PPB banks on overseas operations

KUALA LUMPUR: Diversified conglomerate PPB Group Bhd sees overseas businesses as the main driver of its future growth.

"Our income rise is mainly due to the higher sales of flour in Indonesia and Vietnam," said its managing director Tan Gee Sooi said.

He said PPB is looking at increasing the production capacity of its flour mills in Indonesia and Vietnam by 100 per cent.

"We want to double production capacity of the Indonesian mill to 2,000 tonnes daily from the current 1,000 tonnes," he told a press and analyst briefing yesterday.

The company will use some RM100 million from its total annual capital expenditure (capex) of RM267 million to install the capacity production.

In Vietnam, the expansion plans there are not as straight forward as there are issues regarding the licensing process and land acquisition.

"We have a flour mill plant in Vietnam now with 400 tonnes a day and we plan to put up another mill with at least the same capacity," he said.

Meanwhile, the group has allocated more than RM100 million to open 10 new cineplexes nationwide next year. The cineplexes are operated by indirect wholly-owned unit Golden Screen Cinemas Sdn Bhd.

PPB posted a net profit of RM276 million for its second quarter, down from RM317 million a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter rose to RM676.24 million from RM581.09 million a year ago.

PPB also declared an interim single-tier dividend of 10 sen per share to be paid on Septem-ber 28