KUALA LUMPUR (July 29): Datasonic Group Bhd (KL:DSONIC) said it had secured a government contract worth over RM21 million to rent out 818 vending machines for the implementation of the People's Income Initiative (IPR) programme.

Under the Food Entrepreneur Initiative (Insan) category, the IPR programme enables poor Malaysians to generate income from selling cooked food through government-sponsored vending machines.

In a bourse filing on Monday,  Datasonic said its wholly owned unit Datasonic Technologies Sdn Bhd (DTSB) was awarded the two-year contract by the Ministry of Economy.

The information and communications technology provider expects the contract to boost its earnings and net assets for the financial year ending March 31, 2025 and beyond, without affecting its share capital or major shareholders' stakes.

Datasonic's largest shareholder is Datuk Safian Mohd Yunus, a former non-independent non-executive director of the group, with a 14.55% shareholding held through his private vehicles Kuantum Juang Sdn Bhd and Demi Mekar Sdn Bhd, according to the group's latest annual report.

Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned entity of Minister of Finance Inc, holds an 8.84% stake in the group.

On June 4, the group, via DTSB, secured five contract extensions from the Home Ministry worth a total of RM181.66 million. These include the supply of MyKad, MyTentera, and MyPOCA raw cards and consumables to the National Registration Department (JPN) and comprehensive maintenance services for card personalisation centres at the JPN.

Additionally, Datasonic received contract extensions for the supply of Malaysian passport chips, worth an additional RM59.77 million, Malaysian passport documents worth RM29.81 million, and polycarbonate biodata pages worth RM52.70 million, to the Immigration Department.

Shares in Datasonic closed unchanged at 50 sen on Monday, valuing the group at RM1.46 billion.