Strategy Update: Launch of ePurse (HK) Ltd

RNS Number : 9569H

Sealand Capital Galaxy Limited

21 November 2018

 

Sealand Capital Galaxy Limited

Strategy Update: Launch of ePurse (HK) Ltd

Sealand Capital Galaxy Limited, ("Sealand", or the "Company") today updates the market on its new strategy.  Sealand's focus has always been to invest in high growth technology, advertising and fintech businesses with a presence in both Asia and Europe.  To that end the Company has a developed a range of services based on WeChat, a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app developed by Tencent - the US$330bn* market value tech giant, based in China, with whom Sealand has a preferred partnership status.

WeChat has 1.1 billion individual users, over 900 million plus of them are active users, who spend an average of 98 minutes each day on the application.  Furthermore China ranks as the top tourism source market, with Chinese individuals making over 4.53 billion domestic and oversees trips in 2017.  Chinese travelers are now the world's biggest spenders and conduct extensive searches via Chinese websites and social media to plan their holidays.  The most actively used platform for this is WeChat.

Given that Internet censorship in China often blocks many commonly used social media platforms and apps such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Google, WeChat is the best and most efficient way for merchants to target the Chinese market.

Capitalizing on its special relationship with Tencent, Sealand's has formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, ePurse (HK) Ltd, which provides a range of services to merchants wishing to target Chinese consumers and tourists using WeChat Pay, WeChat Official Accounts and WeChat Advertising, or even advertising on other china digital media platforms.  Specifically, the Company will roll out the WeChat business in multiple countries over coming months. It is already earning commissions from early WeChat Pay activities with 169 current retail merchants in Hong Kong and has now obtained official licenses to operate as a WeChat partner in both Dubai and the United Kingdom.

Sealand is excited about the opportunities for ePurse in these geographies, as millions of Chinese tourists flock to these countries each year, spending billions of pounds.  ePurse will capitalize on this opportunity, by offering merchant services include advertising, marketing, consumer targeting, brand enhancement and payment services. To that end the Company is already in talks with related fintech partners and look forward to updating the market soon.

Sealand also plans to expand on these partnerships, with ambitions for other licenses in other locations as well as expanding the nature and scope of their licenses and services.  The Company's special relationship with Tencent's institutional partner and other media platforms in China positions them ideally to exploit these opportunities.

Nelson Law, Executive Chairman commented:

"Sealand has undergone many changes over the last few months, but we are enthusiastic about our new focus, which will make the Company a digital bridge to link up merchants to the Chinese market and create value for our shareholders. 

"ePurse is a one-stop cross-border solution for merchants who want to access the Chinese market via WeChat applications and we have already secured licenses to conduct WeChat advertising in over 40 countries.  Initially we are launching a range of merchant services in the UK and United Arab Emirates to complement our existing Hong Kong business.

"As we have a presence in both the UK and China we are uniquely placed to take advantage of both these markets, especially as we believe that the most valuable way to access the Chinese market is through WeChat - a platform that is pervasive in China and a tool that Chinese tourists want to use on their travels to other countries as it is very convenient.

"We are also looking to partner with or acquire other potential high growth companies that work well with our existing business."

-ends-

Enquiries

Sealand Capital Galaxy Limited
Law Chung Lam Nelson, Executive Chairman	+ 44 7537959788
Belvedere Communications
John West	[phone]
Kim van Beeck	[phone]

Notes to Editors:

·      Sealand Capital Galaxy Limited (LSE: SCGL) is engaged in the investment and acquisition of IT and social media businesses in the APAC region with high growth potential.

·      The Company's Shares are traded on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities under the ticker SCGL.

·      Further information on Sealand is available on its website http://www.scg-ltd.com/

Disclaimer

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made by the Company's directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of this announcement but such statements should be treated with caution due to inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business factors, underlying such forward-looking information. This announcement has been prepared solely to provide additional information to shareholders to assess the Group's strategies and the potential for those strategies to succeed.  This announcement should not be relied on by any other party or for any other purpose.

 

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