VCIG

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to VCI Global's First Half Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today to discuss our results are Victor Hoo, our Group Executive Chairman and CEO; and Zhi Feng Ang, our CFO. Before we begin, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that our remarks today may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to future events and uncertainties. Statements that are not historical facts, including, but not limited to, statements about the company's beliefs and expectations are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and our actual results might differ materially from these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our earnings release and the risk factors included in our filings with SEC. This presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be helpful in evaluating our performance. However, those measures should not be considered substitutes for the comparable GAAP measures. The accompanying reconciliation information related to those non-GAAP and GAAP measures can be found in our earnings press release issued earlier today. Without further ado, I will now turn the call over to our Group Executive Chairman and CEO, Mr. Victor Hoo.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. The first half of 2025 has been a pivotal period for VCI Global. We are not building just one platform, but a portfolio of high-growth verticals across cybersecurity, AI, fintech technology development and AI infrastructure. Each of this is designed to stand on its own as a strong business while working together to serve a growing base of enterprise and institutional clients. Our technology segment has taken the lead this year, delivering USD 9.3 million in the first half, up from USD 1.7 million a year ago. This marked a clear structural shift in the business with technology now driving most of our growth. At the same time, our Consultancy arm remains a solid foundation, contributing USD 8.1 million even as activity levels normalized after an exceptional 2024. Together, this gives us a balanced model, a fast-growing technology engine supported by stable consultancy cash flow. We are also opening up new revenue streams. One key milestone ahead is the launch of our GPU Lounge and GPU cloud platform, expanding into GPU as a service. Our RWA consultancy is gaining traction, and we are increasing investment in cybersecurity, AI, data analytics and fintech. These are areas with long-term potential and strong alignment with our strategy. In parallel, we are in advanced discussion on our digital asset treasury strategy, which we believe will complement our ecosystem and create additional growth opportunities. Another milestone on the horizon is the planned IPO of VCIG, our capital market advisory arm targeted for the first quarter of 2026. This reflects how each vertical from advisory to technology can evolve into a self-sustaining growth engine within the VCIG ecosystem, giving us strategic flexibility and opportunities to unlock value. Overall, revenue grew 37% year-on-year to USD 18.7 million with strong momentum in technology. EBITDA was USD 5.2 million, supported by top line growth and disciplined execution. Looking ahead, our focus is clear, execution and scaling. We are bringing our GPU and AI infrastructure services to market, growing our Cybersecurity offerings and maintaining healthy deal flow in our capital markets advisory business. We are building VCI Global as an ecosystem of platforms with clear commercial value and long-term potential. I'm encouraged by the progress so far and focus on what's ahead. With that, I'll hand it over to Ang to walk through the financial performance in more detail.

Thank you, Victor. Hello. I'm Ang, CFO of VCIG, and let me walk you through our financial performance for the first half of 2025, covering the 6 months ended June 30. We reported total revenue of USD 18.7 million, representing a 37% increase from the prior year period. Gross profit increased by 17% to USD 15.1 million with gross margin maintained at 80%, supported by a disciplined cost structure and the operating leverage inherent in our model. EBITDA was USD 5.2 million, reflecting both top line growth and continued investment across our strategic initiatives. Net profit after tax was USD 4.66 million with a net margin of 35%, demonstrating the resilience of our earnings profile as we scale new verticals. Outside of the core business, interest income increased to USD 1.3 million compared to USD 0.7 million a year ago, driven by a larger loan receivable base and client financing activities. This remains a high-quality earnings stream that complements our core operations. Other services contributed USD 43,000 compared to USD 140,000 last year, while other income increased to USD 0.6 million from USD 0.1 million primarily from financial assets and ancillary gains. Taken together, the first half results reflect a scalable margin accretive model underpinned by diversified revenue stream and disciplined capital deployment. As we move into the second half, our focus is on execution, converting strategic initiatives into sustained earnings growth and maintaining the financial rigor that supports it. With that, I'll hand it back to the moderator.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the floor addressed to Mr. Victor. You have been reinvesting in AI, cybersecurity, fintech and data analytics. How are you prioritizing capital allocation across these verticals? And what kind of returns or milestones are you targeting?

We are taking quite a disciplined and phased approach when it comes to capital allocation. Right now, our top priority is AI infrastructure and related services. This is where we see the clearest commercial demand. So investments around the AI integrated server, cloud platform and upcoming GPU Lounge and GPU cloud are at the forefront. The next area is cybersecurity, which complements our AI initiatives and position us well with enterprise and institutional clients. For fintech and data analytics, we are being more selective. It's about finding the right partnership and making targeted investment rather than large upfront commitments. In terms of milestones, we are focused on commercial traction and revenue visibility within 12 to 24 months. We are not aiming for quick wins, but rather sustainable growth in areas that fit our platform.

Next question asks, consultancy revenue moderate year-over-year while technology surged. Should we view this as a structural shift towards technology as the main revenue driver going forward or more of a cyclical effect?

It's a bit of both. Consultancy had a very strong 2024. So part of the moderation is simply a return to more typical activity levels. The underlying business remains solid. At the same time, there's a structural shift underway with technology becoming a larger part of the business. The growth we are seeing in AI infrastructure and solution is real, and we expect this segment to continue driving growth. So we see this as an evolution of the revenue mix where technology plays a bigger role, while consultancy remains a stable and important foundation for the company.

Here's another question from the floor. How is your current pipeline shaping out for the second half of the year, particularly in the technology segment?

The pipeline for the second half looks steady and balanced across both segments. On the technology side, we are seeing consistent interest from enterprise clients in our AI integrated server and cloud platform. A number of these discussions have moved into later stages, including some proof-of-concept work and early commercial talks. While it's still early, these engagements are progressing in line with our expectations. For GPU as a service interest has been encouraging, particularly from local enterprises that are exploring more efficient ways to access or compute resources. As we roll out the GPU Lounge and GPU cloud platform in the coming months, we expect to onboard a small group of initial clients. This will help us validate the offering and fine-tune the operational model before we scale it more widely. On the consultancy side, the pipeline remains healthy with a mix of mandates at various stages. We are working closely with clients preparing for U.S. listings and several are expected to hit filing or other key milestones in the second half, subject to market conditions. Overall, the visibility is reasonable, and we are taking a measured approach to execution. The pipeline supports our outlook for steady progress in both technology and consultancy for the rest of the year.

And our next question, as you scale both the technology and capital markets businesses, what are the key execution risk you are watching most closely for the remaining of 2025?

There are a few areas we're keeping a close eye on. First is delivery capacity. As demand grows, especially on the technology side, it's important that we scale our infrastructure and teams in a controlled and sustainable way. Second is timing around consultancy deal closures, particularly IPOs, which can be influenced by external market conditions. We are managing this by keeping a diversified pipeline and working closely with clients. Third, capital deployment discipline remains key. We are sequencing investment carefully to match commercial milestones. Lastly, we continue to monitor regulatory developments, especially in AI and digital assets to stay ahead of compliance requirements. Overall, these are manageable risks, and we feel we have the right structures in place to navigate them to the rest of the year.

Thank you. That wraps up all the questions we received from the floor. We have addressed all queries for today's session. I will now hand it back to our Group Executive Chairman and CEO, Mr. Victor Hoo, for his closing remarks.

Before we end, I want to take a moment to reflect on the first half of 2025. It was a solid period for us, marked by healthy revenue growth, strong contributions from our technology segment and continued stability in consultancy. We also made meaningful progress in laying the groundwork for our next phase of expansion. Looking ahead to the second half, our focus is on execution. It is about taking the plans we have set in motion and delivering them. We know where our priorities are and the team is aligned and moving forward steadily. We appreciate everyone taking the time to join us today, and we are grateful for your continued support. We look forward to sharing our progress with you in the next quarter.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to VCI Global First Half 2024 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today to discuss our results are Victor Hoo, our Group Executive Chairman and CEO; Marco Baccanello, Executive Director; and Zhi Feng Ang, our CFO. Before we begin, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that our remarks today may contain forward-looking statements which are subject to future events and uncertainties, statements that are not historical facts including but not limited to statements about the company's beliefs and expectations are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and our actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our earnings release and the risk factors included in our filings with the SEC. This presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be helpful in evaluating our performance. However, those measures should not be considered substitutes for the comparable GAAP measures. The accompanying reconciliation information related to those non-GAAP and GAAP measures can be found in our earnings press release issued earlier today. Without further ado, I will now turn the call over to our Group Executive Chairman and CEO, Victor Hoo. Victor, the call is yours.

Thank you, and, good morning, everyone. I appreciate you joining us today to review our financial results for the first half of 2024. It's been a remarkable start to the year with strong momentum and a robust business performance. I'm particularly pleased with the progress we have made. Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, we delivered solid results in the first half of the year. The growth reflects the hard work and exceptional performance across all our Business segments. It underscores VCIG's continued excellence as a leading firm in Business Strategy Consulting and Technology Business. In our Business Strategy Consulting segment, our ability to consistently deliver outstanding results highlights our deep market understanding and commitment to guiding companies through the complexities of going public. This success is a testament to our strategic vision and dedication to excellence, further establishing VCIG as a key player in the industry. Turning to our Technology Development Solutions and Consultancy segment. I'm proud to share that we have made significant strides in AI innovation. We secured an exclusive distributorship from Wootzano for its AI-powered post-harvest robotic packing system in Malaysia, marking a pivotal moment for us. Additionally, we strengthened our capabilities by acquiring an AI-based secure messaging platform from Cogia GmbH. These strategic acquisitions and partnerships align with our commitment to innovation and reaching our technological offerings. Building on our robust performance and expanded capability, VCIG is poised for exciting growth opportunities. In line with this growth, we have achieved a significant milestone by completing our secondary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. This strategic move highlights and enhances our global footprint and broadens our shareholder base to include European investors. We expect continued growth and success, leveraging our market position, diverse services and talented team to seize emerging opportunities. Additionally, our Board of Directors has authorized the implementation of a share buyback program of up to $10 million of our outstanding common stock over the next two years. This strategic decision highlights VCIG's impressive growth trajectory and reflects our strong confidence in our future potential. It also reaffirms our commitment to delivering sustained value to our shareholders. Now I'll turn the call over to Mr. Ang to provide further details on our financial performance.

Thank you, Victor, for the introduction. This is Ang, the CFO of VCIG. Thank you for joining us today for VCIG's first half 2024 earnings call. I'm honored to provide you with an overview of our financial performance. We have achieved an impressive 44% increase in revenue, totaling $13.7 million and a 25% increase in net income, reaching $5.4 million compared to the same period last fiscal year. This remarkable growth highlights the success of our Business Strategy and the dedication and hard work of our team. Let's delve deeper into our revenue. The substantial increase in revenue was driven primarily by the exceptional performance of our Business Strategy Consultancy segment. Revenue from this segment surged by 151% from $4.5 million in the first half of 2023 to $11.2 million in the first half of 2024. As of June 30th, 2024, we are advising nearly 15 clients who are in the process of going public on NASDAQ. Additionally, our Fintech segment saw impressive growth with revenue increasing by 183% to $0.7 million compared to $0.2 million during the same period last fiscal year. Alongside our impressive top line growth, we also achieved significant improvement in profitability. Through disciplined cost management, we experienced a substantial 26% increase in EBITDA, reaching $5.7 million. Overall, we are pleased with our revenue growth and profitability. I will now hand it over to Marco Baccanello, our Executive Director, to wrap up today's call.

Thank you, Ang and Victor. Good morning. I am Marco Baccanello, Executive Director at VCIG and it's truly exciting to be part of this outstanding team. I'm eager to contribute towards our continued success and growth together. In closing, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to our investors, employees and stakeholders for their unwavering support. Our first half 2024 results reflect VCIG's commitment to delivering success. We remain focused on driving sustainable growth and enhancing long-term shareholder value. Thank you.

That will conclude our call for today. On behalf of the company and its representatives, we want to say thank you for joining us. Goodbye.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to VCI Global Earnings Conference Call for the fiscal year 2023. Joining me today are Victor Hoo our Group Executive Chairman and CEO, Marco Baccanello Executive Director and Zhi Feng Ang who is our CFO. Before we start, I’d like to remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements which are subject to future events and uncertainties, statements that are not historical facts including but not limited to statements about the company’s belief and expectations of forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and our actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our earnings release and risk factors included in our filings with the SEC. Now this presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be helpful in evaluating our performance. However, those measures should not be considered substitutes for the comparable GAAP measures. The accompanying reconciliation information related to those non-GAAP and GAAP measures can be found in our earnings press release issued earlier today. Now without further ado, I will turn the call over to our Group Executive Chairman and CEO, Victor Hoo. Victor, the call is yours.

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining the call to discuss our 2023 performance. I'm thrilled to unveil the remarkable achievement of our 2023 performance. We have achieved an extraordinary 145% increase in revenue, representing $19.8 million, and a 57% increase in net income, amounting to $7.2 million compared to last fiscal year. This remarkable growth was driven by strong performance across all our business segments. Throughout the year, VCIG has continued to excel as a leading business consultant, specializing in IPO advisory and technology consultancies. Our commitment to deliver exceptional service to our clients has propelled us to new heights. Notably, VCIG successfully staked on NASDAQ not only enhanced our standing, but also validated our expertise. As companies require guidance navigating dynamic capital markets, we see ample opportunities to broaden our scope of IPO advisory services in the Southeast Asia region. Supported by our strong performance and expanded capabilities, we remain optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead of VCIG. With growing demand of our services and the evolving tech landscape, we are well positioned for further market expansion in Southeast Asia. We anticipated continual growth and success, leveraging our market exposition, diverse services and talented teams to seize emerging opportunities. Now I'll turn the call over to Mr. Ang to provide more details on our financial performance.

Thank you Victor. Thank you for joining us today for VCIG's Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Call. I'm Ang, CFO of VCIG and I'm pleased to provide you with an overview of our financial performance. We are proud to report that we delivered what we consider to be an exceptional fiscal year performance. Our revenue surged by an impressive 145% as compared to last fiscal year, reaching record-breaking levels. This remarkable drop is a testament to the effectiveness of our business strategy and the hard work of our team. Let's dive deeper into our revenue. The significant increase in revenue was driven by strong performance across both IPO and technology consultancy segments. Our capital market consultancy revenue increased by 265% from $23.2 [ph] million to $14.7 million in 2023, as we see notable uptick in IPO engagement throughout the year. As of December 31, 2023, we are advising 10 clients that are in the process of going public on NASDAQ. Our technology consulting revenue grew by 13% to reach $4.5 million. We specialize in IT consultancy and system development in the Fintech industry, focusing on financing management systems and e-commerce platform development. It is also worth mentioning that our Fintech arm has generated $0.4 million revenue with a long-hold value at $8 million by December 2023. This is a significant increase compared to the last fiscal year. In addition to our impressive top-line growth, we have also achieved significant improvement in profitability. Through disciplined cost management, our EBITDA experienced a substantial increase of 125% to $7.3 million, while our operating income stretched over 128% to 7.1 million. Furthermore, our earnings per share saw a notable growth of 62% to 0.21 per share. Overall, we are very pleased with our record top line growth and profitability. I will now turn the call over to Marco, our Executive Director, to conclude the call. Thank you.

Thank you, Ang. Good morning, everyone. I'm Marco Baccanello, and I'm honored to step into the role of Executive Director at VCIG. It's absolutely exhilarating to join this exceptional team. I'm eager to work towards achieving even greater success together. In conclusion, I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our investors, employees, and stakeholders for their continued support. Our fiscal year 2023 results underscore VCIG's commitment to delivering value to our stakeholders, and we remain dedicated to driving sustainable growth and creating long-term shareholder value. Thank you.

All right, once again, this is the moderator for the call. I'd like to thank the team at VCI Global for their comments today. And of course, we'd like to thank all of our interested parties as well as shareholders for joining us today. That will conclude our call.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to VCI Global Earnings Conference Call for the fiscal year 2023. Joining me today are Victor Hoo our Group Executive Chairman and CEO, Marco Baccanello Executive Director and Zhi Feng Ang who is our CFO. Before we start, I’d like to remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements which are subject to future events and uncertainties, statements that are not historical facts including but not limited to statements about the company’s belief and expectations of forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and our actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our earnings release and risk factors included in our filings with the SEC. Now this presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be helpful in evaluating our performance. However, those measures should not be considered substitutes for the comparable GAAP measures. The accompanying reconciliation information related to those non-GAAP and GAAP measures can be found in our earnings press release issued earlier today. Now without further ado, I will turn the call over to our Group Executive Chairman and CEO, Victor Hoo. Victor, the call is yours.

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining the call to discuss our 2023 performance. I'm thrilled to unveil the remarkable achievement of our 2023 performance. We have achieved an extraordinary 145% increase in revenue, representing $19.8 million, and a 57% increase in net income, amounting to $7.2 million compared to last fiscal year. This remarkable growth was driven by strong performance across all our business segments. Throughout the year, VCIG has continued to excel as a leading business consultant, specializing in IPO advisory and technology consultancies. Our commitment to deliver exceptional service to our clients has propelled us to new heights. Notably, VCIG successfully staked on NASDAQ not only enhanced our standing, but also validated our expertise. As companies require guidance navigating dynamic capital markets, we see ample opportunities to broaden our scope of IPO advisory services in the Southeast Asia region. Supported by our strong performance and expanded capabilities, we remain optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead of VCIG. With growing demand of our services and the evolving tech landscape, we are well positioned for further market expansion in Southeast Asia. We anticipated continual growth and success, leveraging our market exposition, diverse services and talented teams to seize emerging opportunities. Now I'll turn the call over to Mr. Ang to provide more details on our financial performance.

Thank you Victor. Thank you for joining us today for VCIG's Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Call. I'm Ang, CFO of VCIG and I'm pleased to provide you with an overview of our financial performance. We are proud to report that we delivered what we consider to be an exceptional fiscal year performance. Our revenue surged by an impressive 145% as compared to last fiscal year, reaching record-breaking levels. This remarkable drop is a testament to the effectiveness of our business strategy and the hard work of our team. Let's dive deeper into our revenue. The significant increase in revenue was driven by strong performance across both IPO and technology consultancy segments. Our capital market consultancy revenue increased by 265% from $23.2 [ph] million to $14.7 million in 2023, as we see notable uptick in IPO engagement throughout the year. As of December 31, 2023, we are advising 10 clients that are in the process of going public on NASDAQ. Our technology consulting revenue grew by 13% to reach $4.5 million. We specialize in IT consultancy and system development in the Fintech industry, focusing on financing management systems and e-commerce platform development. It is also worth mentioning that our Fintech arm has generated $0.4 million revenue with a long-hold value at $8 million by December 2023. This is a significant increase compared to the last fiscal year. In addition to our impressive top-line growth, we have also achieved significant improvement in profitability. Through disciplined cost management, our EBITDA experienced a substantial increase of 125% to $7.3 million, while our operating income stretched over 128% to 7.1 million. Furthermore, our earnings per share saw a notable growth of 62% to 0.21 per share. Overall, we are very pleased with our record top line growth and profitability. I will now turn the call over to Marco, our Executive Director, to conclude the call. Thank you.

Thank you, Ang. Good morning, everyone. I'm Marco Baccanello, and I'm honored to step into the role of Executive Director at VCIG. It's absolutely exhilarating to join this exceptional team. I'm eager to work towards achieving even greater success together. In conclusion, I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our investors, employees, and stakeholders for their continued support. Our fiscal year 2023 results underscore VCIG's commitment to delivering value to our stakeholders, and we remain dedicated to driving sustainable growth and creating long-term shareholder value. Thank you.

All right, once again, this is the moderator for the call. I'd like to thank the team at VCI Global for their comments today. And of course, we'd like to thank all of our interested parties as well as shareholders for joining us today. That will conclude our call.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to VCI Global First Half 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. Thank you for joining us today. Today’s call is hosted by VCI Global’s CEO, Victor Hoo; and CFO, Zhi Feng Ang. At this time, your lines should be in listen-only mode until we reach the question-and-answer session of our call. [Operator Instructions] I’d now like to hand the conference over to IR Consulting from ICR, Michael Bowen.

Thank you, operator. Welcome, everyone, to VCI Global’s inaugural earnings conference call for the second quarter and first half of fiscal year 2023. A press release, which contains operational and financial highlights are now available on the Company’s IR website, which you can see in our press release. Joining me today are Victor Hoo, our CEO; and Zhi Feng Ang, our CFO. Before we start, I would like to remind you that this call may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to future events and uncertainties. Statements that are not historical facts, including, but are not limited to, statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and our actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our earnings release and risk factors included in our filings with the SEC. This presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be helpful in evaluating our performance. However, those measures should not be considered substitutes for the comparable GAAP measures. The accompanying reconciliation information related to those non-GAAP and GAAP measures can be found in our earnings press release issued earlier today. I will now turn the call over to our CEO, Victor Hoo. Victor?

Thank you, Michael. I’m delighted to be speaking with you today on our first conference call as a public company. We are proud of our team’s execution that led to exceptional first half results [Technical Difficulty]. We are very proud of the team’s execution that led to an exceptional first half. We are also very pleased with our results and progress now that we are a publicly traded company. As we will illuminate on this call, VCI Global demonstrated strong growth across our entire business and, in particular, our Business Strategy Consultancy and Technology Solution segments and we are optimistic regarding the remainder of 2023 and beyond. As demonstrated in our record-breaking revenue, which more than doubled year-over-year, our team has worked hard to advance all segments of our business. Starting with our Strategy Consulting segment. We are becoming the advisor of choice for high potential companies seeking to go public. Some of our NASDAQ IPO means are helping to elevate and validate our positioning. As companies require guidance navigating dynamic markets, we see significant potential to expand our IPO advisory engagements. We are also making inroads with major development projects, and anticipate being appointed a key consultant for some new exciting projects in Malaysia during the balance of 2023. Our business strategy expertise is driving consulting growth. Turning to Technology Solutions. We had tremendous success capitalizing our robust demand for AI services. Our new collaboration with Fusionex provides exclusive access to leading AI capabilities that we can offer clients. We were also selected by Cogia as the exclusive distributor for their groundbreaking messenger product in Southeast Asia. The AI-powered military grid communications should enable privacy, security, and tailored business solutions. And just last month, we signed an agreement to be exclusive licensee of [SQ AI modeling platform] across nine Asia Pacific region. With AI spend growing over 50% annually, these partnerships position us strongly in this high-growth space. Supported by our strong performance and expanded capabilities, we see significant opportunities ahead. We expect full-year revenue growth of at least 90%. We will continue targeting higher margin consulting services and partnership to drive improved profitability, and we are aggressively evaluating potential acquisitions to further enhance our capabilities. VCI Global is successfully executing our strategy for growth and value creation. I want to thank our employees for their commitment and our shareholders for their ongoing support. With that overview, I will turn the call over to our CFO, Zhi Feng Ang, to review our financials.

Thank you, Victor. We are proud that we delivered what we considered to be exceptional first half performance, achieving record revenue that grew 108% period-over-period to $9.5 million. This substantial growth was driven by strong performances across all our business segments. Our strategy consulting revenue increased by 83% to $4.5 million, primarily due to [March] IPO advisory wins. As of June 30, 2023, we are advising four clients who are currently undergoing the profit of going public on NASDAQ, which is helping to enhance our reputation in this attractive market. Our Technology Solutions segment grew 104% to US$4.2 million. We provided IT consultancy and system development in the fintech industry, which focuses on financing management system and e-commerce platform development. We have also added financing services, which contributed to about $0.8 million in the first half. With discipline cost management, operating expenses were 54% of revenue versus 65% last period. This led to operating income growing over at times to $226,000, net income increased by 37% to $4.3 million, our earnings per share grew 33% to $0.12 per share. Our balance sheet remains healthy with cash and equivalents of $3.3 million, providing flexibility to fund growth. Overall, we are very pleased with our record topline growth and profitability. I will now turn the call over to the operator to begin our Q&A period. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] :

Thank you, operator. This is Michael Bowen from ICR. While we are assembling the roster questions, we’ve had a couple of questions coming in online, so I will address those now with the management team to get things started in the Q&A session. So question number one, with regard to financials. Your revenue growth in the first half was very impressive. Do you believe you can sustain this level of growth or were there any circumstances related to this revenue, for instance, one-time or lumpiness that could lead to lower revenue growth in future periods? Thanks.

Hi. Yes, we certainly believe that we can sustain this level of growth as we have a [healthy partners] of IPO clients in the second half as well as going into 2024.

Okay, great. Thank you for that. And then we have another question that came in also, and I’ll ask that now. With regard to your key performance indicators or your KPIs, what would you consider the best KPIs that investors should measure and track in order to determine the health and growth prospects for your business on a go-forward basis? Thank you.

All right. Our key performance indicators definitely are revenue growth and profitability. We believe these are the best indicators for the financial and the operating health of our company. Thank you.

Operator, I’ll turn it back over to you.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions]

Operator, while you’re reassembling, I’ll ask one other question that came in via email to us from a client. What is the average length of your business consultancy retainer engagements? Thank you.

Our retainer and [indiscernible] on a yearly renewal basis, however, most of these clients usually stay with us on a long-term basis. Thank you.

Operator, back over to you.

[Operator Instructions] All right. I’m showing no question. I’ll now turn the conference back to the management team for any closing comments.

Hi. So thank you, everyone, for attending this conference call. We hope that you can get a lot of insight in regards to our business progression as well as our results. So hopefully, we will see you guys, again in the next conference earning call. Thank you, and good morning.

Thank you. And with that, we conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.