With the increasing demand for more efficient healthcare and infrastructure maintenance, UEM Edgenta should be well-poised to take advantage of opportunities in smart healthcare, smart asset management, smart waste management, artificial intelligence surveillance and renewable energy.
