貿易通 2021 年中報

Chairman’s Statement (Continued) 主席報告書 （續） 06 Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited Interim Report 2021 Moving ahead to the outlook of our business for the remainder of 2021, we foresee that the operating environment of our GETS business would continue to be favourable. That said, we are mindful that the strong 22% growth of the overall GETS market for the first half of 2021 was against a low base from the same period last year when the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) pandemic first broke out and some business sectors almost came to a stand-still. Coupled with the fact that the market had slowly started to pick up towards the fourth quarter of last year, we therefore would expect that such a strong growth of the overall GETS market be unsustainable for the full year of 2021. Nevertheless as Governments around the world became more experienced in responding to the pandemic and people adapting their daily lives to cope much better, we would think a double digit growth of the GETS market be a cautious yet reasonable assumption as a backdrop for our GETS business in 2021. We equally are cautiously optimistic about the prospects of our Supply Chain Solutions, IDM and Smart PoS businesses for the remainder of the year given the momentum gathered in the first half of the year and orders we had already secured as well as the leads we presently got on hand. That said, there are a couple of caveats, though, that we would like to highlight. First of all, in 2021 we no longer would receive any subsidy from the Employment Support Scheme under the Government Anti-epidemic Fund which we did in 2020 amounting to HK$13.0 million. Moreover we expect our interest income in 2021 would reduce year-on- year due to the ongoing low interest rate environment and the switching of a large chunk of our investments in debt securities to a diversified bond portfolio and bond funds since the second half of 2020. Last but not least, the price volatility of these investments in financial instruments causing fair value changes would pose uncertainty on our net profit or loss recorded. Nevertheless, overall speaking, I would stay confident about our performance for the remainder of the year and would recommend payment of an interim dividend of HK 2.8 cents per share for the first half of 2021. This would represent a payout of about 74.2% of our profit for the period of HK$30.0 million; and a 43.6% increase of the interim dividend compared with last year. Dr. LEE Nai Shee, Harry, S.B.S., J.P. Chairman Hong Kong, 24 August 2021 展望我們的業務於二零二一年餘下時間的前景， 我們預期 GETS 業務的經營環境將繼續利好。然 而，我們注意到，整體 GETS 市場於二零二一年上 半年錄得的 22% 強勁增長乃與去年同期低基數比 較，其時 2019 冠狀病毒病（「 COVID-19 」）疫情首次 爆發，若干行業幾近陷入停頓。再者，市場於挨 近去年第四季度已開始緩慢回暖，因此，我們預 期整體 GETS 市場的強勁增長並不能於二零二一 年全年持續。但是，隨著各國政府於應對疫情方 面經驗日增，人們已調整其日常生活以應付疫 情，我們相信一個雙位數字的 GETS 市場增長，對 GETS 業務於二零二一年全年的展望來說，乃屬審 慎但仍算合理的假設。鑒於本年度上半年的勢 頭、我們已獲得的訂單及目前手頭上的潛在客 戶，我們同樣對供應鏈應用方案、身份管理及智 能銷售點業務於本年度餘下時間的前景持審慎樂 觀態度。儘管如此，我們謹此作出數個說明。首 先，我們於二零二零年收取政府防疫抗疫基金下 的保就業計劃補助港幣 13,000,000 元，惟於二零 二一年則不再獲受任何有關補助。此外，由於低 利率環境持續，加上大筆債務證券投資自二零二 零年下半年起轉至多元化債券組合及債券基金， 我們預期二零二一年我們的利息收入將按年減 少。最後，由於金融工具投資的價格波動，導致 公允價值變動，對我們錄得的淨溢利或虧損造成 不確定性。 總而言之，惟本人對我們於本年度餘下時間的表 現保持信心，故建議就二零二一年上半年分派中 期股息每股 2.8 港仙。此代表約佔期內溢利港幣 30,000,000 元 的 74.2% ，較 去 年 中 期 股 息 增 加 43.6% 。 主席 李乃熺博士， S.B.S., J.P. 香港，二零二一年八月二十四日