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| Smart home system producer aims for Mesdaq listing [ 20/02/2003 ] |
Strandcom Sdn Bhd, a bumiputra company which is fast carving a niche in the smart home system by combining security and automation, is aiming for a Mesdaq Market listing by September or October this year.
''We have proposals from 4 merchant banks to sponsor our listing and we are at the stage of appointing one of them,'' its group chief executive Badardin Ahmad, said.
He said Strandcom expected to raise between RM10mil and RM12mil from the listing exercise, which would be utilised for overseas market expansion.
''So far, we have been focusing on Malaysia but last November we started to look at Thailand and last month at China. The reaction that we get is that they have never seen anything like it before,'' he told Bernama on the sidelines of the ''Showcase Malaysia 2003'' trade exhibition held in conjunction with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting.
The company has carved a niche in the smart home system sector by combining security and automation at a fraction of the cost of imported products.
It has developed ''mi.GUARDZ'', an intelligent smart home alarm and automation system that costs 85% cheaper than imported ones.
An imported system of around RM25,000 is sold by Strandcom at less than RM5,000.
Badardin said Strandcom's quality was of international class as it had met standards set by Sirim and authorities in Europe and the US.
''The test is not on technology as it is readily available but on the ability to (remotely) control electrical appliances at a price acceptable to the masses,'' he added.
Badardin said that the existence of Cyberjaya had created a demand for world class smart home systems and his company had been working with 2 of 3 property developers in Cyberjaya to fit their residential units with mi.GUARDZ.
Strandcom is also doing the same with over 30 other property developers throughout the country.
''We also have done projects that cost as low as RM3,000 per house to as high as RM300,000 per house.''
Badardin said the company had seen astonishing growth since its inception two and a half years ago.
''We recorded RM700,000 In revenue in 2001, RM4.5mil in 2002 and are targeting RM24 million this year. In the first year, we made a loss of RM600,000 but we posted after-tax profit of RM1.3 million last year.
''This year, we are targeting RM7mil in profit after tax,'' he added.
mi-GUARDZ allows users to interface with electrical appliances through a fixed line telephone, handphone, internet, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless phone and its own intelligent pad.
It enables a houseowner who is away from home, to among others, dim the lights, turn on the water heater, monitor their servants or children at home, activate the motorised window curtain or be alerted of intruders.
''Our system can take 128 appliances without the usage of complicated microprocessors.
''We believe in simplicity. As long as the brain of our system can get the information, it can control any appliances regardless of the brand and their protocol,'' Badardin said.
Come July, Strandcom would be redesigning mi-GUARDZ's motherboard so as to give the system additional features at a cheaper price.
''With the new product, we aim to fit mi-GUARDZ at residential projects under Syarikat Perumahan Negara, government quarters and low cost houses,'' he added.
Source : The Star 20/2/2003 |
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