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WASHINGTON, March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ST Engineering iDirect and G&S SatCom today received the Satellite Innovation Group (SIG) Cooperation of the Year award for their joint work to unify network and service management for satellite operators. The award recognizes how the integration of G&S SatConnect® into ST Engineering iDirect's next‑generation Intuition ground system addresses key industry challenges and drives innovation in satellite communications, through a single operational and commercial platform that simplifies how operators manage and scale services across multi-network and multi-vendor environments.
The combined platform brings together network operations, service management, and OSS/BSS integration through standardized APIs and a single interface. This unified approach reduces operational complexity, eliminates siloed workflows, and enables operators to introduce new services without disrupting existing networks or re‑architecting legacy systems.
"Operators need a clear, efficient path to modernize while supporting new multi‑orbit and software‑defined services," said Sridhar Kuppanna, Chief Technology Officer, ST Engineering iDirect. "Our partnership with G&S SatCom delivers unified management, orchestration, and interoperability across diverse multi-network environments. This award underscores the value of cooperation in moving the industry forward."
"The collaboration with ST Engineering iDirect removes barriers for satellite operators and service providers," said David Schmitz, CEO of G&S SatCom. "By streamlining workflows and reducing operational complexity, ST Engineering iDirect empowers its customers to enhance user value and maximize the potential of their network. We're honored that SIG has recognized the impact of this work."
Designed to support multi-network and multi-technology environments, the integrated ecosystem allows for the rapid deployment of new features. This ensures that operators can focus on business growth rather than complex system integration challenges as satellite networks continue to evolve.
ST Engineering iDirect, a subsidiary of ST Engineering, is a global leader in satellite communications (satcom) providing technology and solutions that enable its customers to expand their business, differentiate their services and optimize their satcom networks. With over 40 years of delivering innovation focused on solving satellite's most critical economic and technology challenges we are committed to shaping the future of how the world connects. The product portfolio, branded iDirect, represents the highest standards in performance, efficiency and reliability, making it possible for its customers to deliver the best satcom connectivity experience anywhere in the world. ST Engineering iDirect is a leader in key industries including mobility, broadcast and military/government. In 2007, iDirect Government was formed to better serve the U.S. government and defense communities. For more information visit www.idirect.net.
G&S SatCom specializes in creating innovative software solutions for the satellite industry, addressing the needs of service providers, satellite operators, and governments globally. Our flagship product, G&S SatConnect®, streamlines satellite operations, offering seamless multi-orbit orchestration, real-time network monitoring, and advanced service management on a single platform. G&S SatConnect® AI, our latest enhancement, integrates AI-driven capabilities to optimize network performance, improve decision-making, and drive significant cost efficiencies. Trusted by global leaders, we are leading the way to a brighter future.
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ST Engineering iDirect and G&S SatCom today received the Satellite Innovation Group (SIG) Cooperation of the Year award for their joint work to unify network and service management for satellite operators. The award recognizes how the integration of G&S SatConnect® into ST Engineering iDirect's next‑generation Intuition ground system addresses key industry challenges and drives innovation in satellite communications, through a single operational and commercial platform that simplifies how operators manage and scale services across multi-network and multi-vendor environments.
The combined platform brings together network operations, service management, and OSS/BSS integration through standardized APIs and a single interface. This unified approach reduces operational complexity, eliminates siloed workflows, and enables operators to introduce new services without disrupting existing networks or re‑architecting legacy systems.
"Operators need a clear, efficient path to modernize while supporting new multi‑orbit and software‑defined services," said Sridhar Kuppanna, Chief Technology Officer, ST Engineering iDirect. "Our partnership with G&S SatCom delivers unified management, orchestration, and interoperability across diverse multi-network environments. This award underscores the value of cooperation in moving the industry forward."
"The collaboration with ST Engineering iDirect removes barriers for satellite operators and service providers," said David Schmitz, CEO of G&S SatCom. "By streamlining workflows and reducing operational complexity, ST Engineering iDirect empowers its customers to enhance user value and maximize the potential of their network. We're honored that SIG has recognized the impact of this work."
Designed to support multi-network and multi-technology environments, the integrated ecosystem allows for the rapid deployment of new features. This ensures that operators can focus on business growth rather than complex system integration challenges as satellite networks continue to evolve.
ST Engineering iDirect, a subsidiary of ST Engineering, is a global leader in satellite communications (satcom) providing technology and solutions that enable its customers to expand their business, differentiate their services and optimize their satcom networks. With over 40 years of delivering innovation focused on solving satellite's most critical economic and technology challenges we are committed to shaping the future of how the world connects. The product portfolio, branded iDirect, represents the highest standards in performance, efficiency and reliability, making it possible for its customers to deliver the best satcom connectivity experience anywhere in the world. ST Engineering iDirect is a leader in key industries including mobility, broadcast and military/government. In 2007, iDirect Government was formed to better serve the U.S. government and defense communities. For more information visit www.idirect.net.
G&S SatCom specializes in creating innovative software solutions for the satellite industry, addressing the needs of service providers, satellite operators, and governments globally. Our flagship product, G&S SatConnect®, streamlines satellite operations, offering seamless multi-orbit orchestration, real-time network monitoring, and advanced service management on a single platform. G&S SatConnect® AI, our latest enhancement, integrates AI-driven capabilities to optimize network performance, improve decision-making, and drive significant cost efficiencies. Trusted by global leaders, we are leading the way to a brighter future.
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ST Engineering iDirect and G&S SatCom Win Satellite Innovation Group Cooperation of the Year Award for Advancing Unified Network and Service Management
HONG KONG, March 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Newborn Town Inc. (Newborn Town or the company, together with the subsidiaries as the 'Group', stock code: 09911.HK), a leading global social entertainment company, released its annual results for 2025.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, Newborn Town reported a total revenue of RMB 6,889 million, marking a 35.3% year-on-year increase. Net profit for the year reached RMB 964 million, up 22.3% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to owners amounted to RMB 935 million, surging by 94.6% year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA totaled at RMB 1,215 million, demonstrating a year-on-year increase of 26.1%.
By business segment, the social networking business remained the primary revenue driver. Flagship product TopTop continued to deliver strong growth, while MICO and YoHo provided stable contributions to both revenue and profit. The innovative business segment recorded a year-over-year surge of 59.3% in revenue, with quality games and social e-commerce maintaining solid and rapid growth, while the short drama business began to gain traction.
By market, the MENA region continued to demonstrate strong commercial momentum. Meanwhile, the Group accelerated its expansion into non-MENA markets, making encouraging progress in regions such as Latin America and Japan.
Deepening Competitive Moat in Social Networking Business, While Innovative Business Gained Strong Momentum
In 2025, the Group's social networking business sustained strong growth, with revenue reached RMB 6,142 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 32.9%.
In particular, the game-oriented social networking platform TopTop delivered exceptional results, with profit growth exceeding 100%. Revenue for TopTop grew by over 70% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the live-streaming social platform MICO and the voice-based social platform YoHo continued to reinforce their leadership in their respective segments, contributing stable revenue and profit.
Leveraging its strong UGC-driven ecosystem, TopTop was steadily evolved into a household name in key MENA markets such as Saudi Arabia, and was named "Best Social Game Platform" at the Sensor Tower APAC Awards. According to Sensor Tower, TopTop ranked 5th in the Middle East social networking app revenue rankings in 2025.
As the Group's first social networking product, MICO has consistently maintained a leading position in the live-streaming social segment across markets such as the MENA region and Southeast Asia. The voice-based social platform YoHo also remained firmly positioned within the top tier of the MENA voice-based social market. According to DianDian data, YoHo ranked among the Top 10 grossing social apps on Google Play multiple times in markets including Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE in 2025.
Meanwhile, the Group's diverse-audience social networking business continued to deliver steady progress. HeeSay, the flagship product of this business segment, further strengthened its presence in Southeast Asia, consistently ranking among the Top 10 grossing social apps on the App Store in markets such as Thailand and Vietnam.
During the year, the Group's innovative business recorded revenue of RMB 747 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 59.3%, working alongside the social networking business to drive steady overall growth. The Group's flagship games have entered long-term operation stages, while the development and pipeline of new game titles are progressing steadily.
The social e-commerce platform Heer Health continued its steady and rapid growth, further strengthened its presence in the fields of HIV prevention and sexual health services. Meanwhile, the Group's short drama business, which it has been actively investing in, has begun to gain early traction.
Accelerating Global Expansion with Solid Progress in Non-MENA Markets
In 2025, Newborn Town significantly accelerated its global expansion. During the year, the Group continued to strengthen its competitive advantages in key markets such as the MENA region and Southeast Asia.
In 2025, the Group's core products recorded year-on-year growth of nearly 50% in business scale in the MENA region. Meanwhile, the Group also made solid progress in new markets including Latin America, East Asia, and Europe, further expanding its global footprint.
In East Asia, TopTop successfully entered the high-barrier Japanese market, leveraging its differentiated positioning and refined localization strategy, and has begun to generate early monetization results. According to DianDian data, TopTop ranked 6th on the App Store free games chart in Japan in November 2025.
Newborn Town continued to advance its expansion in markets such as Europe, steadily broadening its global presence. In high-value markets including Japan, South Korea, and North America, the Group is actively refining its product offerings, deepening market understanding, and exploring further potential in both user scale and monetization.
In June 2025, Newborn Town officially established its global headquarters in Hong Kong, marking a new milestone in the Group's globalization strategy. Looking ahead, the Hong Kong headquarters will serve as a coordination hub, working closely with the Group's global R&D and operations centers to support continued overseas expansion.
AI Accelerated Deployment as a Full-Stack Capability "Multiplier"
In 2025, Newborn Town accelerated the deployment of AI across its business, deeply embedding AI into core functions such as R&D and operations to enhance overall efficiency. Meanwhile, the Group's AI product Aippy entered the consumer-facing AI application space, rapidly building a growing active user base since its launch.
During the year, the Group continued to strengthen its core technology capabilities, further expanding the application of AI across its business processes. Its self-developed multimodal algorithm model, Boomiix, continuing to undergo iterative upgrades, improving the accuracy of social matching and advancing the intelligence of operations.
Newborn Town also launched Siyu AI, an internal data intelligence platform, significantly shortened turnaround times for data queries, anomaly analysis, and report generation. Its proprietary AI-powered design platform KIVI continued to evolve, enhancing both production efficiency and content richness across key creative functions including the design of virtual gifts, campaign pages, and marketing assets, while materially shortening campaign and gifting operation cycles.
During the year, the Group launched Aippy, an AI-powered community for games, exploring new ways to deliver emotional value through AI-generated content. Since launch, Aippy has received positive user feedback, achieving an App Store rating of over 4.8. Building on this momentum, the Group has also continued to ramp up recruitment of top AI talent, further strengthening its technology foundation and positioning AI as a full-stack capability multiplier across local operations, scalable growth, product innovation, and compliance enhancement.
As AI became increasingly integrated with its social networking business, Newborn Town will continue to deepen its technological capabilities. By leveraging its strengths in agile product innovation, localized operations, and efficient user acquisition, the Group remains well-positioned to further expand in the global social entertainment market and create positive emotional value to users worldwide.
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AI-Driven Efficiency Gains: Newborn Town 2025 Net Profit Attributable to Owners Surged 95% YoY
