KUCHING: Top Glove Corporation Bhd (Top Glove) concluded the financial year 2017 (FY17) on a high note by attaining stronger sales revenue for the fourth quarter of FY17 (4QFY17) despite challenges in its operating environment.
In a press statement, it said, for 4QFY17, the group achieved sales revenue of RM902.4 million, a 25 per cent increase year-on-year and up 3.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q).
It also noted that profit after tax also registered higher at RM98.2 million, representing an improvement of 49.9 per cent and 26.7 per cent respectively compared with 4QFY16 and 3QFY17.
Sales volume (quantity sold) saw a growth of 13 per cent versus 4QFY16 and for the first time ever, double-digit q-o-q growth of 14 per cent in an exceptionally strong comparison versus 3QFY17.
It explained that the spike in sales volume followed increased sales in all regions, as well as a replenishment exercise by customers, after having put orders on hold in 3QFY17, owing to higher raw material prices. Sales volume also rose with additional capacity coming onstream.
Top Glove’s executive chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai remarked, “We are pleased to have once again delivered good results despite a difficult business landscape.
“We attribute our robust performance to internal improvements centred on R&D, product quality, technology and reengineering initiatives; and believe that continuing to pursue these intensively is the way forward.”
Top Glove also performed well for the full FY17 as sales revenue breached the RM3 billion mark at yet another record-high RM3.4 billion, an 18 per cent increase over FY16, following an upturn of seven per cent in sales volume compared with the previous financial year.
The uptrend in sales revenue also came on the back of an increase in average selling prices (ASP) arising from a surge in raw material prices, as well as a strengthening of the US dollar over the course of FY2017. Additionally, more sales of nitrile gloves, which command a higher ASP, coupled with new capacity, also helped move sales revenue figures higher.
Notwithstanding the challenging business environment, Top Glove would continue to expand strategically, it said.
Its organic expansion plans include the construction of two new manufacturing facilities: Factory 31 (operational by March 2018) and Factory 32 (operational by December 2018), which upon completion will boost the group’s total number of production lines by an additional 78 lines and production capacity by 7.8 billion gloves per annum. By December 2018, Top Glove is projected to have 31 glove factories, 628 production lines and a production capacity of 59.7 billion gloves per annum. Top Glove has also commenced preparations for its condom manufacturing facility, expected to be operational in 2018.
The group is also leveraging emerging technologies like Industry 4.0 and moving towards digitalisation and the implementation of ‘smart factories’. It has accordingly invested in sensors and other data capturing equipment to upgrade its production lines, as it progresses towards fully automating them eventually.
In tandem, Top Glove said it would also continue to explore inorganic expansion via mergers and acquisitions, as well as new set-ups in related industries in order to grow faster and more efficiently.
“While gloves will continue to be its core business, the group will diversify into other revenue sources,” it added.