Cuscapi expects China market to boost growth this year

Narrows loss in Q4 and expects to return to profits in 2014

Kuala Lumpur, 28 February 2014- Cuscapi Berhad, a market leader in innovative business management solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, expects the China market to contribute significantly to its growth in 2014.

The China market has continued to register good growth in revenue, contributing RM11.24 million in the financial year ended 31 December 2013, an increase of 21.38% from the revenue of RM9.26 million in 2012.

Cuscapi’s CEO Her Chor Siong said the China market is expected to provide exciting prospects for REV, its new customer self-service interactive ordering solution, this year. This is due to the highly competitive and large market for food & beverage in China which tends to adopt new technology faster.

“Cuscapi is also expected to start deployment of REV for its Quick Service Restaurant Segment this year, which is the biggest segment our customer base.”

“We have also received interest from customers in other segments of the hospitality industry apart from F & B to deploy REV, “he said, adding that Cuscapi hopes to deploy at least 15,000 REV in Malaysia, ASEAN and China this year.

Meanwhile, Cuscapi has narrowed its loss before tax to RM0.48 million in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to a loss of RM2.65 million in the preceding third quarter.

The smaller Q4 loss came on the back of higher revenue of RM12.39 million compared to the preceding Q3’s revenue of RM9.71 million, as some of the delayed projects gradually materialized in the fourth quarter.

With more delayed projects coming on-stream this year, the Group expects to return to profitability in the 2014 financial year with a higher growth in revenue.

For the financial year ended 31 December 2013, the Group reported a loss before tax of RM2.13 million on the back of lower revenue of RM48.25 million. This was largely due to the delay in the materialisation of some major projects, coupled with higher expenditures and investments in infrastructure and offices to support the deployment of REV.

The investments in infrastructure and expenditure are necessary to support the mass deployment of REV as part of the Group’s strategy to transform its business into a more recurring based solution.

In addition, the group has also been building its organization into a more consultancy solution selling group by recruiting new talents from the F & B industry and other major multinational corporations.