KUALA LUMPUR: Glovemaker Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd which is already operating at full capacity, expects newly completed factory in Jalan Meru to underpin the group’s growth this year.
The new factory, known as Plant 16, will add three billion pieces of gloves a year to its production, boosting the group’s capacity to 25 billion pieces a year.
“With the Group’s expansion plans and continued strong demand for gloves, coupled with the ongoing transformation program and improvement in operating efficiency, management is optimistic of the performance for financial year ending December 31, 2018 (FY18),” Kossan said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.
Earnings in the last quarter ended December 31, 2017 improved to RM46.46 million compared with RM45.37 million made a year earlier.
The group said construction works for Plant 17 and 18, also along Jalan Meru have commenced and are expected to be completed by 2018.
“These two new plants would be capable of producing up to 4.5 billion pieces of nitrile gloves per annum once completed,” it said.
For the full year just ended, net profit had increased to RM185.6 million or 28.77 sen a share while its revenue stood at RM1.96 billion.
The company said it had put in place plans for future expansion.
“Moving further forward, the earmarked Bestari Jaya land which measures approximately 56 acres and the latest industrial land acquisition in Kuala Langat of approximately 98 acres is testament to the group’s objective of long-term sustainable growth,” it said.