• Lowest valuation among the peers
• Net cash company with strong growth momentum
• To offer cloud-based solutions for business sustainability and recurring income

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 23 February 2021 – In the past three financial years, ARB Berhad (“ARB” or “Group”) has not only staged a very successful turnaround but has also consistently registered substantial net profit growth. As recent as the fourth quarter of the financial year 2020, the Group achieved a massive leap of 55% in the bottom line.

ARB Berhad’s Executive Director Dato’ Sri Larry Liew Kok Leong at a monthly business plan review meeting

The Group’s success in breaking away from its decade-long losses lies in its strategic diversification into the field of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

To date, ARB is amongst the lowest in terms of valuations when compared to its peers in the technology sector. The Group had also managed to deliver meaningful growth to its shareholders despite facing the negative influence of the pandemic.

ARB is in a net cash position, with cash and cash equivalents worth RM24.5 million against zero borrowings as of 31 December 2020.

Looking ahead into 2021 and beyond, ARB’s upward growth momentum is poised to continue, underpinned by the immense potential in digitalisation among businesses and the Industry 4.0 agenda.

After posting its record-high net profit in the financial year of 2020 (FY20), the Group is confident of achieving a more robust performance in the current FY21.

ARB’s Executive Director Dato’ Sri Larry Liew Kok Leong said that the Group aims to expand its geographical presence and access various new industry sectors by taking advantage of cross-border business opportunities in 2021.

“In line with our regional expansion plan, we intend to collaborate with local partners to extend our footprint in our information technology (IT) Segment in other countries through the acquisition of business and technologies,” he said.

A key growth strategy for 2021 would be ARB’s move in providing more cloud-based product offerings, which would be achieved through the execution of partner-ecosystem in growing industries.

At the domestic front, Dato’ Sri Liew said ARB plans to work closely with government-linked companies, multinational corporations and public listed companies as envisaged under its 2021 business plan.

“Our cloud solutions have proved to improve management efficiency and accelerate a business’ digitalisation initiatives. At the same time, the solutions would also help to achieve cost-effectiveness,” according to Dato’ Sri Liew.

Moving forward, the Group also intends to expand into new horizontal markets such as providing cloud-based solutions to facilitate the new norm of business needs.

“As part of the growth strategy driven both organically and through strategic acquisitions, we are delivering innovative solutions in new categories, including Big Data analysis, e-commerce solutions, IoT platform for 5G and data cybersecurity, and expect to continue grow these businesses in the future,” said Dato’ Sri Liew.

He added further that the Group will accelerate rolling out IoT platform-based smart home solutions that have been gaining traction, especially among households in the urban area.

ARB’s IoT platform would be able to integrate a wide range of electrical appliances, allowing multi-connection and readiness of artificial intelligence learning features for the ease of use of home occupants.

According to Dato’ Sri Liew, ARB’s growth prospects are intact as it is well-positioned in two promising operating segments, namely, ERP and IoT. Our ERP and IoT segments will drive alignment, focus and growth while sharpening our partners’ focus. In addition, we are excited to see our IoT solutions business return to growth by serving more enterprises, further building on our annualised recurring revenue.

Based on the statistics by Frost & Sullivan, the Malaysian IoT market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.7% from US$2.2 billion in 2019 to reach US$10.3 billion by 2026.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian ERP market is projected to grow from US$120 million to reach US$255 million in 2026, growing at a CAGR of 11.4% in the same period.

“ARB’s unique cloud-based ERP business model reduces the Group’s dependence on external technology vendors and allows it to capture a bigger share of the value pool generated from the collaborations.

Dato’ Sri Liew expects the ERP segment to remain as the main revenue contributor for ARB in FY21, with continued recurring income potential.

The ERP segment is expected to deliver 65% of total turnover, while the remaining will be contributed by the IoT business. Both segments are expected to be in line with the global initiative in advancing into the new era of Industry 4.0.

“We create value by providing a tailor-made solution for our JV partners, designed to generate an immediate impact on sales and profits. At the same time, it also improves our business as we allow our JV partners to cross-sell their products and upsell packages to end customers, hence creating a synergistic relationship,” he added.

“The Group will continue to look for opportunities that might open up amidst the crisis, observe the market situation and adapt to what is needed in the current market to ensure the sustainable growth to the Group,” Dato’ Sri Liew said.

In FY20, the Group’s net profit grew by nearly 25% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM43.46 million, on the back of a 114% surge in revenue to RM219.45 million. It staged a turnaround in FY18 with a net profit of 4.23 million and continued to grow its bottom line to RM32.8 million for FY19. The Group has continually achieved its steady three-year earnings growth in revenue and net profit since 2018.

With 2021 set to be a year of recovery, underpinned by an improvement in business sentiment, ARB’s outlook appears to be positive.

ARB would be a key beneficiary of an increase in capital expenditure among businesses to digitalise their internal operations.

Currently, the Group has one of the lowest price-to-earnings ratios in the technology sector at just 4.6 times as of 22 February 2021 as compares with other technology industry players such as Mi Technovation Bhd (64.4 times), Inari Amerton Bhd (63.5 times) and ViTrox Corp Bhd (88.8 times).

About ARB Berhad

ARB Berhad (“ARB” or “Company”) is incorporated in Malaysia under the ACT in October 1997 and was listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad in February 2004.

The Company is primarily an IT software and platform provider company.

It’s business operates predominantly in two (2) business areas:

1. Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) — designing and reselling of customised ERP solutions

2. Internet of Things (“IoT”) — integrated solutions in the systems, engineering, procurement, commissioning, and management of IoT systems

Its expertise lies in empowering businesses through digital transformation and technology integration

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 23 February 2021 – Loanhere announced today the launch of its website, a one-stop destination platform to apply for a personal loan in Singapore and receive multiple quotations and offers from licensed money lenders instantly.

Widely recognised as one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, having the financial liquidity to cope with Singapore’s high cost of living is not an easy thing. Coupled with an ongoing global pandemic, a significant number of locals are finding it difficult to cope and necessary to take out loans to cover living expenses and other payment obligations.

According to a recent report by Finder.com, almost 1 in 3 Singaporeans have taken out a personal loan in the last 12 months, largely to cover basic expenses, consolidate their debts or pay off credit card liabilities.

Aggregating loan quotes from licensed money lenders

Although there are platforms in the market that provide aggregated information on personal loan and sme business loan, almost all of them are focused only on bank financing. There isn’t a similar platform that exists in the market for borrowing from a licensed money lender perspective.

Loanhere is launched in response to this and seeks to be the one-stop destination platform for all information related to borrowing from licensed moneylenders in Singapore.

More importantly, Loanhere provides potential borrowers with instantaneous loan quotes aggregated from a curated selection of established and experienced licensed money lenders throughout Singapore.

Loanhere saves borrowers time and hassle by prequalifying all the partner lenders in its network, to be operating with a valid moneylender license issued by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), are of good standing with relevant authorities and have excellent customer reviews.

Simply by providing basic personal information such as name, contact details, and the sum of money desired to borrow, Loanhere matches the loan request via its proprietary process with suitable offers from its network of licensed lenders and sends the corresponding loan quotes and offers to the requestor’s email inbox instantly. The service is automated and entirely free to use by all Singapore citizens and permanent residents (PRs).

While banks have been the traditional lenders of personal loans, more and more Singaporeans and permanent residents have been increasingly turning to licensed money lenders as the alternative – or even the preferred – channel to take out a loan from.

With evaluation criteria generally more favourable to borrowers, shorter application processing and cash disbursement time, as well as the possibility of negotiating customised loan repayment plans, more and more locals are finding the licensed moneylender route an attractive option for personal financing.

Clearing the air on licensed money lending

Nevertheless, there remains a certain degree of misconception and an absence of clarity in the market when it comes to licensed moneylenders, such as how do they work, how to differentiate the good ones from the bad, what is considered legitimate and what is not, among other doubts and concerns.

Beyond providing borrowers loan quotes fast, Loanhere also strives to raise the public’s general awareness and understanding of borrowing from licensed moneylenders, through regular publishing of articles on the website that covers various aspects of the subject, including the clear distinction between licensed money lending and other unsavoury forms of lending.

“Taking up loans from licensed money lenders in Singapore is a viable and oftentimes more appealing option than borrowing from banks. We believe more Singaporeans can better alleviate their financial situations with a clear understanding and proper use of licensed moneylenders as a practical and legitimate source of funds, and are committed in our mission to deliver the most efficient loan quote aggregation service in the market”, explained a spokesperson from Loanhere.

Visit the Loanhere website and receive instant loan quotes with a simple submission at https://loanhere.co/.

About Loanhere

Loanhere provides useful and relevant information about loans and alternate financing options via licensed moneylenders to help Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs) alleviate their financial challenges.

Loanhere is committed and dedicated to be the number 1 destination site in Singapore for loans and financing through licensed moneylenders.

To find out more about Loanhere, please visit https://loanhere.co/.

Inventor of Ceiling Fan Expands HVLS Product Offerings for International Market Needs

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 23 February 2021 – Hunter Industrial Fans – the industrial division of Hunter Fan Company – launched its international fan line known as “DDI.” The DDI is a high volume, low speed (HVLS) industrial fan built for powerful air circulation. The HVLS fan is designed for simplicity while providing significant airflow due to its custom-built, direct-drive motor and three aerodynamically efficient blades.

“Hunter Industrial has grown significantly over the last six years, and we’re proud to offer a product that meets the demand for our international customers across the globe,” said Mark D’Agostino, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Hunter Industrial. “The DDI fan will offer competitive pricing with unmatched performance in the industry.”

Available in two sizes – including 20- and 24-foot diameter models–the DDI fan is ideal for any facility looking to provide greater air movement in large spaces, such as warehouses, manufacturing centers, shipping, or dock and door areas.

“We have seen an increased demand for an international product line that is reliable, easy to install and affordable. DDI is the solution, and I look forward to partnering with companies across the world to meet their facilities’ needs,” said Borja Chavarri, International Director of Sales for Hunter Industrial.

The DDI fan features a five-year warranty on the motor and electronic control, and a Limited Lifetime Warranty on all other components. For international sales inquiries, contact Borja Chavarri at bgiralt@hunterfan.com.

About Hunter Industrial Fans

Since 1886, Hunter Fan Company’s focus has been on providing and enhancing comfort for consumers. Hunter’s commitment to quality, craftsmanship and innovation is why the company remains unrivaled today–and why Hunter’s fans last for generations. Hunter Industrial is part of that heritage, and the industrial division’s high-volume, low-speed fans embody Hunter’s passion for pioneering breakthroughs in ceiling fan technologies. Hunter Industrial’s fans are designed with every person in the process in mind–from installer to owner. Based in Nashville, Tenn., Hunter Industrial’s designers, engineers and technicians work together to test, prototype and manufacture every fan to perfection. For more information, visit www.hunterfan.com/industrial.

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 23 February 2021 – Appier, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company, today shares AI Predictions and Trends to Watch in 2021. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have moved from the backrooms of computer science into the mainstream. Their impact is being felt in everything from how we shop through to finance markets and medical research, as well as the agriculture and manufacture industries.

Larger models have been trained in separated modality. For instance, GPT-3 is the first 100-billion-parameter model for natural language processing (NLP). Recently, a-trillion-parameter model (T5-XXL) has also been trained. They can be used to write articles, analyze text, perform translations and even create poetry.

In parallel, we’ve seen models used for image recognition and generation greatly improved as they have also been trained with more data sets. What we are seeing emerge is the power that can come from combining two or more AI models without changing these large models. In this way, combining these large models becomes affordable. That will allow us to use AI to interpret text and generate a completely new image. The following are the current observations and predictions of AI applications in five major fields.

The E-Commerce Boom Is AI-Driven

Over the last year, online commerce has grown significantly and is expected to continue to increase. COVID-19 restrictions have resulted in people spending much more time online — not just shopping but in online meetings, playing games, accessing social media and using apps. The growing digital journeys undertaken by people have generated more data that can be used to understand human behavior. However, more data also brings a greater complexity. Today, there’s no single, most effective channel for reaching customers. Reaching the right customer on the right channel at the right time is complicated for humans, but that complexity can be overcome through the use of AI.

AI gives marketers a way to influence customer’s behavior at a pace and scale previously thought impossible. AI not only finds the right customers, but also accesses the often-forgotten long tail of customers. It can also effectively generate creatives and develop customized content for different customers, and test the performance for different creatives to increase user engagement.

Data-Driven Finance Relies on AI

Furthermore, the main application of AI in finance has been in high-frequency trading where transactions are conducted between machines faster than people can communicate. This will continue in both traditional finance and in the world of cryptocurrencies, where we see different AIs engage in ‘warfare’. Investors have been using AI to make long-term predictions — which has required systems that can understand investors’ long-term targets. These were typically centered around measures such as revenues, incomes and profits.

While high-frequency trading strategies are important, there is another factor to show that cryptocurrencies are far more challenging to predict. Much of what we see in cryptocurrency markets is driven by ‘human madness’. While AI models struggle with this today, we can expect the AI models of the future to evolve and do a better job of predicting this behavior through closely monitoring trends in media and social networks.

AI in Healthcare and Biomedical Research

The prototype of messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines was developed in days thanks to the digitization tools of genetic code sequencing and the transcription tools of making mRNA from genetic code sequence. With the help of AI to predict new mutations in the Sars-Cov-2 virus, the process of developing mRNA vaccines will be even faster. AI can also be used as a diagnostic tool to read x-rays, based on the sound of someone coughing and indicate whether the patient is likely to be suffering from COVID-19 or some other illness.

In the biomedical domain, sequences of codes, such as DNA or amino acid, are commonly used. Since sequences of codes can be treated as a type of language with hidden structure, the architecture used in NLP models can be potentially used to understand and generate sequences of codes in the biomedical domain as well. One impressive example in early 2021 is that biomedical researchers used language model architecture to predict virus mutations and to understand protein folding — a key challenge in the creation of some of the vaccines now available. This finding is actually adapting the architecture of one model to solve problems in the biomedical domain.

Machine learning and AI don’t replace clinicians and researchers; they allow these professionals to work faster and rapidly test hypotheses. Instead of waiting for cell cultures to grow in the physical world, they can use these models to understand what will happen much faster in the digital simulation. As more and more people wear devices that can monitor heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure and other critical factors, the data can be used to give doctors greater insight into a patient’s condition. It also aids accuracy when making diagnoses as doctors and other clinicians are no longer reliant on patient recollections.

The Future of Education

Curricula and textbooks have typically been developed to serve large populations of ‘average’ students. These materials include content designed for a wide gamut of different abilities. However, experts, such as Sir Ken Robinson, point out that the ‘conveyor belt’ model of education doesn’t take into account the individual abilities and needs of students. Therefore, we have seen AI being used to revolutionize the way curricula is created and delivered. It can be used to provide more personalized curricula or personal problem sets for students. Instead of every student working through the same set of problems or questions, they receive a set that are customized to their specific level.

For example, a student may be very strong with fractions in mathematics, but have a problem with trigonometry. Instead of putting the student through the standard curriculum, he or she would spend less time on fractions and more time on trigonometry. As a student proceeds through a course, AI will monitor his progress and self-modify to meet the specific needs of that student.

With so much content now available online, cheating and plagiarism has become a huge issue. While detecting plagiarism is quite easy — there is already AI that can detect direct copying and similar text where just a few words or the tense are altered — there are other challenges. For example, a student may take content from one language and translate it to another. This is harder to detect, but AI is being developed to solve this problem. Similarly, image interpretation AI is being developed to find instances where arts students copy or imitate a design.

Smart Farming and Factories

Factories and farms are using data in innovative ways too. However, they differ from many other AI applications as they don’t focus on end-users. Instead, they focus on products, produce and machines. This requires an investment in sensors, robots and automation, and the optimization of operations.

The biggest development we are seeing in this area is in the generalization of findings between different areas. For example, if AI is being used to increase yields in an apple crop, can those AI models be reapplied for the growing of other fruits such as bananas or peaches? Similarly, if a factory is manufacturing LCD panels and has found ways to increase their yield rates, can those tools and lessons be applied to other manufacturing processes and factories?

Perhaps the biggest prediction we can make about AI in 2021 and beyond can be summarized in one word: leverage. Using existing AI model architecture, combining well developed models and finding ways to generalize existing models to other applications will continuously increase the impact of AI along with accelerated digital transformation across many domains. For more artificial intelligence and machine learning blog information, please refer to the Appier blog.

About Appier

Appier helps businesses solve their most challenging problems with artificial intelligence. It is a partner to some of the world’s leading brands, providing a suite of enterprise-grade products to support data-driven decisions and accelerate business growth. Established in 2012 by a passionate team of computer scientists and engineers, Appier now has more than 450 employees across 15 offices in APAC and Europe, and is recognized as a Top 50 AI company by Fortune Magazine. Appier has raised US$162 million in funding from investors including Sequoia, Softbank, and Line. Learn more at www.appier.com.

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 22 February 2021 – This announcement is made by Ocumension Therapeutics (the “Company“, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group“) on a voluntary basis to keep the shareholders of the Company and potential investors informed of the latest business updates of the Group.

The board of directors of the Company (the “Board“) is pleased to announce that an investigational new drug (“IND“) approval for initiating a multi-regional phase III clinical trial (the “Phase III MRCT“) in the United States for OT-101, a self developed product of the Group, has been received from the United States Food and Drug Administration in February 2021. The Company plans to file IND applications with the regulatory authorities in both China and Europe Union in 2021 and initiate the Phase III MRCT of OT-101 in these regions accordingly.

OT-101 is a low-concentration atropine 0.01% eye drop developed by the Group to retard, or slow down, the progression of myopia in children and adolescents. The instability of low-concentration atropine solutions has long been a technical barrier for its commercialization. The Group developed a storage and delivery system to address low-concentration atropine solution’s instability, and also conducted several rounds of tests on the system’s reliability, closure integrity and sterility conditions.

Cautionary Statement required by Rule 18A.05 of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited: The Company cannot guarantee that it will ultimately commercialize OT-101 successfully. Shareholders of the Company and potential investors are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the Company.

By order of the Board of

Ocumension Therapeutics

Dr. Lian Yong CHEN

Chairman and Executive Director

As of the date of this announcement, the Board comprises Dr. Lian Yong CHEN, Mr. Ye LIU, Dr. Zhaopeng HU and Dr. Wei LI as executive directors, Mr. Yanling CAO and Mr. Lefei SUN as non-executive directors, and Mr. Ting Yuk Anthony WU, Mr. Lianming HE, and Mr. Yiran HUANG as independent non-executive directors.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.