MORE than two months have lapsed since Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd found itself embroiled in the serious issue pertaining to irregularities of its FY2020 statutory account as flagged by its former external auditor KPMG PLT.

Nobody can imagine how that period of time has been immensely heart-wrenching for founder and head honcho Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah, especially to witness a 75% plunge in the market capitalisation of the global integrated oil & gas (O&G) service provider since the issue erupted towards end-May.

Despite the bloodbath, both Abdul Karim who is the company’s controlling shareholder (21%) alongside Datuk Abdul Kadier Sahib who is the second largest shareholder (16.25%) remain astute over the prospect of Serba Dinamik “being endowed with a 360 degrees turnaround”.

Preferring to be forward-looking rather than to harp on the past, both Abdul Karim and Abdul Kadier who is also Serba Dinamik’s non-independent non-executive director have only one motive which is “to resolve the impending issue for the best interest of all stakeholders, including shareholders/investors”.

“Having contributed a lot to the country in the O&G sector, the recent chain of events has somehow motivated us to venture beyond our traditional business to expand our reach in the realms of IT (information technology) and space economy,” Abdul Karim told FocusM.

Drawing a chapter from the past, Serba Dinamik’s success story is very much tied to its participation in the national oil corporation’s PETRONAS vendor development programme (VDP).

After being selected to be a vendor in 1997 and having graduated in 2007, the company leveraged its track record to expand internationally with the strong achievements of Abdul Karim and co-founder Pengiran Datuk Awang Daud Awang Putera.

This eventually led to Serba Dinamik spreading its wing beyond the Malaysian shores to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and the UK – and subsequently its much awaited debut on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on Feb 8, 2017.

Recall how the share value of the company spiralled from an initial public offering (IPO) price of RM1.50 to as high as RM4.56 in August-September 2019. It is at this current time of turbulence that past glory tends to have soothing effect not only on the morale but more so as a spirit booster.

Space economy

“Not wanting to put our bet entirely on the O&G industry, Serba Dinamik has set its sight to be a leading service provider in the realm of space economy,” envisages Abdul Karim.

“Malaysia needs to explore this in order to be par with other developed countries and we believe Serba possesses the expertise in this business.”

On March 18, Serba Dinamik Group Bhd (SDGB) revealed that it is collaborating with seven institutions of higher learning as its strategic partners in Malaysia to establish a New Space Economy Nexus (NSEN) to explore the various areas of space technology.

SDGB is equipped with the necessary capabilities and capacity to pursue its interest in the space industry, according to Abdul Karim.

“Serba aspires to expand its expertise in space sector which could benefit Malaysia in next five to10 years,” projected Abdul Karim.

“Thus far, Serba is the only company that provides connectivity to rural area in Malaysia during the current home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) mode for our national school pupils.”

Towards this end, Serba Dinamik has made a few parliamentary constituencies – namely Jeli, Alor Gajah and Larut – as test beds for such service as part of the company’s unique corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.

Additionally, Serba has also make its presence felt in the consumer space with Beauty2go, Halal2go and Qwikpay which are growth strategies in its revenue stream.

Meanwhile, Abdul Kadier expects Serba Dinamik to be on the right track to resolve its auditing-related issue with the appointment of new board members, hence able to chart the future without sacrificing its corporate governance interest.

“We can see that all our newly appointed independent directors have been working 24/7 to serve the best interest of the stakeholders and company,” he observed.

“Not only that they have facilitated the appointment of Ernst & Young Consulting Sdn Bhd (EY) as the special independent reviewer to assess the veracity of the audit issues raised by our former auditor (KPMG) but also fast-tracked the appointment of Nexia SSY PLT as Serba’s new external auditor.”

At the close of yesterday’s trading (Aug 9), Serba was up 0.5 sen or 1.25% to 40.5 sen with 63.53 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM1.51 bil. – Aug 10, 2021

https://focusmalaysia.my/the-serba-conundrum-riding-a-heavy-storm-with-great-faith/