REG - Worldsec Limited - Half-year Report

RNS Number : 4738B Worldsec Limited 30 September 2025 WORLDSEC LIMITEDInterim Report for the six months ended 30 June 2025Worldsec LimitedInterim Report for the six months ended 30 June 2025The board (the “Board”) of directors of Worldsec Limited (the “Company”) hereby submits the interim report on the Company and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) for the six months ended 30 June 2025 (the “Interim Report”). For the period under review, the Group recorded an unaudited net loss of US$97,000 (equivalent to basic and diluted loss per share of 0.11 US cent) against an unaudited net loss of US$146,000 (equivalent to basic and diluted loss per share of 0.17 US cent) for the corresponding six months in 2024. Dividend income increased by over US$100,000 to US$151,000 due primarily to the dividend received in connection with the Group’s investment in ByteDance Ltd. (“ByteDance”), held through the Homaer Asset Management Master Fund SPC (the “Homaer Fund”), following ByteDance’s modest and measured partial share buybacks. This was, nevertheless, offset in part by a reduction in the positive contribution from the fair value change in the financial assets of the Group at fair value through profit and loss. Accordingly, a net loss narrowing of US$49,000 was recorded. Cash and cash equivalents, however, decreased by US$224,000, reflecting basically the use of funds for working capital and other operating activities. At the date of the Interim Report, the investment portfolio of the Group comprises a total of six investments:ICBC Specialised Ship Leasing Investment Fund (the “ICBC Ship Fund”) The Group’s investment in the ICBC Ship Fund, which is involved in marine vessel leasing, continued to provide a stable return through monthly dividend income, generating revenue amounting to US$48,000 for the six months ended 30 June 2025.Animoca Brands Corporation Limited (“Animoca”) through VS SPC Limited (“VS SPC”)The Group holds, through the Class A Participating Shares of VS SPC, an investment in the equity interest of Animoca. Incorporated in Australia, Animoca was formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange but was delisted in 2020. It is a holding company of a technology group engaged in gamification, blockchain and tokenisation activities and is committed to advancing digital property rights and building an open metaverse. The operations of the Animoca group encompass three integrated business pillars, comprising (i) Web3 businesses with native projects including Moca Network, Open Campus, The Sandbox, as well as a stablecoin joint venture with Standard Chartered and HKT; (ii) digital asset advisory services including tokenomic advisory, liquidity provisioning and institutional research; and (iii) investment management with a portfolio of Web3 investments in over 570 companies including industry leaders Pudgy Penguins, Yuga Labs, Axie Infinity, Polygon, Consensys, Magic Eden, OpenSea, Dapper Labs, YGG, among many others. Animoca has received broad industry and market recognitions as winners in Fortune Crypto 40, and Financial Times’ High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific, Top 50 Blockchain Game Companies 2025 and Deloitte Tech Fast. Having emerged from the perfect storm in 2023 and undergone foundational rebuilding in 2024, the digital asset market and the Web3 economy are experiencing a breakthrough year in 2025. Bitcoin prices have repeatedly set record highs, signaling strong market confidence. DeFi is no longer crypto-native as stablecoins have become widely accepted in cross-border payments, remittances and B2B settlements, while tokenisation of RWAs has been gaining significant traction. Financial institutions are increasingly integrating digital assets and expanding offerings through crypto ETFs. Exemplified by the enactment of the GENIUS Act in the United States, the global regulatory landscape is gradually converging towards legal clarity, fostering security, technological innovation and sustainable development within the cryptosphere and the Web3 economy. Under these favourable conditions, the Animoca group continues to strengthen its market leadership through strategic and synergistic investments, partnerships and various corporate initiatives. In June 2025, after an extended delay due to the difficulty in dealing with novel and complex accounting issues associated with the crypto sector, Animoca moved a big step towards full financial disclosure compliance with the release of its 2021 Annual Report that was audited with an unqualified opinion. Thanks to the rapidly rising contributions from the blockchain and digital asset activities, bookings, net assets and operating cash flow jumped by orders of magnitude to A$450 million, A$337 million and A$382 million respectively. But because of the substantial amount of non-cash accounting charges attributed to, inter alia, deferred revenue recognition, share-based compensation, derivative instrument features and fair value adjustments, a net loss of A$671 million was recorded. With the completion of the audit for 2021, Animoca has laid the groundwork for expediting the preparation of the outstanding audited financial statements for the subsequent reporting periods.Certain strategic and synergistic investments, partnerships and corporate initiatives executed by the Animoca group are set out below:Between June and September 2025, Moca Foundation, the community-owned entity initiated by the Animoca group to support the development, adoption and growth of Moca Network, and Moca Network, the chain-agnostic decentralised identity infrastructure project that provides one universal account for a user’s assets, identity and reputation across multiple platforms, announced a series of strategic moves to deepen Moca Network’s community engagement and broaden its reach across Web3 verticals. Moca Chain will be launched as a Layer-1 blockchain for self-sovereign and privacy-preserving user and data verification. Testnet and mainnet have been slated for late 2025. The launch of MocaPortfolio will offer MOCA Coin and Mocaverse NFT communities exposure to the ecosystem of and access to token allocations of US$20 million from the investment and partnership portfolio companies of the Animoca group. Through the strategic partnership with Oyunfor, Moca Network’s AIR Kit software development kit will be integrated into Turkey’s leading e-pin and digital game-code marketplace to deliver personalised rewards and Web3 onboarding for over 6.2 million Turkish gamers. In collaboration with Spree Finance and BookIt.com, two blockchain-powered reward engines, Moca Network will set up a verifiable loyalty platform, Air Shop, that will enable its users to earn rewards from more than 2 million merchants in travel, entertainment and premium retail. Additionally, Moca Coin was listed on Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, to enhance the accessibility and adoption of Moca Network’s ecosystem. In April 2025, Animoca and its supported education-focused decentralised autonomous organisation, Open Campus, which is the foundation behind EDU Chain, jointly deployed US$10 million in liquidity as loan collateral to facilitate DeFi student loans on the Pencil Finance platform. Pencil Finance is a decentralised lending protocol designed to connect investors and trusted loan originators through tokenised bundles. It is co-incubated by Animoca and HackQuest on EDU Chain. The inaugural US$1 million tokenised bundle marks the first on-chain issuance of student loan capital, with funds allocated in tranches at fixed and variable annual percentage yield to ErudiFi for students in the Philippines and Indonesia and to Transcend Network for edtech founders and unlocking new opportunities for education financing. Through a US$20.7 million placement led by Animoca, the Animoca group became a strategic investor in DigitalX, the only crypto fund manager listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. US$19.7 million of the placement proceeds have been deployed to fund DigitalX’s Bitcoin-focused treasury activities.Animoca has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with DDC Enterprise, the leading Asian food platform that is listed on the NYSE American stock exchange and that has built a substantial Bitcoin treasury as a core part of its business model, and will allocate up to US$100 million Bitcoin towards DDC Enterprise’s yield-enhancement strategies. Animoca’s co-founder and executive chairman will also join the Bitcoin Visionary Council newly formed under DDC Enterprise to provide leadership and guidance. Animoca and Provenance Blockchain Labs have entered into a strategic partnership to co-develop NUVA, a chain-agnostic vault marketplace connecting RWA issuers with investors. Built on the Provenance Blockchain, which holds over $15.7 billion in RWAs, NUVA is scheduled to debut in the fourth quarter of 2025 with institutional-grade vaults backed by Figure Technologies’ flagship digitally native products, YLDS, the SEC-registered yielding stablecoin, and HELOCs, a pool of fixed-interest rate home equity loans. Separately, Animoca has teamed up with Fosun Wealth, a digital global wealth management platform, and FinChain, an innovator in blockchain finance, to drive the development of the RWA ecosystem in Asia. The collaboration aims to bridge traditional finance with emerging Web3 capital markets and plans to distribute Fosun Wealth’s RWAs via NUVA. Animoca, together with Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, Fabric Ventures, a venture capital contributor, and Founders Factory, a star-up builder, have unveiled a multi-million-pound accelerator in the United Kingdom to supercharge blockchain and AI startups. The accelerator program offers founders capital funding and expert training in tokenomics, community-led go to market planning and fundraising. Backed by the United Kingdom government, the accelerator aims to position the United Kingdom as a global innovation leader by fostering product-market fit and scaling frontier technologies across the Web3 and AI sectors.In line with the global trend of regulatory frameworks gradually converging towards legal clarity, Hong Kong has enacted the Stablecoins Ordinance in an effort to strengthen its crypto hub position. Having gained early mover experience through the joint participation in the HKMA stablecoin issuer sandbox since July 2024, Animoca, Standard Chartered and HKT have proceeded to establish a strategic joint venture focussing on the issuance and advancement of licensed stablecoins. The strategic joint venture, Anchorpoint, has submitted a formal expression of interest to the HKMA on 1 August 2025, the very first day the Stablecoins Ordinance becoming effective. The Animoca group has officially planted its footprint in the Middle East, with a strategic presence in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to serve the rising influx of Web3 organisations entering the region, and a managing director to oversee its Middle Eastern operations has been appointed.The crypto space appears to be approaching a pivotal inflection point, as regulatory frameworks around the world are gradually converging towards legal clarity. This evolving environment is accompanied by a marked change in sentiment, from an era of hostility and skepticism to one that fosters innovation in blockchain, digital asset and decentralised technologies. The enhanced global regulatory landscape is building a robust foundation for institutional adoption and broad public trust and confidence and the crypto assets are poised for mass integration into mainstream economic systems. From banking and financing, investment and smart contracting to healthcare management, insurance fraud prevention and claims automation, identity and credential verification and beyond, blockchain-based solutions have the transformative potential to revolutionise traditional operational practices across industries. As a leader in the crypto space and a pioneer at the forefront of the crypto revolution, the Animoca group is uniquely placed to capitalise on the vast opportunities and revolutionary benefits arising in the trailblazing Web3 digital age.ByteDance through the Homaer Fund The Group holds, through the Unicorn Equity Investment Portfolio Class A Shares of the Homaer Fund, an investment in the equity interest of ByteDance. Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, ByteDance is an unlisted holding company of a technology group that operates a series of mobile app platforms powered by AI across cultures and geographies. The ByteDance group has a portfolio of products and services that includes TikTok, TikTok Shop, CapCut, Lark, as well as Douyin, Douyin E-commerce, Toutiao, Xigua and Feishu which are specific to the China market, and has over 150,000 employees in nearly 120 cities around the world. During the first half of 2025, the ByteDance group continued to deliver strong financial performance amid macroeconomic challenges and geopolitical tensions. Reuters reported that, for the first quarter of 2025, the Chinese technology giant achieved revenue exceeding US$43 billion, surpassing Meta’s US$42.3 billion and becoming the world’s number one social media conglomerate by sales. Growth momentum followed through to the second quarter of 2025. Revenue grew year-on-year by 25% to US$48 billion, most of which was derived from the domestic market. For the full year in 2025, the ByteDance group has reportedly set a revenue target with a 20 percent growth over 2024 to US$186 billion. With strong financial performance, ByteDance conducted partial investor share buybacks, albeit in a modest and measured manner, giving rise to the dividend received by the Group during the 2025 first half as mentioned in the results review paragraph above. ByteDance has placed AI at the heart of its strategic roadmap, adopting a dual track strategy with consumer products funding and fueling the open-source technology development and the open-source innovation in turn providing the foundational capabilities to empower the growth and enhancement of the consumer applications. This virtuous cycle is exemplified by two cornerstone projects of the ByteDance group. Seed-OSS-36B, an open-source LLM with 36 billion parameters released under Apache 2.0, achieves state-of-the-art benchmark scores in various domains. Doubao, the consumer-facing chatbot of the ByteDance group, has more than 150 million monthly active users to become one of China’s most widely adopted AI assistants, and is seamlessly integrated across the ByteDance group’s app ecosystem from Feishu to CapCut delivering fast, fluent and multimodal interactions.The ByteDance group is also building a modular suite of generative AI tools that cover multiple modalities in text, image, video, audio and 3D and 4D environments, supported by a layered architecture of specialised models designed for creative generation, complex reasoning and agentic execution. Flagship components include Seedream 4.0, a unified image generation and editing model with multi-reference input and sequential storytelling capabilities, XVerse, a multi-subject image composer with token-specific modulation for fine-grained control, OmniHuman, which transforms static images into animated avatars capable of natural gestures and lip sync, and VINCIE-3B, a diffusion transformer for in-context image editing from video sequences. The modular suite of the ByteDance group is designed for interoperability, allowing outputs from one model to feed into another. This synergistic effect is amplified by the ByteDance group’s massive user base across Douyin, TikTok and other mobile app platforms, enabling real-time deployment and feedback loops at scale. To further advance the AI ambition of ByteDance, the ByteDance group has expanded its robotics research and development team to about 150 employees, with efforts focusing on autonomous mobile robots. Engineered for indoor material transport, the wheeled bots are actively deployed in the ByteDance group’s internal operations, including TikTok and Douyin e-commerce warehouses, and have commenced servicing external logistics clients. At the frontier of embodied AI, the ByteDance group has also developed GR-3, a large-scale vision-language-action model that enables robots to understand natural-language instructions and perform sophisticated long-horizon household tasks in real-world settings. Integrated with GR-3 AI, the bimanual robotic platform, ByteMini, is capable of folding laundry, hanging clothes and clearing dining tables, showcasing human-like dexterous manipulation and spatial reasoning. By leveraging its AI expertise to build generalist robots that could assist in everyday life, the ByteDance group is expanding into consumer robots and intelligent automation.To power ByteDance’s ambitious vision in AI, the ByteDance group has reportedly earmarked over US$20 billion capital expenditure for 2025. The preponderance of the funds is directed towards AI infrastructure with huge spending on data centres, chip procurement, networking equipment, compute resources and cloud capacity to support the training and inference of its growing model fleet. The investments also aim to scale the ByteDance group’s AI applications spanning developer tools, chatbots and image and video generators. The colossal amount of capital expenditure underscores ByteDance’s deep commitment to forging a competitive AI ecosystem that will power foundational research and consumer product growth in the long term. Meanwhile, TikTok continues to dominate headlines. In Europe, its entrenched popularity and extensive market penetration have drawn admiration and scrutiny. With over 200 million monthly active users across 32 countries, TikTok reaches roughly one in three Europeans, solidifying the short-video platform’s status as a cultural and commercial force. However, the latent influence inherent in its extensive reach has attracted regulatory attention. In May 2025, the Irish Data Protection Commission imposed a fine of €530 million on the local TikTok entity for allegedly transferring European user data to China without adequate safeguards. The short-video platform company has made an appeal contesting the €485 million and €45 million components of the penalty, with a full hearing scheduled for October 2025. Across the Atlantic, TikTok faces continued regulatory challenges. Although the Canadian government has ordered TikTok’s local entity to dissolve its operations over national security concerns, the short-video platform remains accessible to users. In the United States, the long-running divestiture saga of TikTok appears to be approaching a finale. After years of political pressure, wrangling and legal manoeuvring, the short-video platform has seemingly fulfilled its role as a bargaining chip in the conflict between the two economic superpowers. On 25 September 2025, President Trump signed an executive order addressing national security concerns under the 2024 ban-or-divest law by approving a US$14 billion deal to restructure TikTok’s operations in the United States into an entity to be majority-owned by American investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, with ByteDance retaining less than 20% ownership and limited control. Upon the restructuring, the recommendation algorithm of TikTok will be retrained with United States user data. Data security will be monitored and overseen by Oracle. As additional time is required to complete the divestiture, the enforcement deadline of the 2024 ban-or-divest law has been extended to 16 December 2025.On top of navigating a complex and fragmented regulatory landscape, TikTok is doubling down on a global push for TikTok Shop, rolling out its e-commerce platform across continental Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland, as well as Japan and Brazil throughout 2025. The ambitious and aggressive rollout represents a strategic endeavour to monetise TikTok’s massive global user base, which exceeds 1.6 billion registered users, by seamlessly integrating shopping directly into the short-form video and livestream ecosystem. The business model of TikTok Shop uniquely blends content-driven commerce with viral engagement, enabling creators and brands to convert views into purchases in real-time. This positions TikTok as a disruptive force in the global e-commerce space, evolving from a social media platform into a full-fledged commerce engine capable of challenging incumbents such as Amazon, Rakuten and Mercado Libre.Likewise, Douyin, TikTok’s sister short-video app in China, has also taken steps to strengthen its market position through expansion in e-commerce and content production. In 2024, Douyin Ecommerce achieved a gross merchandise value of US$490 billion, establishing itself as China’s third-largest e-tailer, behind Alibaba’s Taotian Group and Pinduoduo and surpassing JD.com. To further consolidate its presence in the fast-growing instant commerce sector, Douyin has merged Douyin Supermarket with Douyin Hourly Delivery, integrating shelf-based shopping with rapid fulfillment capabilities. This pits Douyin Ecommerce directly against Taobao Instant Commerce, JD Instant Delivery and Meituan in the race to capture a share of China’s projected US$279 billion instant retail market by 2030. Concurrently, the Chinese short video platform is actively ramping up efforts on original content production, especially in the realm of short dramas, to enhance platform engagement and intellectual property control. It has recently set up a short drama copyright centre responsible for managing content rights and supply with a view to improving copyright oversight and elevate production quality. Hongguo Short Drama, a Douyin-affiliated platform, has emerged as a leading player in China’s short drama market, which had grown from US$0.5 billion in 2021 to US$7 billion in 2024 and has been projected to top US$16.2 billion by 2030.From time to time, ByteDance conducts share buybacks from the employees of the ByteDance group. For the latest round of the buyback offer slated for the autumn of the current year, it has reportedly valued itself at US$330 billion on the back of strong financial performance. Regulatory filings by major ByteDance investors actually revealed a range of valuations exceeding the US$330 billion amount.Dingdong (Cayman) Limited (“Dingdong”)Subsequent to the listing of Dingdong on the New York Stock Exchange, the Group directly holds its investment in the American depositary shares of Dingdong (the “Dingdong ADS”).Dingdong is the holding company of an e-commerce group that principally operates a mobile app, Dingdong Maicai, providing users and households with fresh groceries, prepared food and other food products supported by an extensive self-operated frontline fulfillment grid. The operations of the Dingdong group cover dozens of cities across China with a significant portion of revenue derived from the Yangtze River Delta Megalopolis. The Dingdong group has also launched a series of private label products, spanning a variety of food categories mostly supported by self-operated production facilities.Based on the unaudited quarterly reports of the first and second quarters of 2025 filed by Dingdong with the regulatory authority (the “First Quarterly Report” and the “Second Quarterly Report”), the Dingdong group maintained its growth momentum through the first half of 2025, marking six consecutive quarters of GAAP profitability and year-on-year revenue growth. In the first and second quarters of 2025, despite the decline in food prices and the continued impact of the strategic adjustments to suspend coverage of non-performing cities, revenue grew year-on-year by 9.1% and 6.7% to RMB$5.48 billion and RMB$5.98 billion respectively. This was driven by the rise in the number of orders consequent to the increase in the number of transacting users and the increased order frequency, supplemented by the network expansion to deepen market penetration in East China. For the first half of 2025, and based on the calculations derived from the unaudited figures found in the First Quarterly Report and the Second Quarterly Report, gross profit margin decreased to 29.3% from 30.3% in the same period of 2024, reflecting the additional costs associated with product mix changes stemming from the implementation of the “4G strategy” of "good users, good products, good services and good mindshare" to boost customer satisfaction. Fulfillment and other expenses, on the other hand, were effectively managed and contained. Net margin at the bottom-line, either on the non-GAAP* or the GAAP basis, therefore remained broadly unchanged. Coupled with the growth in revenue, the Dingdong group continued to deliver in the highly competitive industry. For the first half of 2025, non-GAAP net income grew year-on-year by 9.3% to a total of RMB158.2 million and GAAP net income considerably by 45.1% to a total of RMB115.2 million.On the back of continued profitability, cash flow remained robust. Net cash generated from operating activities recorded eight consecutive quarterly gains, amounting to RMB85.2 million and RMB101.4 million for the first and second quarters of 2025 respectively. As at 30 June 2025, net cash balance, calculated by deducting short-term borrowings from the sum of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments, stood at RMB2.95 billion, providing ample wherewithal to fund capital expenditure. Working capital, on the other hand, was practically financed by suppliers. The ratio of accounts payable net of supplier advances to the sum of net accounts receivable and net inventory of over 2.6 times as at 30 June 2025 was a solid indicator that pointed to a negative cash conversion cycle, a classic feature of the business model of a successful grocer with strong bargaining power to secure essentially interest-free financing with extended payment terms from suppliers. Indeed, the operations of the Dingdong group have become self-sustaining and scalable.In March 2025, Dingdong announced a new share repurchase program of up to US$20 million for a 12-month period until March 2026. The repurchases were expected to be funded by internal resources, yet again highlighting the enduring confidence of the Dingdong group on its financial position and cash generating capacity. Apart from the continued efforts in expanding its online grocery business, the Dingdong group has taken a strategic step with a view to broadening and diversifying revenue streams. In collaboration with DFI, a company listed on the Equity Shares (Transition) category of the London Stock Exchange and a member of the Jardine Matheson Group, Dingdong aims to build a digitalised cross-border supply chain to offer a selected variety of competitively priced fresh produce to Hong Kong consumers. Leveraging the nationwide sourcing and logistics capabilities of the Dingdong group alongside DFI’s extensive Hong Kong retail network of nearly 280 Wellcome stores, Wellcome Online Shop and foodpanda on-demand platform, and with the support of AI-driven inventory management with predictive analytics and traceability technology for product transparency, the collaboration targets sales of HK$100 million for the first year. In less than a month since launch, Hong Kong consumers have reportedly purchased more than 100,000 kilograms of vegetables of the Dingdong group via DFI’s retail network. Through the collaboration with DFI, Dingdong is positioning itself as a trusted cross-border supplier and building brand mindshare beyond its domestic market.* Non-GAAP measures are widely considered to be a useful indicator of the underlying business trend by excluding the non-cash charges of share-based compensation.Seyond Holdings Ltd. (“Seyond”, formerly Innovusion Holdings Ltd.) through the Hermitage Fund Twelve SP (the “Hermitage Fund Twelve”)The Group holds, through the Class A Participating Shares of the Hermitage Fund Twelve, an investment in the equity interest in Seyond.Founded and headquartered in Silicon Valley in California in the United States, Seyond is an unlisted holding company of a technology group that specialises in the design, development and production of automotive-grade LiDAR solutions for autonomous driving and other automotive and non-automotive application scenarios. The product portfolio of the Seyond group includes the ultra-long-range LiDAR, the Falcon series which utilises the 1550nm wavelength technology, the mid-range wide field of view LiDAR and the long-range LiDAR, the Robin series which utilises the 905nm wavelength technology, the newly launched latest-generation pure solid-state LiDAR, Hummingbird D1, as well as the self-developed software platform, OmniVidi which extends the functionality of the sensor hardware, and the intelligent transport system platform, SIMPL, which is an AI and LiDAR-powered traffic management system. According to China Insights Industry Consultancy (“CIC”), an independent market research and consulting firm, the Seyond group was the world’s first provider of automotive-grade high-performance LiDAR solutions to achieve volume production.Through the announcement made on 20 December 2024 by TechStar Acquisition Corporation (“TechStar”), a special purpose acquisition company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, Seyond unveiled its listing plan by way of a de-SPAC transaction with TechStar (the “De-SPAC Transaction”). Subsequently, on 25 August 2025, an updated application proof in connection with the De-SPAC Transaction (the “Updated Application Proof”) was published. As highlighted in the Updated Application Proof, the Seyond group had achieved significant progress in the design, development and, in particular, the commercialisation of its products. In 2022, it commenced volume production of Falcon LiDAR solutions for Nio, a leading company in the premium smart electric vehicle market and a major investor in Seyond. By 31 March 2025, the Seyond group had achieved cumulative deliveries exceeding 493,000 units of LiDARs, the majority of which were from the Falcon series and were taken up by NIO. Since then, in May and August 2025, Seyond has secured two landmark contracts for the exclusive supply of the E1X LiDAR solutions under the Robin series. The first is with a top-tier Chinese automotive group and the second with a globally renowned joint-venture automaker. This marks a pivotal step on the part of the Seyond group in diversifying its customer base beyond NIO and reducing its reliance on the Falcon series. Under the first contract, Seyond will exclusively supply the Robin E1X LiDAR solutions to multiple brands within the Chinese automotive group. Mass production of the Robin LiDAR- equipped models is scheduled to commence in 2026, with sales projected to reach hundreds of thousands of units within the next three years. The key terms of the second contract are quite similar. The Seyond group has been granted by the joint-venture automaker the exclusive supplier status for the Robin E1X LiDAR solutions, which will be integrated into hundreds of thousands of units across selected models also slated for mass production in 2026. The securing of these crucial contracts from the industry giants is a testament to the Seyond group’s technical capabilities and underscores its expanding role and rising prominence in the autonomous driving supply chain.Another noteworthy achievement of the Seyond group involves the latest‑generation pure solid‑state LiDAR, the Hummingbird D1. Under a designated contract secured in July 2025, the newly launched LiDAR solutions have been selected for a high-end intelligent model of a premium brand of a top Chinese automotive manufacturer. Built on a pure solid-state electronic scanning architecture with no mechanical moving components, the Hummingbird D1 LiDAR delivers reliable and seamlessly integrated full-spectrum perception with comprehensive detection and minimal blind spots. Through the designated contract, Seyond establishes itself among the first to mass produce pure solid‑state LiDAR solutions for passenger vehicles. Certain other business deals recently executed by the Seyond group are set out below:Within the autonomous driving and other automotive application sector, Seyond has also secured from other OEMs and ADAS and ADS companies a number of design-wins, which would generally translate into sales orders in about a year.For the non-automotive application sector, the Seyond group has been selling LiDAR solutions to end users and system integrators across industries, including intelligent transportation, railway, shipping, mining, industrial automation and robotics. Notably, Seyond has rapidly been expanding deployment of SIMPL, the AI and LiDAR-powered intelligent transportation system platform that is designed to manage traffic, strengthen transport infrastructure, enhance road safety and protect lives, in the United States and Scandinavia through strategic partnerships with government and transportation agencies, distributors and integration specialists.In tandem with the significant progress in business development, the Seyond group had achieved equally promising improvement in cutting losses and advancing towards sustained profitability. Based on the draft financial information contained in the Updated Application Proof, following the commencement of the Falcon LiDAR solutions, revenue grew considerably on a sequential basis from US$66.3 million in 2022 to US$159.6 million in 2024. However, the upward revenue trajectory was temporally interrupted in the first quarter of 2025. Revenue decreased slightly year-on-year by 3.5% to US$25.3 million due primarily to a decrease in the sales of the Falcon series as the sales volume of the Falcon LiDAR-equipped vehicles of Nio experienced a dip. Nevertheless, the loss cutting trend remained intact. Gross loss was US$41.3 million in 2022, edging up slightly to US$42.4 million in 2023 as sales that had yet to turn profitable grew, before falling considerably to US$13.9 million in 2024. By the first quarter of 2025, gross profit of US$3.2 million was attained. Within a matter of three and a quarter years, gross margin went from a negative 62.4% at the beginning of mass production to a positive 12.6% on the back of the significant progress in product commercialisation. The remarkable improvement was primarily driven by cost reductions arising from product design optimisation and economies of scale enabled by volume production and increased material procurement, and demonstrated that the Seyond group was on track to achieving sustained profitability.Meanwhile, the De-SPAC Transaction, valued at HK$11.7 billion, represents a significant milestone for Seyond. Pursuant to, among other things, a business combination agreement dated 20 December 2024, TechStar will effectively be acquired and delisted, with Seyond emerging as the listed successor. The De-SPAC Transaction, which will include the PIPE investments grossing a total of HK$551.3 million from three parties, Huangshan Construction Investment Capital, Wealth Strategy and Zhuhai Hengqin Huagai, may also involve a placing of permitted equity financing with professional investors for an aggregate subscription amount of up to HK$500 million. The funds raised will provide the Seyond group with fresh capital for its business needs, including research and development, construction and upgrade of production facilities, global expansion and general corporate purposes. The De-SPAC Transaction is subject to, among other conditions, the approvals of the relevant regulators and the shareholders of TechStar. As additional time is needed to complete the regulatory approval process, Seyond has resubmitted the new listing application and the Updated Application Proof to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on 25 August 2025. In the subsequent announcement made on 25 September 2025 by TechStar, the TechStar extraordinary general meeting in respect of the De-SPAC Transaction was expected to be convened in or around December 2025.According to the projection of CIC, the global automotive-grade LiDAR market will grow at a CAGR of 70.4% from US$2.2 billion in 2025 to US$32.1 billion by 2030. China continues to lead the adoption efforts as Chinese automotive manufacturers have been aggressively integrating LiDARs into vehicles across the premium and the mass market segments. Industry sources suggested that between 120 and 150 LiDAR-equipped models could be launched in China in 2025, overwhelmingly outpacing the 15 to 20 models in Europe and 5 to 10 models in the United States. Based on the draft financial information contained in the Updated Application Proof, the Seyond group consistently generated over 95% of revenue from the China market. Notwithstanding the various tariff and protectionist measures imposed by a host of countries, including most prominently the United States and the EU, against Chinese electric vehicles and critical components such as LiDARs, the Seyond group should therefore remain poised to tap into the rapid growth particularly in the domestic demand for LiDAR products in the years ahead.Oasis Education Group Limited (“Oasis Group”) Oasis Group is a 50% joint venture of the Group. The operating subsidiary of Oasis Group, Oasis Education Consulting (Shenzhen) Company Limited (“Oasis Shenzhen”, 奧偉詩教育諮詢 (深圳) 有限公司), provides consulting and support services to the Huizhou Kindergarten in the Guangdong Province in China. With a track record of over ten years navigating the evolving regulations and development in the education sector, the Huizhou Kindergarten continued to maintain a satisfactory level of pupil enrolment. Following the graduation of 100 pupils in the summer of 2025, it had enrolled 55 new pupils for the academic term that commenced in September 2025. Based on the historical enrolment statistics, further admissions are expected for the academic term commencing in February 2026, thereby enabling the Huizhou Kindergarten to maintain a stable level of pupil enrolment.PROSPECTSA review of the world economic activities in the first half of 2025 revealed surprising resilience. According to the July 2025 World Economic Outlook Update published by the International Monetary Fund, global growth for the year was projected at 3.0%, marking an upward revision of 0.2 percentage point compared with its earlier forecast in April 2025 when the Trump Administration initiated a new round of sweeping punitive tariff policies targeting practically all of the United States’ trading partners. The positive revision was driven by, among other factors, the front-loading of trade by importers anticipating increased trade restrictions and tariffs leading to a temporary boost in trade volumes ahead of the policy implementation. However, the uncertainties stemming from repeated delays in implementing and continual adjustments to the tariff policies are likely to continue to dampen global trade performance for the remainder of the year. Combined with the enduring geopolitical tensions and the ongoing conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, several premier institutions, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Barclay Investment Bank and PwC Network, have adopted a relatively conservative stance, projecting a deceleration in global economic growth to 2.9%, 2.7% and 2.6% respectively for 2025 against the 3.3% estimate in 2024 and the pre-pandemic historical average of 3.7% from 2000 to 2019. In terms of individual country, the 2025 growth projections for the major economies were somewhat mixed, with the United States at 1.9%, China at 4.8%, the Euro Area at 1.0%, the United Kingdom at 1.2% and Japan at 0.7%, down from the 2.8% and 5% estimates and up from the 0.9%, 1.1% and 0.2% estimates in 2024 respectively. During the first half of 2025, global inflation continued to decline, though at a slower pace than anticipated. The world consumer prices for the year, projected in the July 2025 World Economic Outlook Update of the International Monetary Fund, were 4.2%, a meaningful drop from the 5.6% estimate in 2024 and the 6.6% estimate in 2023. While inflation rates projected for developed economies, such as the United Kingdom at 3.1%* and Western Europe at 2.1%*, were lower than the 4.2% global average, they remained above the typical target rate of 2%, indicating pricing stickiness. In the United States, where inflation was projected at 3%*, there could be the potential for an upward rebound due to persistent cost pressures in the service sector and core goods especially under the influence of the tariff policies of the Trump Administration. In contrast, China’s inflation rate remained close to zero, reflecting the weak domestic demand and subdued consumer spending weighing on price levels. Despite the global economic slowdown and the persistent inflationary pressures, equity markets, particularly in the United States, continue to show sustained momentum, buoyed by the AI frenzy, robust corporate earnings and expectations of monetary policy loosening which would provide increased liquidity to the financial system. On the other hand, caught in the crosscurrents of macroeconomic and geopolitical forces, global bond markets, especially the long-duration sovereign debt segment, are experiencing elevated volatility. In the United States, under the confluence of falling short-term rates, widening term premiums and investor concerns over fiscal sustainability, the yield curve has steepened sharply following a historically prolonged inversion. Meanwhile, global economic activities are slowing, labour conditions are softening, and entrenched protectionist sentiment keeps eroding productive efficiency and productivity through trade fragmentation and supply chain reshoring. Waxing political encroachment and erratic policy signals are also undermining central bank independence, fueling worries about the long-term credibility of inflation control. Under such circumstances, even as monetary policies pivot towards easing, term premiums for long-duration bonds, notably sovereign debts, are widening. This could pose as a time bomb, exacerbating the debt servicing burdens of heavily-indebted corporations and governments that could eventually trigger a wave of systemic financial instability, stress and crisis internationally.Armed with enormous dry powder raised during the low-interest-rate era, and with investment horizons that generally do not exceed the tenure of long-duration corporate financing, the private equity sector was largely unfazed by the widening term premiums, and instead of retreating, sought to exploit macroeconomic headwinds as opportunities to acquire attractively priced assets. Deal activities were disrupted but not derailed by the uncertainties arising from the tariff policies of the Trump Administration. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, global private equity and venture capital deal value grew year-on-year by 19% to US$386 billion in the first half of 2025. However, given dealmakers' preference for pursuing, if and when available, big and high-value deals owing to the favourable work-to-benefit ratio, deal count declined year-on-year by 6% to 6,188 transactions. AI-related investments remained the standout theme. As reported by CNBC, AI startups in the United States raised an aggregate of $104 billion in the first half of 2025, nearly matching the total of 2024. Nonetheless, this figure is dwarfed by the stratospheric scale of planned investments in AI capabilities, infrastructure and model training by global technology giants across the globe from the United States to China. Over the years, the Group has invested in companies in a diverse range of industries. Included in its existing investment portfolio are two frontrunning technology groups, ByteDance and Animoca, which are at the forefront of developing AI and blockchain-related technologies and are in an excellent position to benefit from the revolutionary advancements that are redefining the future of the digital age. * The projected inflation rates for individual countries and Western Europe are sourced from the IMF DataMapper: April 2025 World Economic Outlook.By order of the BoardAlastair GUNN-FORBESNon-Executive Chairman30 September 2025 PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIESThe Group is exposed to a number of principal risks and uncertainties that could materially and adversely affect its performance for the remaining six months of the year ending 31 December 2025 and beyond. Such risks and uncertainties, the directors believe, remain largely unchanged from those, including, in particular, target market risk, key person risk, operational risks and financial risks, set out on pages 18 and 19 of the Company¡¯s 2024 Annual Report.RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENTThe Board, comprising Alastair GUNN-FORBES, Henry Ying Chew CHEONG, Ernest Chiu Shun SHE, Mark Chung FONG, Martyn Stuart WELLS and Stephen Lister d'Anyers WILLIS, confirms to the best of its knowledge and understanding that:(a) the unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Group for the six months ended 30 June 2025 have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 as adopted by the European Union and give a true and fair view of its assets, liabilities and financial position at that date and its financial performance for the period then ended; and(b) the Interim Report includes a fair review of the information, such as important events and related party transactions that took place during the six months ended 30 June 2025, that is required by Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules 4.2.7R and 4.2.8R.CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF PROFIT OR LOSS AND OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOMEFOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025 UnauditedSix months endedNotes30.6.202530.6.2024US$'000US$'000Revenue415148Other income, gains and losses, net53392Staff costs7(136)(126)Other expenses(144)(152)Finance costs8(1)(3)Share of losses of a joint venture-(5)Loss before income tax expense(97)(146)Income tax expense9--Loss for the period(97)(146)Other comprehensive income, net of income tax--Exchange differences on translating foreign operations--Other comprehensive income for the period,net of income tax--Total comprehensive loss for the period(97)(146)Loss for the period attributable to:Owners of the Company(97)(146)Total comprehensive loss for the period attributable to:Owners of the Company(97)(146)Loss per share - basic10US(0.11)centUS(0.17) centLoss per share - diluted10US(0.11)centUS(0.17) centThe accompanying notes form an integral part of these interim financial statements.CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITIONAT 30 JUNE 2025 UnauditedAuditedAs atAs atNotes30.6.202531.12.2024US$'000US$'000Non-current assetsInterest in a joint venture4343Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss4,0654,095Right-of-use assets16484,1244,186Current assetsOther receivables209116Deposits and prepayments2531Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss335355Amount due from a joint venture257257Cash and cash equivalents4777011,3031,460Current liabilitiesOther payables and accruals71157Lease liabilities 195590212Net current assets1,2131,248Net assets5,3375,434Capital and reservesShare capital118585Reserves5,2525,349Total equity5,3375,434The accompanying notes form an integral part of these interim financial statements.CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITYFOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025 ForeignContri-SharecurrencyAccumu-ShareSharebutedoptiontranslationSpeciallatedcapitalpremiumsurplusreservereservereservelossesTotalUS$'000US$'000US$'000US$'000US$'000US$'000US$'000US$'000Balance as at 1 January 2024857,5249,646254(40)625(12,596)5,498Total comprehensive loss for the period------(146)(146)Balance as at 30 June 2024 (Unaudited)857,5249,646254(40)625(12,742)5,352Balance as at 1 January 2025857,5249,646254(49)625(12,651)5,434Total comprehensive loss for the period------(97)(97)Balance as at 30 June 2025 (Unaudited)857,5249,646254(49)625(12,748)5,337The accompanying notes form an integral part of these interim financial statements.CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWSFOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025 UnauditedSix months ended30.6.202530.6.2024US$'000US$'000Cash flows from operating activitiesLoss for the period(97)(146)Adjustments for:Bank interest incomeDepreciation of right-of-use assets(6)32(19)32Interest on lease liabilities13Share of losses of a joint ventureGain on disposal of financial assets at fair value through profit or lossChange in fair value of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss-(24)(9)5(4)(58)Operating loss before working capital changes(103)(187)Decrease in deposits and prepaymentsIncrease in other receivablesDecrease in other payables and accruals6(93)(86)2(3)(118)Net cash used in operating activities(276)(306)Cash flows from investing activitiesBank interest income receivedInvestment in financial assets at fair value through profit and loss6(90)19-Proceeds from disposal of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss17352Net cash from investing activities8971Cash flows from financing activitiesRepayment of principal portion of lease liabilities(36)(35)Repayment of interest portion of lease liabilities(1)(3)Net cash used in financing activities(37)(38)Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents(224)(273)Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the period7011,122Effects of exchange rate changes--Cash and cash equivalents at end of the periodCash and bank balances477849The accompanying notes form an integral part of these interim financial statements.NOTES TO THE INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTSFOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025 1. GENERAL INFORMATIONThe Company is an exempted company incorporated in Bermuda and has a premium listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. The addresses of the registered office and principal place of business of the Company are disclosed in the corporate information in the Interim Report.2. BASIS OF PREPARATIONThe unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Company and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) for the six months ended 30 June 2025 (the “Interim Financial Statements”) have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 (“IAS 34”) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board as adopted by the European Union (the “EU”).The Interim Financial Statements do not include all of the information required in annual financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”), International Accounting Standards (“IAS”), Interpretations adopted by the EU, Interpretations adopted by the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee and Interpretations adopted by the Standing Interpretations Committee (collectively referred to as “IFRSs”), and should be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2024. The Interim Financial Statements have neither been audited nor reviewed by the external auditor.Save for the adoption of the amendments to IFRSs as described in note 3 to the Interim Financial Statements, which became effective for the year that began on 1 January 2025, the accounting policies adopted in the Interim Financial Statements were consistent with those used in the preparation of the Group’s annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.The Interim Financial Statements have been prepared on a going concern basis using the historical cost convention, except for certain financial instruments which were stated at fair value as appropriate.The preparation of the Interim Financial Statements in conformity with IAS 34 as adopted by the EU required management to make judgments, estimates and assumptions that could affect the application of accounting policies and reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income and expenses on a year to date basis. Actual results might differ from these estimates.3. ADOPTION OF NEW AND REVISED IFRSsThe Group has applied the same accounting policies in the Interim Financial Statements as in its annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, except that it has adopted the following amendments to IFRSs:Amendments to IAS 21Lack of ExchangeabilityThe application of the above amendments to IFRSs in the current interim period had no material effect on the amounts reported and/or disclosures set out in the Interim Financial Statements.NOTES TO THE INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTSFOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025 4. REVENUEThe Group's revenue represented dividend income from financial assets at fair value through profit or loss for the periods ended 30 June 2025 and 2024, an analysis of which is as follows:UnauditedSix months ended30.6.202530.6.2024US$'000US$'000Dividend income from financial assets at fair value through profit or loss151485. OTHER INCOME, GAINS AND LOSSES, NETUnauditedSix months ended30.6.2028530.6.2024US$'000US$'000Gain on disposal of financial assets at fair value through profit or loss241Change in fair value of financial assets at fair value through profit or lossBank interest incomeForeign exchange (loss)/gain, net96(6)60191233926. BUSINESS AND GEOGRAPHICAL SEGMENTSNo business and geographical segment analyses are presented for the periods ended 30 June 2025 and 2024 as the major operations and revenue of the Group arose from Hong Kong. The Board considers that most of the Group's non-current assets (other than the financial instruments) were located in Hong Kong.7. STAFF COSTSThe aggregate staff costs (including directors' remuneration) of the Group were as follows:UnauditedSix months ended30.6.202530.6.2024US$'000US$'000Wages and salaries133123Contributions to pension and provident fund33136126NOTES TO THE INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTSFOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025 7. STAFF COSTS (CONTINUED)Key management personnel of the Company are the directors only.The directors' remuneration was as follows:UnauditedSix months ended30.6.202530.6.2024US$'000US$'000Directors' fees4132Other remuneration including contributions to pension and provident fund--41328. FINANCE COSTSUnauditedSix months ended30.6.202530.6.2024US$'000US$'000Interest on lease liabilities139. INCOME TAX EXPENSENo provision for taxation has been made as the Group did not generate any assessable profits for United Kingdom Corporation Tax, Hong Kong Profits Tax or tax in other jurisdictions during the periods ended 30 June 2025 and 2024.10. LOSS PER SHAREThe loss and weighted average number of ordinary shares used in the calculation of basic and diluted loss per share were as follows.UnauditedSix months ended30.6.202530.6.2024Loss for the period attributable to owners of the Company (US$'000)(97)(146)Weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of basic and diluted loss per share85,101,87085,101,870Loss per share - basic US(0.11) centUS(0.17) centLoss per share - diluted US(0.11) centUS(0.17) centNOTES TO THE INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTSFOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025 10. LOSS PER SHARE (CONTINUED) Diluted loss per share was the same as basic loss per share for the six months ended 30 June 2025 and 2024 as there were no potential dilutive ordinary shares outstanding at the end of both periods.11. SHARE CAPITALNumber ofTotal valuesharesUS$'000Authorised:Ordinary shares of US$0.001 eachAs at 1 January 2024, 31 December 2024, 1 January 2025 and 30 June 202560,000,000,00060,000Called up, issued and fully paid:Ordinary shares of US$0.001 eachAs at 1 January 2024, 31 December 2024, 1 January 2025 and 30 June 202585,101,8708512. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONSOther than the compensation of key management personnel disclosed below, the Group did not have any related party transactions during the six months ended 30 June 2025 and 2024.Compensation of key management personnelThe remuneration of directors is set out in note 7 to the Interim Financial Statements.13. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES The Group had no material contingent liabilities at 30 June 2025 and 31 December 2024.14. INTERIM REPORT The Interim Report was approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 30 September 2025.CORPORATE INFORMATIONBoard of DirectorsNon-Executive ChairmanAlastair GUNN-FORBES*Executive DirectorsHenry Ying Chew CHEONG (Deputy Chairman)Ernest Chiu Shun SHENon-Executive DirectorsMark Chung FONG*Martyn Stuart WELLS*Stephen Lister d'Anyers WILLIS** independentCompany SecretaryVistra Company Secretaries LimitedFirst Floor, Templeback, 10 Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6FL, United KingdomAssistant Company SecretaryOcorian Services (Bermuda) LimitedVictoria Place, 5th Floor, 31 Victoria Street, Hamilton HM 10, BermudaRegistered Office AddressVictoria Place, 5th Floor, 31 Victoria Street, Hamilton HM 10, BermudaRegistration NumberEC21466 BermudaPrincipal BankerThe Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited1 Queen's Road, Central, Hong KongExternal AuditorBDO Limited25th Floor, Wing On Centre, 111 Connaught Road Central, Hong KongPrincipal Share Registrar and Transfer OfficeOcorian Management (Bermuda) LimitedVictoria Place, 5th Floor, 31 Victoria Street, Hamilton HM 10, BermudaInternational Branch RegistrarMUFG Corporate Markets (Jersey) LimitedIFC 5, St Helier, Jersey, JE1 1RT, Jersey, Channel IslandsUnited Kingdom Transfer AgentMUFG Corporate MarketsCentral Square, 29 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 4DL, United KingdomInvestor RelationsFor further information about Worldsec Limited, please contact:Henry Ying Chew CHEONG,Executive DirectorWorldsec GroupUnit 607, 6th Floor, 308 Central Des Voeux, 308 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kongenquiry@worldsec.comCompany's Websitehttp://www.worldsec.comThis information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. 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