SINGAPORE (June 1): NRA Capital is rating Accrelist at “overweight” with a fair value of 1.2 cents but has classified the stock pick as “high risk” as the new businesses are still in the infancy stage.
Formerly known as WE Holdings, Accrelist has been slowly morphing into a fintech play since February 2015 when it sold subsidiary WE Components to then associated company Jubilee Industries Holdings, which delivers electronics components and does precision plastic injection moulding.
It's onward and upward for Jubilee Industries from here, says CGS-CIMB
Accrelist raising $4 mil in share placement for e-medical and e-wallet plans
In May, Accrelist launched its payment and retail solutions business by signing up four merchants onto its WeChat Pay and point-of-sale (POS) software and hardware platform. In addition, it will be acquiring a 10% stake in AmazingTech a blockchain and smart contract services company.
As a start, Accrelist’s payment system will offer WeChat Pay, targeted at merchants that service Chinese tourists. This opportunity arises as Tencent wants WeChat Pay to be adopted globally and Chinese tourists spent some $4.2 billion in Singapore last year.
In a report on Thursday, analyst Liu Jinshu says Accrelist’s larger objective is to add more payment methods and ride on the growth of contactless payments and offer new POS technologies to retailers.
In turn, this creates an opportunity for Accrelist to push technologies such as self-checkout machines and self-ordering machines to retailers in addition to new technologies that use sensors and image recognition for checkout and payment.
As part of Accrelist’s push into fintech, it is also acquiring an aesthetic clinic chain to kickstart crowdfunding although this is subject to shareholders’ approval. Refresh Laser Clinic is well established with four outlets in Singapore.
Accrelist acquires aesthetic clinic chain for $4 mil in cash & shares
While Liu expects Accrelist to be a passive investor in AmazingTech initially, AmazingTech can inject its expertise for Accrelist to offer cryptocurrency payments and initial coin offerings for its payments and crowdfunding initiatives in the future.
“These efforts demonstrate the forward-thinking mentality of the management,” says Liu.
Accrelist currently trades at 0.6 cents. Its holdings of Jubilee should provide upside up to 0.8 cents at least, adds Liu.
“We value Accrelist at 1.2 cents, based on 0.82 cents of contribution from the group’s share of Jubilee and 0.38 cents from Accrelist’s new businesses. We are comforted that Jubilee has turned around; albeit with growth slowing in 2H FY18,” says Liu.
Accrelist swings back to profitability in FY18 after change in accounting treatment
