Serba Dinamik : We trust our bosses to save Serba Dinamik, says company SVP

Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd's legal wrangle has left thousands of its employees restless, but they are confident in overcoming the hurdles, said a senior company official.

Zainulabidin Ismail, the Senior Vice President in charge of East Malaysia and Labuan Operations, said the thousands of employees are now waiting for the company's appeal to be heard and for the company to be back on its feet again.

"We have full confidence in the company leadership and our senior management. They will know what to do to resolve outstanding issues to save our company," he said in an interview in Kuching.

On the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Jan 10 issued a winding-up order against Serba Dinamik, which provides engineering services and solutions for O&G production platforms and its three subsidiaries.

A day later, the board of directors of Serba Dinamik filed an appeal against the decision.

The company further said that it would also apply to stay the court order to wind up the company to ensure the continuation of its business pending a decision by the Court of Appeal.

"We believe the courts will accept our appeal. As was mentioned in the company's previous press statement, some sufficient funds and assets will be made available soon to help settle our debts," he said.

Zainulabidin was referring to a press statement issued by Serba Dinamik's board of directors of the high court ruling that Serba Dinamik International Ltd (SDIL) was ready to sell its stake or assets for estimated net proceeds of US$700 million (RM3.06 billion).

The directors said SDIL's share of the sale proceeds could be used to pay down the group's debt.

"We hope this time (in the appeal), these details will be noted by the court and the creditors.

"Once we can convince them of the available funds, there is no need for them to pursue this action," he said.

The 65-year-old has been with Serba Dinamik for seven years now.

He said the workforce was worried about their immediate future but, at the same time, remained confident of their bosses turning the tide over.

"There is no doubt that we have lost some of our key personnel staff, but we are managing. It will only become complicated when the liquidator takes over following the winding up order.

"We, however, do see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we will have to overcome all challenges first…we will have to persevere and keep fighting," said Zainulabidin.

Serba Dinamik had previously said that it faced challenges with the resignations of many staff across the organisation, including its chief financial officer and the financial controller, in September 2022, following its legal troubles.

The company only submitted its 2022 annual report for the financial year ended June 30, 2022 (FY2022), together with its audited consolidated financial statements for FY2022, to Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd on Jan 12. It was to have done this on Oct 31, 2022.

In the 2022 annual report, chairman Datuk Abdul Kadier Sahib said the group would continuously attract, train, and retain employees as the quality of its talent largely determines its strength.

Abdul Kadier said the group would attract good talent by demonstrating good culture and offering competitive pay with advancement opportunities.

Zainulabidin agreed with this strategy, saying that employees are the backbone of Serba Dinamik, and they aim to ensure the company remains functioning.

"The employees are always ready to deliver what is needed from them. Once we overcome our legal hurdles, we should be ready to jump straight into the race," he said.

In the annual report, group managing director and CEO Datuk Dr Mohd Karim Abdullah said the company was considering formulating a plan to regularise its financial condition.

"We would like to assure everyone that we will be able to get back on track and continue to rebuild Serba Dinamik to greater heights," he said.

"We anticipate resolving the statutory issues through a three-year programme, tracked with milestones. The process may seem to have taken a little longer than expected, but we are confident that we will see better times ahead," Mohd Karim said.

Zainulabidin said the confidence exuded by their "big boss" kept the staff highly motivated to turn things around again for Serba Dinamik.

"Let us overcome the legal challenges, and we will take Serba Dinamik to new heights," he said.

Six financial institutions filed the winding-up petition against Serba Dinamik and its subsidiaries, SDIL, Serba Dinamik Group Bhd and Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd.

The six financial institutions acting as the suit's petitioners are Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd, HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd, AmBank Islamic Bhd, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd, United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd and Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd.

ENDS

Jan 17, 2023