Tune Money sees profit in 2009

 

TUNE Money Sdn Bhd should make profit next year driven by its financial services products, after wiping out some RM10 million in accumulated losses, says its director Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.

"I'm optimistic and I'm looking at a profit of RM14 million to RM15 million within a year. For 2010 and after, we should be making decent money," he said at a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Fernandes said the company was still maintaining its business model, targeting the under-served market, but will focus on expanding its insurance and prepaid Visa cards' customer base.

"We have to focus now on making it more easy for people to get the debit card and top up the card," he said.

Business Times reported three weeks ago that four key management staff including chief executive officer Tengku Zafrul Aziz and chief financial officer Chuah Lai Hock had resigned.

Fernandes said Zafrul's resignation was a mutual decision between the board of directors and Zafrul.

"Zafrul was there for a period of time to get things up and running, and we intended to subsequently hand it over to someone else for the company to be marketing-driven," he said.

Fernandes said he has found someone who meets those requirements to helm the company but did not give details. He added that the other vacancies will be filled by internal promotions.

All stakeholders including Tengku Zafrul will remain invested in Tune Money, Fernandes said, dispelling reports that Tune Money was downsizing.

However, he acknowledged that the company is postponing the rollout of its unit trust services.

Fernandes said the company will invest another RM20 million to expand its business regionally, especially in Indonesia and Thailand.

"I would like to actually go out and make Tune Money an acquirer. We are looking at a short-term timeframe pending the necessary regulatory approvals," he said.

To date, Tune Money has invested some RM30 million in its no-frills Web-based financial service portal Tune Money.Com, including RM10 million for the unit trust portion.

Fernandes said he was looking at a synergistic relationship between the Tune companies - Tune Money, Tune Hotels and Tune Talk - to not only complement but leverage on each other's business.

"We will make a major announcement regarding Tune Talk in the next two weeks," he added.