well-received and are increasingly sought for by teachers and students. We believe there is much more room for innovation in this area, and we believe that we are able to deliver a better hybrid experience in our future print publications. Digital education is constantly in our sights, and as the education sector experiences increasing digitalisation day by day, our Group is committed to strengthen our digital expertise to enable us to respond swiftly to rapidly changing digital education needs. Our flagship digital learning platform, i-LEARN Ace, remains a key focus to our Group as we ensure that the platform is constantly updated to adhere to the latest national curriculum of Malaysia. Besides i-LEARN Ace, our Group is also looking to develop other digital platforms that are more targeted towards specific student groups, leveraging on over a decade of digital experience. Another area of focus for the Group is the under-tapped early childhood education market. We are aiming to grow our presence in this market via Peapod Readers by Collins from the United Kingdom which comprises 200 titles of levelled and CEFR-aligned English readers. Peapod Readers is a powerful educational tool for young children to kick-start their early English literacy journey and will be instrumental towards growing our market share in the early childhood education market. Beyond the Peapod Readers, our Group is also looking to expand our repertoire of early childhood education classroom solutions to strengthen our product portfolio. With these initiatives, we believe that our Group will be able to position ourselves at a more competitive position in the education solutions market. Coupled by the scaling-down/exiting of several competing education solutions providers in recent times due to the detrimental effects of the pandemic and encouraging recovery of the economy and education sector, we are cautiously optimistic about our prospects and performance for the FYE 31 August 2022. Offer of Options Under Employees’ Share Option Scheme (“ESOS”) In appreciation of our team and as a form of motivation for our employees to strive for greater results, the Group had, on 10 March 2022, offered 12,000,000 options at an exercise price of RM0.10 each to its eligible employees under the ESOS. As at the end of the FYE 31 August 2022, a total of 5,535,000 options granted have been exercised. Appreciation Our sincerest thanks to our fellow Board members for charting the way through these challenging times. Our utmost appreciations go to the management team and employees of Sasbadi, who have steadfastly fought on in the face of great market volatility to defend our market position. To our business associates, a big thank you for your continued support and confidence you place in the Group. With continuing commitment and cooperation by all, the Group aims to achieve greater success in the years ahead. Throughout FYE 31 August 2022, our Group managed to produce a wide range of print publications that have cemented itself in the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education space, including our Modul Aktiviti Integrasi Digital series of workbooks, Masterclass and WOW Grafik guidebooks, mock exam paper publications such as Kertas Model Bitara Pra-SPM and Kertas Model Bitara SPM, MUET and IPG reference books, and more. We are pleased and humbled to learn that even after close to four (4) decades of operation, students, teachers, and parents across 2 generations continue to place their trust in our product offerings. Besides our strength in print publications, our Group also capitalised on our decade long expertise and experience to produce quality digital education solutions that are effective, scalable, and cost-effective. This is a strong indication that our Group is consistently making the right moves to remain ahead of the curve, particularly so in this rapidly evolving 21st century landscape. As a testament to our digital capabilities, it is notable that our Group had managed to clinch two (2) Letters of Acceptance from the Ministry of Education (“MoE”) on 11 October 2022 to supply and deliver market-ready digital solutions in line with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (“CEFR”) Year 1 and Year 3 for the school session usage from 2023 with a total contract value of RM2.238 million. In addition, in the textbook publications space, our Group had also clinched two (2) Letters of Acceptance (Package 3 – Peninsula Malaysia and Package 5 – Peninsula Malaysia) from the MoE on 11 October 2022 to supply reprinted textbooks (“BCS”) to schools under the MoE for the period from 2022 to 2024 with a total contract value of RM14.363 million. Prospects The Group continues to place heavy emphasis towards the development and enhancement of our array of in-house developed educational technology, including our ensemble of print publications and digital education products. Print publishing is our Group’s most significant segment. We are constantly assessing and keeping up with current and future trends to deliver innovative, high-quality products that serve not only to satisfy our customers, but to generate brand loyalty amongst our users. We plan to further develop our print publications’ hybrid elements (combines conventional print media with digital solutions) which have historically been (continued) MESSAGE TO SHAREHOLDERS 13 ANNUAL REPORT 2022
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