FROM having a bloated board just a fortnight ago, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd’s board size has slimmed down tremendously after five INEDs, including recently appointed Masleena Zaid, threw in the towel yesterday.
Except for Masleena who cited personal commitment as the reason behind her decision to quit, the other four were unanimous in their decision to resign: disagreement over the management’s decision to file a civil suit against the company’s external auditor KPMG PLT.
The four INEDs were Tengku Datuk Seri Hasmuddin Tengku Othman, 59; Hasman Yusri Yusoff, 60; Rozilawati Basir, 50; and Sharifah Irina Syed Ahmad Radzi, 44.
Serba had earlier lost another INED in Datuk Mohamed Nor Abu Bakar, 71, on June 21 after the former chairman was re-designated as an INED following the appointment of recently appointed INED Datuk Mohamed Ilyas Pakeer Mohamed, 65, as chairman.
Following yesterday’s en masse departure of the four “old guards”, Serba is left with two INEDs in Mohamed Ilyas and Johan Mohamed Ishak, 45, while its overall board population is halved from a dozen to six.
The saving grace is perhaps that Serba Dinamik posted a net profit of RM112.52 mil for its 5Q FY6/2021 ended March 31, 2021 on the back of RM1.38 bil in revenue.
There is no comparison for the quarter under review as Serba Dinamik has changed its financial year end to June 30, 2021 from Dec 31, 2020 on May 7.
“While our core revenue contributors remain to be the O&M (operations and maintenance) and EPCC (engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning) segments, we are aggressively growing our ICT business locally and globally,” group managing director/group CEO Datuk Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah pointed out in a media statement.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and current movement control order (MCO) has pushed the urgency for Serba to grow and explore strategic sectors of the economy.”
With regard to its boardroom change, Serba Dinamik will embark on a fresh start to its corporate governance structure by restructuring its board composition, according to chairman Mohamed Ilyas.
“We are in the midst of identifying new INEDs with credibility and experience as replacements,” he told FocusM. “These new independent directors shall command relevant strength in matters concerning regulations, law, banking and finance.”
Pressed further, Mohamed Ilyas said the board is considering “senior members of government authorities and agencies”.
“It is timely for us to embark on a board restructuring exercise first before we move towards restructuring personnel at the senior management level,” he pointed out. “The new line-up is expected to continue to enhance and contribute towards the company’s global expansion plans.”
Of paramount importance is that the new line-up is able to uphold the company’s global expansion plans, he added. – June 26, 2021