Catalist-listed SAMURAI 2K Aerosol Limited (“SAMURAI 2K”, “the Company”, or “the Group”) is a leading aerosol coating specialist focusing on high performance coating solutions for the automotive refinishing and refurbishing industry. Headquartered in Malaysia, its products are manufactured in the production facility in Johor, and distributed in countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Singapore, and India.
Founder and CEO, Ong Yoke En’s crystal clear vision for the transformation of the Group is beginning to take shape. The aim is to build a strong digital platform by integrating online and offline business to create an omni-channel experience for its customers. The Group will transform from a product-driven business model to a data-driven service-oriented business model.
On 10 October 2022, SAMURAI 2K was handed the keys to 4 units of 5-storey shophouses for its new corporate office in Johor, Malaysia. This is a total of 20 units of 1700 sq ft each and marks another milestone in SAMURAI’s digital transformation focused on innovation through leveraging on AI and data analytics. Digital content creation and technical support staff strength is expected to grow to 150-200 in 3 years.
Operating expenses for the build-up of digital infrastructure is already reflected in 1HFY2023 ended 30 September Financial Statement available on SGXNet at https://links.sgx.com/1.0.0/corporate-announcements/K8EDQT0VA6E8IE01/abcc2506b2fcf5f3d0684b32052a6f39dc827ac20d143367b3336f75857910f0 The Financial Statement shows marketing and distribution expenses increasing by 206% from RM2.36 million in 1HFY2022 to RM7.23 million in 1HFY2023.
Said Samurai 2K spokesperson Leo Aun Foo, “Initially our ecommerce business will focus on the Malaysian and USA markets. Subsequently we will roll out plans for Europe, Australia, Japan, and South America. Each country will require a team of 5-10 staff to handle”.
It is with the online multi-country platform that the Group will be able to reap economies of scale, accelerate brand building, provide consumers with multi-media experience, create customer loyalty, and optimize business and product development through powerful data analytics.
The Group is targeting to launch the first-ever color mix-and-match system (“Tintatek” technology) of aerosol spray paint, which allows users (especially automotive consumers) to custom fill their desired colors into the aerosol can without the use of a complicated tool or equipment. Using Tintatek’s color data bank, millions of color combinations can be generated. Users can create original color for themselves or re-create and perfectly match the original factory paint color of the object to be painted. The introduction of Tintatek into DIY spray painting is a revolutionary and disruptive innovation in the aerosol paint industry.
At the same time, the Group is currently building a spray-painting service online platform which matches users with providers of at-your-doorstep spray-painting services. The wide range of colors, textures and special effects (mirror, crystal, metallic, luminous and many more) of SAMUARI 2K paints, the easy-to-use 2-head resin plus hardener, together with Tintatek and matching of users with providers brings DIY spray painting to a new level and a new era. More and more of those who need to spray paint their possessions will now be attracted to DIY spray-painting, bypassing the need to go to a workshop with all its attendant costs and convenience. Together with SAMURAI 2K’s multi-media websites, which include education and demonstrations of spray painting designs and techniques, this is expected to exponentially increase the size of the market for the Group’s products.
Many companies have bold visions to transform themselves. But whether they can achieve it also depends on the strength of their financials. For that, we need to look at a Company’s long-term track record. The Group’s 4-year financial performance track record is encouraging and gives confidence that it will be able to realize its transformation for the Future. The financials portray a future-ready but financially prudent company always ensuring that it will be able to ride out any short-term turbulence in the economy.
Table 1 below measures several aspects of Samurai 2K’s financials through four years including the period of Covid-19 impact on the regional economies. It is rather rare for a company to exhibit positive numbers on all aspects of its financials.
Table 1 shows a company that is financially strong, with consistent performance. Gross and Net Profit margins are above average for a consumer product. Debt/Equity has always been Net Cash, Current Ratio has always been above 2, and judging from the Interest Coverage, in the case of Samurai 2K, investors need not worry about the current high interest rate environment.
Samurai 2K’s vision is a bold one but its financial performance track record and tangible progress in pursuing its vision are encouraging signs that its transformation for the Future is achievable.
Contributed by Investor Relations Partner, Waterbrooks Consultants, a member of ShareInvestor Group.
For more information, please visit www.waterbrooks.com.sg
For original article, please visit: https://www.investor-one.com/editorial/22275-SAMURAI-2K-AEROSOL-ACHIEVING-ITS-DIGITAL-TRANSFORMATION-VISION