Sasbadi Annual Report 2021

tuition platform, Tutor2U, which allows students to receive on-demand 1-to-1 e-tuition services from qualified tutors across the nation. We anticipate Tutor2U will gain more traction in tandem with current online learning trends. Another area of focus for the Group is the early childhood education market. Peapod Readers, a series comprising 200 titles of levelled and Common European Framework of Refer- ence for Languages (“CEFR”)-aligned English readers developed by Collins, is a powerful educational tool for young children to kick-start their early English literacy journey. We have leveraged on our educational technology expertise to develop companion mobile applications which can be used in conjunction with the readers to assist with the development of children’s listening skills. Going forward, we intend to further develop the product with additional digital offerings and classroom solutions that target pre-schoolers and primary school year 1-3 students. The Group believes that these efforts will be instrumental towards growing our market share in the early childhood education market. With heightened vaccination rates, tapering COVID-19 cases and the government’s efforts to revitalise the economy, we believe that our nation is on track to a solid recovery in the coming year. Nonetheless, we anticipate that retail market conditions will remain challenging as consumers may continue to spend conservatively due to the detrimental effects of the pandemic. However, taking into consideration the government’s emphasis on education recovery and our ability to respond, coupled with our ongoing initiatives currently in the pipeline, we are conservatively optimistic about our prospects and performance for the FYE 31 August 2022. Offer of Options Under Employees’ Share Option Scheme (“ESOS”) On 6 December 2019, the Group offered 10,000,000 options at an exercise price of RM0.17 each to its eligible employees under the ESOS. These options have expired on 5 December 2020 and none of the options granted were exercised. On 17 February 2021, the Board of Directors approved the extension of the ESOS expiring on 31 August 2021, for a further period of five (5) years to 31 August 2026. Of even date, the Group offered another 10,000,000 options at an exercise price of RM0.12 each to its eligible employees under the ESOS. As at the end of the FYE 31 August 2021, 5,075,000 options granted under this tranche have been exercised. The offer was made in appreciation of our team and as a form of motivation for our employees to strive for greater results. Appreciation Our sincerest thanks to our fellow Board members for leading the Group through these unprecedented times. To the management team and employees of Sasbadi, thank you for your tireless efforts and relentless dedication to maintain the Group’s operations in the face of great volatility. To our business associates, thank you for your support and the continuous trust and confidence you place in the Group. The Group humbly requests for your continuing cooperation and trust as we strive to achieve greater heights in the years ahead. On behalf of the Board of Directors (“the Board”) of Sasbadi Holdings Berhad (“Sasbadi Holdings” or “the Group”), it is our pleasure to present to you the Group’s Annual Report for the financial year ended (“FYE”) 31 August 2021. Overview In the first half of FYE 31 August 2021, the Group experienced encouraging recovery in tandem with the nation’s improving COVID-19 pandemic situation. The delay of the 2021 new school term to 20 January 2021, commencement of physical classes in March and April 2021, and rescheduled Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (“SPM”) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (“STPM”) 2020 examinations to the months of February and March 2021 bode well for the demand for our education solution offerings. Suffice to say, the Group was hopeful that the nation and our business operations would soon return to normalcy. However, our nation experienced an unfortunate resurgence of COVID-19 cases. A significant number of cases were recorded during the months of May to October 2021, with the peak occurring in August. This once again, threw our nation, economy and society into disarray. The Movement Control Order (“MCO”) was reimplemented in June 2021, followed by the implementation of the National Recovery Plan (“NRP”) over an extended period. Schools were forced to close once more, and coupled with a slowdown of economic activity, our Group’s operations were inevitably hindered significantly. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education (“MOE”) announced that the Form 5 and Form 6 public examinations i.e. SPM and STPM respectively were postponed to 2022. Concurrently, the MOE also announced the cancellation and permanent abolishment of the public examination for Year 6, i.e. Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (“UPSR”) for the year 2021 and onwards, and the cancellation of 2021’s public examination for Form 3 i.e. Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga (“PT3”). These factors had adversely impacted the Group’s recovery, notably during the second half of FYE 31 August 2021. In these trying times, the Group has consolidated resources, enhanced cost efficiencies and implemented various cost cutting measures. At the same time, we strived to develop products that met the current needs of the market by innovating our solutions to facilitate remote learning and teaching. Prospects Similar to the previous financial year, the Group continues to place heavy emphasis on the development and enhancement of our in-house developed educational technology. School closures and widespread learning from home placed the Group, being supported by over 10 years of digital education expertise, in a strategic position to meet current market demands via our innovate digital learning solutions. Accordingly, we ensured that i-LEARN Ace, our flagship digital learning platform, is consistently updated to adhere to the latest national curriculum of Malaysia and intend to further enhance its functions in anticipation of the nation’s deeper embrace of digital education moving forward. Besides i-LEARN Ace, the Group will also continually develop our home-grown online (continued) MESSAGE TO SHAREHOLDERS 13 ANNUAL REPORT 2021