Cuscapi sees higher revenue with new tablet to boost sales by 30%

by **Cals** Fri 07 Feb 2014, 08:42

Published: Friday February 7, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Friday February 7, 2014 MYT 6:42:17 AM
Cuscapi sees higher revenue with new tablet to boost sales by 30%

PETALING JAYA: Food and beverage (F&B) solutions provider Cuscapi Bhd expects its revenue to increase 30% this year, driven by the roll-out of its newly developed REV tablet.
Chief operating officer Eugene Ng revealed to The Star recently that the company had already rolled out the new interactive tablet solutions in two Western F&B outlets in Malaysia.
Ng said the company was currently working towards distributing the Android-based gadget to other major F&B outlets in Kuala Lumpur, with the ultimate aim of securing at least 40% of the 8,000 table-service outlets that it was already managing for the programme.
The REV tablet, which comes with various interactive features, is said to be able to help restaurants cut cost and increase revenue. The innovative solution allows diners to view electronic menus and submit orders electronically, hence reducing waiting time to order meals and helping to ease the burden of restaurant staff. It also links the point of sales to inventory, thus enabling business owners to keep track of their inventories.
Cuscapi had invested US$1.23mil (RM4.1mil) into the research and development of the gadget, which was developed by its 90-man software team in Suzhou, China.
“We are currently working on potential REV rollouts for customers in Singapore and China,” said Ng.
“This will be followed by other Asean countries such as Thailand and the Philippines in the first half of this year,” he added.
The REV tablet is expected to generate long-term recurring revenue for Cuscapi, as its customers would need to sign multi-year subscription contracts with the company and pay rental fees for the solutions.
Cuscapi already has a strong presence in several countries in the region, including those in Asean and China.
Among its clients in Malaysia are KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Papa Rich, Sushi King, A&W and TGI Fridays; and in China Bread Talk Group, Ganso Group, Qing Feng Bao Zi Pu Group, Yong He King (part of the JollibeeGroup), Xiabu-Xiabu and DG.
Formerly listed on the ACE Market, Cuscapi transferred its listing to the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia in August last year.
The company slipped into a net loss of RM1.83mil, or 0.52 sen per share, for the nine months ended Sept 30, 2013, compared with a net profit of RM4.76mil, or 1.94 sen per share, for the corresponding period a year earlier. Cuscapi attributed its losses to increased operating expenses and short-term revenue reduction.
The group’s revenue fell 22% to RM35.9mil during the nine months in review from RM46.1mil a year ago.
It said the lower revenue was due to delays in the materialisation of projects in Malaysia and overseas.
CIMB Research, which said Cuscapi’s nine-month loss was a disappointment, has maintained its “outperform” rating for the latter, with a target price of 70 sen per share.
The local equity research outfit said in its recent report that it expects the REV tablet to start contributing to Cuscapi’s earnings from 2014, with the latter expected to achieve about 3,000 subscriptions for the solutions this year before seeing the number rising to 10,000 next year.
“The stronger-than-expected demand for REV and potential mergers and acquisitions are catalysts that support our unchanged ‘outperform’ rating,” CIMB Research said.