Pelikan: Hardcopy business to boost profit
PELIKAN
International Corp Bhd, a stationery maker, expects group net profit to
grow as much as 40 per cent in the current year ending December 31
2006, boosted by the purchase of Pelikan Hardcopy Holding AG.
Pelikan
International is in the midst of buying the entire manufacturing
business of Pelikan Hardcopy, a maker and distributor of imaging
supplies and printer accessories such as inkjet and toner.
Pelikan
International is due to announce its 2005 full-year results by the end
of the month. It made RM52.68 million in net profit on the back of
RM371.79 million in revenue for the nine months ended September 30 2005.
“Our
existing business under Pelikan International is expected to grow
between 20 per cent and 30 per cent in net profit, and the hardcopy
business by another 20 per cent,” executive chairman Loo Hooi Keat said.
Pelikan
Hardcopy is projected to chalk up RM25 million in net profit in the
year ending December 31 2006, Loo said. Last year, the hardcopy
business made about RM500 million in sales.
The combined annual revenue of Pelikan International and Pelikan Hardcopy will be more than RM1 billion.
The
takeover, which is likely to be finalised by end of the month, will be
followed by the opening of a similar manufacturing facility in Malaysia.
Pelikan
Hardcopy has a toner powder plant and ink-jet assembly plants in
Switzerland, a thermal transfer plant in Scotland, toner assembly
outfit in Czech Republic and impact production unit in China.
“One
of the plants in Switzerland will be moved to Malaysia while the
plants, one each in Czech and China, will stay. All future expansion
for the hardcopy business will be in Malaysia,” he said.
Since most
of the sales are currently derived from Europe, the new manufacturing
unit here will enable Pelikan to tap the vast Asian market