GSTechnologies Ltd (LSE: GST), the fintech and information technology solutions company, is pleased to announce the Company’s interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2021 (“H1”).
Period Highlights
· Collaboration agreement signed with Wise MPay, the Singaporean blockchain payment solution provider, to provide the Company with software and services to facilitate the Company's blockchain related fintech plans.
· Placing to raise £1.4 million at 1.0 pence per ordinary share and publication of a prospectus.
Post Period Highlights
· Appointment of Jack Bai as Chief Executive Officer and Shayne Tan as Chief Operating Officer.
· Conditional acquisition of Angra Limited.
· Placing to raise £1.0 million at 2.0 pence per ordinary share.
· Launch of the GS Money protocol on the Coalculus platform.
· Receipt of 100 million COAL tokens as part of the ongoing collaboration with Wise MPay.
Chairman’s Statement
Despite the backdrop of the continuing pandemic the period has been one of significant progress for the Group. The Group’s revenue continues to be provided by our subsidiary, EMS Wiring Systems Pte Ltd (“EMS”), whilst the GS Fintech companies are currently pre-revenue.
Although the world has had to shut and open its doors repeatedly and often shifted into a lower gear, our EMS corporate customers still needed IT support and new services, whilst navigating the uncertainty and challenges of the global pandemic.
EMS remains a predominantly Singapore focused business and Singapore’s GDP showed positive growth in the first half of 2021, even though the growth was from the lower base in 2020. For 2021, Singapore’s GDP expanded by 1.5% in the first quarter, followed by 14.7% in the second. Likewise, the construction sector grew sharply, up by 106.2% on a year-on-year basis in the second quarter of 2021, compared to the same period last year when construction activities ground to a halt during Singapore’s circuit breaker measures. While the Ministry of Trade and Industry, upgraded Singapore’s official growth forecast for 2021 to between 6% and 7%, labour shortages arising from restrictions on the entry of migrant workers, are weighing on the recovery of the construction sector. Against this background we are pleased with the performance of EMS during the period and anticipate that the business will recover further in the second half.
However, the primary focus for the future of the Group has been on the new ‘GS Fintech’ subsidiaries in the UK and Singapore and the Company's planned expansion into blockchain related technologies, specifically its plans to launch a borderless neobanking platform providing next-generation digital money solutions.
During the period we significantly progressed these activities with the signing of a collaboration agreement with Wise MPay, the Singaporean blockchain payment solution provider, on 28 May 2021, with a view to Wise MPay providing the Company with software and services to facilitate the Company plans. The collaboration is progressing according to plan and post period end we announced a number of developments which are described below.
Fund Raising
On 6 September 2021 the Company raised gross proceeds of £1.415 million through a placing of 141,500,000 ordinary shares at a price of 1p per share. This was followed, post period end, on 19 November 2021, with a placing of 50,000,000 ordinary shares at a price of 2p per share raising gross proceeds of £1.0 million.
The funds raised from the two placing are being principally used to accelerate the implementation of the Group’s strategy, in particular covering the planned sales and marketing costs, and the costs of further development and implementation of the Wise MPay technology.
Management Changes
Post period end we were delighted that Mr Bai GuoJin (“Jack Bai”), an existing Executive Director, was appointed as the Company’s new Chief Executive Officer on 12 October 2021.Jack Bai, who joined the
GST board in January 2021, has over 30 years’ experience in software development for the financial and telecommunication industries. He is a successful technology entrepreneur, who has successfully built and exited multiple companies, including in fintech and payment solutions. He is a co-founder of Wise MPay, the Company’s collaboration partner, and leads the development of the Coalculus blockchain technology. He is leading the Group’s blockchain technology activities and its plans to launch a borderless neobanking platform providing next-generation digital money solutions.
On 20 October 2021, additionally Mr. Tan Guan Han, Shayne (“Shayne Tan”), an existing Executive Director, was appointed as the Company’s new Chief Operating Officer. Shayne Tan, who joined the GST board in January 2021, holds a Bachelor of Business Management Degree from Singapore Management University and has more than five years of sales, operations, and management experience in growth-stage companies operating exclusively within the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector. He is, alongside Jack Bai, a co-founder of the Coalculus blockchain platform.
Post Period End Developments
On 5 October 2021 the Company announced that it had entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the whole of the issued share capital of Angra Limited (“Angra”), a UK-based foreign exchange and payment services company. Angra, which operates under the AngraFX brand name, is a Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) approved Authorised Payment Institution (“API”), conducting fast, secure and low-cost foreign exchange business and payment services internationally.
The acquisition of Angra is now only subject to FCA approval for the change of control. If approved Angra will provide the Company with an operating business in the UK and an API licence in order to be able to connect to traditional banking payment systems and agent networks, operate a remittance business in the UK and grow revenues from the stablecoin network and applications that are being developed.
On 30 November we reported that we had successfully tested all four of the enterprise chains provided by Wise MPay (representing four digital currencies pegged to the US Dollar, the Pound, the Euro, and the Yuan), together with implementing a mainnet upgrade on the Coalculus platform, provided by Wise MPay. This marked the launch of the GS Money protocol. This was followed on 17 December 2021 by GST receiving 100 million COAL tokens from Wise MPay and the enabling of the COAL token staking capability on four full nodes managed by the Company. The value of the COAL tokens provided by Wise MPay, as one of their deliverables under the collaboration agreement, was approximately £475,000 at the current COAL token trading price.
The four digital currencies are strictly pegged to the US Dollar, the Pound, the Euro and the Yuan which will allow GST to carry out transactions immediately through blockchain ledgers, which can be used in place of wire transfers that generally take several days to complete. The four enterprise chains work alongside one another to form a decentralised and highly efficient multicurrency cross border payment system for digital transactions that utilise the Coalculus blockchain ledger technology. Additionally, each enterprise chain’s total supply will allow GST to issue up to 10 billion digital currency units.
With the launch of the GS Money protocol, this blockchain technology is now available to GST and its future clients. The Company intends to deploy GS Money early in 2022 in limited cross-border payment trials, and then gradually roll out GS Money for commercial operations in the coming months.
The future roll-out of GS Money is intended to be focused on three initial use-cases:
International Money Transfers: GS Money will initially be used in restricted cross-border payment testing before being gradually expanded to include commercial activities.
Borderless accounts: GS Money will be integrated into a GST borderless account payment service. This borderless account will allow customers to retain many digital currencies, but the biggest advantage is that they may be converted at the prevailing exchange rate and in any currency, with minimal, transparent fees.
Private Stablecoin: Ultimately it is intended that GS Money will also be focussed on private stablecoin. The objective is to establish public trust, maintain stability, and enable claims backed by reserves. By establishing a private stablecoin ecosystem, GST intends to encourage market players to allow transactions to settle in GS Money digital currencies, as well as be integrated into various other payment services.
Summary
The period under review was one of significant achievement as we progressed our blockchain based financial services ambitions.
Given the ongoing pandemic situation, forecasting the future is especially difficult. We expect uncertain worldwide economic conditions to continue, depending on how the pandemic evolves, particularly with the emergence of new Covid 19 variants. However, this is likely to have a much more significant impact on our EMS business, but with anticipated improvement in future construction demand we are optimistic for the future of this business.
However, our primary focus is on progressing our plans to launch a borderless neobanking platform providing next-generation digital money solutions, based on blockchain technology, which has been significantly less impacted by the pandemic.
In doing so we will continue to practise prudent financial management, and working capital management, to ensure the Group maintains appropriate liquidity, while being mindful of operational expenditure. Operationally, we are constantly striving to improve our work methods, and the skills and capabilities of our people. We continue to advance GST’s digital capabilities, developing innovative technological solutions to improve our project productivity and efficiency.
I would also like to extend my appreciation to GST’s shareholders for their continued support, and to my fellow board members and staff for their support and hard work during the period. Whilst we still have a lot to do, GST has come a long way in a short period of time. I look forward to the future with confidence and reporting on our further progress in the coming months.
Financial Highlights
· Resumption of operations following the relaxation of government measures against Covid-19 controls resulted to an increase in revenue for H1 2021 to US$2,261,000 (H1 2020: US$769,000).
· As of 30 September 2021, the Company had US$2,749,000 in cash and cash equivalents (30 September 2020: US$1,789,000).
· Net loss for the period is US$1,094,000 (H1 2020: US$561,000 loss). Major contributing factors for the net loss of the current H1 are due to the decrease of US$203,000 government grants being received and the increase of US$112,000 foreign worker levy paid arising from the cessation of the government assistance incentive on the foreign worker levy waiver. Costs incurred in relation to share placement and preparation of prospectus amounts to US$479,000.
· The cash flow positions of the Company have been healthy in the last two years. The cash and quick ratio improvements in the current interim period are more than 2x and 5x of the current liabilities respectively, indicating the Company’s ability in meeting all its immediate financial obligations.
· The efficiency of the Company has also improved as indicated by the A/R turnover and asset turnover ratios that the total investment by the Company has generated higher revenues in the current interim period.
· Despite the net loss recorded in the interim period, it has nonetheless improved in the return of equity on YoY.
· In the interim period, the debt/equity structure has shifted to lesser dependence on debt financing to support its operating activities.
· However, due to the continued net loss for the current interim period, its ability in meeting the interest expense remains to be challenging.
Download full set Interim Results here:
Enquiries:
The Company
Tone Goh, Executive Chairman
+65 6444 2988
Financial Adviser
VSA Capital Limited
+44 (0)20 3005 5000
Simon Barton / Pascal Wiese
Financial PR & Investor Relations
IFC Advisory Limited
Tim Metcalfe / Graham Herring / Florence Chandler