AHB aims to be the biggest in five years

KUALA LUMPUR: AHB Holdings Bhd, which is expected to exit its Practice Note 1 (PN1) status by next month, targets to be the largest premium office furniture player in Malaysia in five years' time.
"The (premium office furniture) market has at least five players, we want a significant part among the five (players)…Malaysia is leading exporter of the office furniture market, (so) we don't look at the local market alone, but it's a nice market to look at," CEO-cum-managing director Yong Yoke Keong told a media briefing here yesterday.
He projects that the size of the premium office furniture industry could be worth RM200 million annually.
AHB, which is looking at growing its presence in India by setting up a representative office, has more than 25 export markets in different regions, making up about 85% of its total revenue.
The group triggered the PN1 criteria in August 2013 when it defaulted on a RM3 million payment.
It is due to settle this amount by the RM21 million it hopes to raise through a rights issue which was approved by shareholders last month.
"We have learnt our lesson and tend to keep our balance sheet very strong," he said, adding that the firm will hold a net cash of RM5 million to RM10 million after cleaning up its debts.
Operation-wise, the office furniture firm has started making profits in the current financial year, posting a net profit of RM605,000 for the nine-month ended March 31, 2014, a 20-fold jump from the RM30,000 it made for the same period the year before.
It made a net loss of RM8.86 million for the financial year ended June 30, 2013.
It is also notable that AHB still had accumulated losses of RM29.94 million as of March 31, 2014, but he said the issue will only be addressed at a later time.
Yong also said that the firm is on the lookout for acquisition opportunities, whereby it is already in talks with its foreign counterparts especially in Southeast Asia, but stressed that any acquisitions must be synergistic and generate high profits.
"The market is fragmented…We're always thinking (about) how to consolidate the market…but it's too early to make any statement on it, it's just a preliminary (talk), this acquisition will not be within this near future," Yong said.
Datuk Tiong Kwing Hee, the largest shareholder of AHB, through Dexx Technologies Sdn Bhd, holds a 19.43% stake, while Yong has 14.47% equity interest.
AHB also expects to build a furniture plant in Port Klang area next year to cater to the growing demand in the office furnish industry, besides having an assembly and quality control plant in Seri Kembangan at the moment.