Tradelink 2024 Interim report

13 貿易通電子貿易有限公司 二零二四年中期報告 Management Discussion and Analysis (Continued) 管理層討論及分析（續） Business Review (Continued) Identity Management (“IDM”) Business Review For the first six months of 2024, the Group’s IDM business recorded a revenue of HK$22.2 million (2023: HK$29.4 million) and segment profit of HK$2.4 million (2023: HK$6.6 million), denoting a drop of 24.3% and 63.9% year-on-year respectively. Though the performance appeared a bit disappointing, it should be noted that both the revenue and segment profit recorded in the same period of 2023 were historic high. As such, we faced the challenge of comparing the current performance to a very high level achieved last year. To explain further about the significant decline in profit, we would need to point out that our biggest cost in the business is our staff costs, which is largely fixed when we normally spend a good amount of staff resources to carry out research and development (“R&D”) work on new solutions and products, particularly when new client projects are yet to be committed. But if history is a good guide for performance, our R&D work in IDM will pay off in due course when our clients start onboarding these new solutions. Taking a closer look at the revenue breakdown, it is noted that both the recurrent revenue from maintenance services and projects revenue dropped 13.1% and 27.7% respectively. Regarding projects revenue, as most of the orders received in previous years had largely been completed within 2023, we mainly worked on a few remaining carry-forward projects together with new orders received during the reporting period. In the first half of 2024, a couple of major orders received included two electronic Know-Your-Customer (“eKYC”) projects ordered separately by an e-wallet operator and a repeat customer which is a multinational bank, for digital onboarding of their clients. Specifically, for the one ordered by the multinational bank, it is an extension of the current eKYC solution supporting Hong Kong Identity Card to include Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macao. During the reporting period, we secured another major order from a repeat customer, a major non-profit institution with entertainment as its core business. This order involved the implementation of a biometric 2-factor authentication solution, and similar to the one we previously deployed for use by their clients, the solution this time will be utilised on their staff platform. With development work on these new projects started, together with work on those carry-forward projects and enhancement orders, project revenue was recognised on a work-in-progress basis. Regarding our digital signing solution, we experienced a sharp decline in revenue, with a drop of almost 90%. This decline can be attributed to the slower- than-expected adoption of the solution, which was influenced by the overall sluggish development of the market and its impact on customer decision-making. As the bulk of the development work on the major order received from a private hospital had largely been completed by the end of last year, revenue generated from this stream during the reporting period was mainly from a few minor orders received. 業務回顧（續） 身份管理（「身份管理」）業務回顧 於二零二四年首六個月，本集團的身份管理業務 錄得收益港幣 22,200,000 元（二零二三年：港幣 29,400,000 元）及分部溢利港幣 2,400,000 元（二零二 三年：港幣 6,600,000 元），分別按年下跌 24.3% 及 63.9% 。儘管表現稍為令人失望，但值得注意的是， 二零二三年同期錄得的收益和分部溢利均創歷史高 位。因此，我們面對將當前表現與去年達到的高水 平進行比較的挑戰。為進一步解釋溢利大幅下降的 原因，我們需要指出，我們業務中最大的成本是僱 員成本，其大部分屬固定成本，因為我們一貫會投 入相當的僱員資源進行新解決方案和產品的研究及 開發（「研發」）工作，尤其是在新客戶項目尚未落實 前。但如參考以往的經驗，當我們的客戶開始採用 此等新解決方案時，我們在身份管理研發工作的成 果將會適時顯現。 根據收益明細，我們注意到來自維護服務的經常性 收益和項目收益分別下跌 13.1% 和 27.7% 。在項目收 益方面，由於大部分在過去數年接獲的訂單已在二 零二三年內基本完成，我們主要處理數個結轉的剩 餘項目以及於報告期間接獲的新訂單。於二零二四 年上半年，接獲的幾個主要訂單包括由一間電子錢 包營運商和一名回頭客（一家跨國銀行）分別訂購的兩 個電子化認識你的客戶（「 eKYC 」）項目，以用於其客 戶的電子開戶。具體而言，該跨國銀行訂購的項目 是目前支援香港身份證的 eKYC 解決方案的延伸，以 包括往來港澳通行證。於報告期間，我們從一名回 頭客 ( 一家以娛樂為核心業務的主要非牟利機構 ) 獲得 另一個重要訂單。此訂單涉及實施生物雙重認證解 決方案，與我們先前為其客戶設置的方案類近，而 此次的解決方案將用於其員工平台上。隨著此等新 項目的開發工作展開，連同結轉項目和升級訂單的 工作，項目收益按進度確認。在我們的數碼簽署方 案方面，其收益大幅下降，跌幅接近 90% 。此一下降 可歸因於解決方案的採用速度較預期緩慢，此乃受 整體市場發展緩慢及其對客戶決策影響所致。由於 來自一家私家醫院的主要訂單的大部分開發工作已 於去年年底基本完成，於報告期間來自此渠道的收 益主要來自數個小型訂單。