GHL System Berhad Annual Report 2017

ANNUAL REPORT 2017 13 CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT CONT’D GHL Thailand decided to do something for the environment last year and helped plant seedlings at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park. The park was initiated by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on 14th August 1994. The park is designated a learning and training center for the restoration and conservation of natural resources, the environment as well as energy conservation. International innovations linking science, technology and local wisdom promote the application of philosophy of sufficiency economy. It is also the network of education, research and development, both domestic and international, for sustainable community development. In November 2017, the GHL Thailand team helped plant artificial reefs to restore the nature of Thailand’s sea at Toei Ngam Beach. OUTLOOK AND PROSPECTS Our TPA strategy has bode well for the group as can be seen in the growth in Thailand and Philippines. The Group will continue to focus on merchant acquisition across the three markets by offering payment options to businesses. We will continue to ride on the emergence of QR based e-wallets as we will see the launch of several local players in this space. This will increase GHL’s competitive edge in offering our merchants an integrated omni-channel payment solution. The Group remains optimistic of further developing TPA as a key growth engine driven by the positive changes in consumer preferences towards e-payments. We expect 2018 prospects to be positive given our strong network and partnership with the banking sector as well as our extensive merchant network of 170,000 acceptance points as at end 2017 in ASEAN. The Group is also expecting to increase its investments to further strengthen our market positioning as e-payments gain more prominence. APPRECIATION AND THANK YOU The Board and I wish to thank all our shareholders for your continued support and encouragement demonstrated at our shareholder annual general meetings. We hope our shareholders will continue to support and remain with the company. I would like to record my appreciation and thanks to the board members, management, business partners, and staff of the GHL family across Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. Everyone’s tireless commitment and hard work has resulted in another great year in 2017 and setting the group up to do the same in 2018. Let us keep the focus and faith as we continue to establish our aim to be the leading end-to-end payment service enabler in the ASEAN region and beyond. Terima Kasih DATUK KAMARUDDIN BIN TAIB Independent Non-Executive Chairman