AEON CO. (M) BHD. (AEON or the Company) thrives on respectable performance in the financial year ended 31 December 2021 (FY2021) as the company forged ahead with its transformational journey.

At the 37 th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held virtually today, the Company announces an improvement in its Profit After Tax (PAT) at RM85.3 million, more than a double, as compared to FY2021 of RM41.4 million in the preceding year. The achievement was attributed to better margins derived from segmented and personalised offerings as well as enhanced negotiations coupled with disciplined cost management.

Datuk Iskandar Sarudin, Chairman of AEON said, “By steadfastly embracing and adapting to the prevailing scenario in the FY2021, AEON has continued to achieve steady progress in the realisation of our transformational journey. We endeavoured to capture the opportunities present in the new normal in tandem with the evolution of our customers. For instance, in the shift towards the New Retail business model, we are building bottom up entrepreneurial and data centric organisation in order to understand the demand and provide personalise offerings for our customers. The human capital and innovative technology infrastructures provides a strong support for the Company to embark into the journey of leveraging data to be more agile, entrepreneurial and sustainable, both now and into the future.”

“AEON has been continuously paying the dividends for the past years despite the challenging business landscape. In view of the overall profitability improvement as well as the level of cash and borrowings, we are pleased to announce that the shareholders have voted to approve a final dividend of 3.0 sen per ordinary share for the FY2021 which is equivalent to RM42.1 million or 49% payout ratio,” added Datuk Iskandar.

Shafie Shamsuddin, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of AEON remarked, “We are grateful to deliver better performance in terms of PAT for the FY2021 as compared to FY2020, despite the challenges during the period with closures of our malls and stores. This is made possible with the full support from the robust ecosystem who rallied together towards elevating the Company’s achievement.”

“Besides delivering higher profits, we made headway in improving operational efficiencies, closely engaged with our customers and accelerated our sustainability efforts in continuing with our journey to becoming nature positive. The economic outlook in 2022 appears to be looking up compared to the previous year as we entered the endemic phase. AEON Malls and Stores located in the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia are showing uptrend recovery since the borders reopening with Singapore. AEON will continue to remain resolute in our goal of creating value, and most importantly in sharing it with our stakeholders as we move forward together.”

“To drive growth, we will continue to accelerate our digital transformation to seamlessly adopt Online-Merge-Offline (OMO) strategy, including stepping up efforts to increase customer adoption of the myAEON2go. We will also deepen customer engagement and experience via our loyalty programme and the iAEON App, which is an innovative platform that brings in-store experience directly to our customers through their mobile devices,” concluded Shafie.

The completion of a first phase of AEON Alpha Angle’s renovation project which commenced in November 2021 is AEON’s display of commitment to the customers. Located within the zero-carbon township initiative identified by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), AEON Alpha Angle is now transformed and offering the concept of Inclusivity, Digital and Experiential @AEON or IDEA that emphasises on the inclusiveness of the ecosystem, digitalisation and latest technologies for a seamless shopping experience across multi generations. The open-loop ecosystem welcomes not only customers but also local businessess to be part of AEON.

AEON ramped up its sustainability agenda and underwent a paradigm shift in the approach to green and sustainable practices. A vertical farming will soon be introduced at AEON Alpha Angle for the benefits of the surrounding communities. In addition to that, upon completion of the solar panel photovoltaic (PV) facilities at AEON Taman Maluri Shopping Centre and AEON Alpha Angle in the second half of this year, it is expected to generate approximately 4,804 MWh, contributing to 15% and 30% respectively of electricity consumption. This will translate into an annual carbon emission reduction of 3,294 tonnes, a step up journey towards AEON Group Decarbonisation Vision 2050.

In conjunction with AEON’s 37th anniversary in 2021, the Company moved forward to spread its wings to become a bigger part of the lives of Malaysians. Through the sustainability initiative for the nation, ‘AEON Sayap Bagimu’, the Company engaged with the communities to navigate the challenges brought about by the new normal. The aspiration of ‘AEON Sayap Bagimu’ is based on the spirit of supporting one another to succeed together and to fly higher in creating better tomorrows. Since its launch in March 2021, various programmes have been carried out including the implementation of a new minimum wage for Grade G employees from RM1,200 to RM1,500 monthly, ahead of the recommended timeline by the Government.