Tricubes in talks with govt agencies

KUALA LUMPUR: Tricubes Bhd, which went live with the 1Malaysia email project last Wednesday, is in talks with a number of agencies to deploy its email services for the delivery of bills and notices of statements, said CEO Khairun Zainal Mokhtar.

“We will reveal our partners on our website as we sign them,” he told The Edge Financial Daily in response to email questions yesterday.

However, he did not elaborate on whether the parties are public sector or private entities.

Khairun clarified that a government agency would not be charged for sending ordinary email to myemail users.

“We do not charge 50 sen every time a government agency sends an ordinary email to myemail users. That charge is for delivering statements, notices or bills to users who have subscribed to the myemail service,” he explained.

We believe that by using our service, government agencies can save up to 50% of their traditional printing and distribution costs while reducing their reliance on paper,” Khairun added.

Pos Malaysia Bhd sees the 1Malaysia email project as a threat to the postal group. Last year, Pos Malaysia’s revenue from the mail business amounted to about RM624 million, with RM20 million from handling government mail.

Pos Malaysia managing director and chief executive Datuk Syed Faisal Albar was quoted by the media as saying that the myemail project would be a “significant” threat to the physical mail business. “So we would like to understand this project and explore ways Pos Malaysia can play a role,” he said.

The project was launched via Facebook last Wednesday and it has already signed up 3,050 subscribers, according to the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu).

The ACE-Market listed company was awarded the 1Malaysia email project in April. The company’s share price rocketed to an all-time high of 32.5 sen in April from a low of 5.5 sen before the announcement. The stock closed at 13.5 sen yesterday.

The company’s substantial shareholders had leveraged the share price rally to trim their shareholding in Tricubes, including Khairun, who sold 40,000 shares in April.

Khairun, a co-founder of the company, holds a 30.4% stake. Commence Technology Ventures Sdn Bhd sold down about 10.8% or 14.5 million shares in early May and ceased to be the substantial shareholder. The venture capital firm holds 4.63% equity interest in Tricubes now. Another venture capitalist that also trimmed its stake was Mayban Venture Capital Co Sdn Bhd, which sold a 2.2% stake or three million shares, in May and is left with 4.23% at present.

The email project is seen as a lifesaver for Tricubes, which has been categorised as a Guidance Note 3 (GN3) company. The company is due to submit its regularisation plan by end-October. Khairun declined to reveal the latest on Tricubes’ regularisation plan and said the company is on track in the process.

“We have already achieved our first milestone in the regularisation process set by Bursa Malaysia, with the appointment of sponsor M&A Securities Sdn Bhd in January this year. We will submit our plan to Bursa Malaysia and obtain its approval by the Oct 29 deadline,” he said.

Khairun said he was unable to elaborate further due to “business constraints as well as Bursa Malaysia regulations”.

The government has set a key performance indicator (KPI) for the 1Malaysia email project. Tricubes is required to have a 50% take-up rate for those above 18 years by 2012 and a 100% take-up rate by 2015.

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