KUALA LUMPUR: The 1Malaysia email project, labelled as part of the Economic Transformation Programme, is not enough to save ACE Market-listed Tricubes Bhd from delisting.

The IT outfit faces delisting from Bursa Malaysia as the exchange’s regulator has rejected the regularisation plan submitted in December last year. In an announcement to Bursa, Tricubes said the trading of its securities would be suspended with effect from July 11.

It was given until Aug 2 to appeal against the delisting. However, the company noted that in the event it is delisted, it will continue to exist but as an unlisted entity.

“The company is still able to continue its operations and business and proceed with its corporate restructuring, and its shareholders can still be rewarded by the company’s performance,” said Tricubes.

It did not reveal why Bursa rejected its regularisation plan. When Tricubes was awarded the 1Malaysia email project in April last year, CEO Khairun Zainal Mokhtar then said the email project was a “lifeline” thrown to the company, as the project would be the core of its regularisation plan.

Tricubes said the 1Malaysia email project was expected to generate gross national income of RM39 million by 2015. The company planned to invest RM50 million in the project over the next 10 years.

However, the project was not without some controversy, as questions were raised about the need for government bodies — its targeted clients — to pay for sending email to 1Malaysia email accounts.

Tricubes’ “myemail” project aims to get Malaysians aged 18 and above to open an email account with the company, which would then serve as the designated digital channel for government-linked organisations to communicate with the public.

There is no charge to open an email account. The proposed business model is to charge the government bodies that send their secured documents to myemail addresses.

The charges are up to 50 sen for every email sent. Tricubes has been categorised as Guidance Note 3 by Bursa. It has been loss-making since the financial year ended March 31, 2010 (FY10).

For FY12, its net loss expanded to RM2.15 million or 1.61 sen per share compared with a net loss of RM712,290 or 0.54 sen per share the year before.

Revenue was marginally higher at RM16.3 million against RM15.9 million. However, in its fourth quarter ended March 31, the company posted a net profit of RM790,079 against RM481,502 previously.

Revenue nearly doubled to RM8.21 million from RM4.29 million. The stock was last traded at 10 sen. The counter surged to a six-year high of 32.5 sen from four sen in April last year when it first announced the email project.

This article appeared on The Edge Financial Daily July 4, 2012.