KUALA LUMPUR (April 22): Iris Corp Bhd is forming a joint venture with Sri Lankan firm Aitken Spence Plc to establish an offshore company that provides business processes outsourcing services in the Colombo Port City Special Economic Zone in Sri Lanka.

In a bourse filing, the group announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Iris Tech Ventures Sdn Bhd has entered into a shareholders’ agreement with Aitken Spence’s wholly-owned subsidiary Aitken Spence International Pte Ltd.

The joint venture will be a 50-50 partnership between the duo, according to the filing, with the total investment of the venture amounting to US$500,000 (RM2.39 million).

“The joint venture is expected to pave the way for business collaboration between the parties which is consistent with the objectives of Iris in seeking strategic alliances from time to time for mutual benefits,” Iris Corp stated, as it expects the JV to contribute positively to its consolidated earnings in the future.

The JV is not the first time Iris has established its presence in Sri Lanka. In 2019, Iris partnered with Sri Lanka-based Metropolitan Office Pte Ltd to collaborate on and explore business opportunities in e-passport, automated border control (ABC) and attendance management solutions (AMS) there.

For the nine-month financial period ended Dec 31, 2023 (9MFY2024), Iris reported a net profit of RM27.93 million, a 75.3% growth from RM15.93 million a year earlier. Its revenue climbed 23.7% to RM324.97 million from RM262.68 million, due to higher delivery of eID cards and e-passports for overseas projects.

Shares of Iris remained unchanged at 29.5 sen on Monday, valuing the group at RM241 million.