Persekutuan, Malaysia, June 24—-Hardwood flooring manufacturer Ekowood International Bhd aims to capture West Asia’s robust development activities by opening a showroom-cum-regional office there in the last quarter of this year, according to New Straits Times.
Ekowood’s chief executive officer Tan Aik Sim said the first office will be in either Dubai or Abu Dhabi, both in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He said in the UAE, especially in Dubai, there are massive ongoing developments where demand for hardwood flooring is expected to surge.
Tan said the company recently finalised a distribution network there which would also serve other nations in the Gulf particularly Qatar and Bahrain.
He added that Ekowood would form a team to target developers, architects and interior designers to capture new businesses there.
It was reported that Ekowood was putting aside an additional RM1.5 million from the usual annual allocation of RM5-6 million for the expansion programmes. The showroom could cost up to RM100,000 to set up.
Ekowood, a subsidiary of listed TSH Resouces Bhd, has offices in Spain, Luxembourg, China and the US, as well as warehouses and more than 1,000 showrooms worldwide.
The company aims to set up another 300 showrooms in the US in the next 12 months.
Currently, overseas business contributes about 93 per cent to Ekowood’s revenue while the balance 7 per cent is domestic.
To widen its export market and increase share of the domestic business, Tan said, Ekowood plans to expand its production by some 70 per cent in 2006.
The company’s manufacturing plant in Gopeng, Perak, is now running at 90 per cent capacity producing 1.3 million sq metres per month.
"Going forward, with the extra capacity we expect to see double-digit revenue in the next few years," said Tan.
For the the first three months ended March, Ekowood posted a net profit of RM5.7 million on RM32.1 million revenue.
Tan said the Malaysian wood flooring market will also see growth this year due to a rise in housing demand, steady increase of disposable income, increasing population and consumer preference toward wood furnishing.
Ekowood is Malaysia’s largest manufacturer of engineered solid hardwood flooring, with a market share of 14 per cent.
