By Sharen Kaur
TOP 10 TARGET: Group to buy plantation land, planters and consumer brands
BOSTON : FELDA Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) is on an aggressive growth mode and is spending to build its upstream plantation businesses and boost downstream activities.
Chief executive officer Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah said FGV plans to buy plantation land, smaller planters and consumer brands, targeting Southeast Asia first.
He told Business Times that FGV is in the midst of identifying a few brands and plantation-based businesses like palm oil, sugar and rubber.
“The company is very focused on its vision to be among the top 10 agriculture commodity players in the world,” he said at the commemoration of FGV’s oleochemical plant, here, in Quincy on Wednesday.
FGV not only operates refineries, oleochemicals and specialty fats plants, it also reaches the end customers with its cooking oil brands, which enjoy more than 10 per cent of market share in Malaysia.
Its strategy for 2014 is three-pronged with focus on operational improvement, high performance and portfolio optimisation.
The company is looking at setting up more plants and increasing its market presence, especially in North America and Asia Pacific, Mohd Emir said.
“FGV’s strategy is to be where customers are... so having operation in key markets is important for us. As long as we can make profits, Felda settlers will be happy. Every year we will give them 20 per cent dividends,” he said.
FGV is also looking at growing its market share in existing markets, like China, Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia.
“We are targeting overall annual growth of between eight and 10 per cent in the next three years,” he said.
Meanwhile, the oleochemical plant in Quincy is expected to record a pre-tax profit of US$19 million on a US$220 million revenue this year, against US$14 million pre-tax profit and US$210 million revenue in 2013.
FGV has invested between US$135 million and US$150 million in the plant, via its subsidiary Twin Rivers Technologies Holdings. This includes the US$75 million paid to acquire it from Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 2007.
The plant produces intermediary products, such as fatty acids and glycerin, using raw materials like tallow (45 per cent) and vegetable oil (55 per cent) for more than 100 clients, including P&G, Unilever, Colgate, Goodyear and BASF.
Some of the brands that it produces in the United States are Tide, Vasaline, Olay, Pantene, Colgate, Mobil 1, Dove, Goodyear, Suave, Dow, Bounce and Irish Spring.
“The strength of the plant is its own deep-water infrastructure that has enabled it to competitively import vegetable based feedstock directly from the Far East. It is also backed by long standing key customers and has the broadest product portfolio offering,” Mohd Emir said.
No comments:
Post a Comment