Ire-Tex set to penetrate LED market

PETALING JAYA: Ire-Tex Corp Bhd is set to penetrate the light-emitting diode (LED) market having recently completed its acquisitions of Zoomic Automation Sdn Bhd and Zoomic Technology Sdn Bhd.

To this end, the Penang-based company which paid some RM16mil for both companies is believed to have obtained a contract worth more than RM100mil from a local firm, to produce energy-saving LED lights for overseas markets.

The contract, is likely to have been awarded to Zoomic Automation, which is capable of producing such a product, according to a source.

An announcement on this is scheduled to be made this week.

The LED products are expected to yield Ire-Tex – currently a protective packaging material manufacturer for computers and other electronic products – higher profit margins than the products that it now produces as they are supposedly more technology-intensive.

Under the contract, Zoomic is expected to manufacture and export LED green energy saving lighting products for three years to markets like Japan and Thailand.

In a previous interview with StarBiz, Ire-Tex group managing director Datuk Donald Yap said Zoomic’s strong networking in industrial automation business would help the company to diversify its earnings base and reduce its dependency on the firm’s core packaging material manufacturing business.

He also said Zoomic’s operations were expected to generate about 25% of the group’s business this year.

For the first quarter ended March 31, Ire-Tex posted a net profit of RM7.1mil against a net profit of RM317,000 for the same period a year earlier.

Revenue was some RM23mil against RM27.4mil previously.

Its stock which touched a 10-year high of 80 sen on Friday, closed down 3.5 sen to 71 sen at yesterday’s finish.

Among Ire-Tex’s long-term customers are companies like Boeing, DELL and First Solar.

Ire-Tex’s new production plant in Kulim, which has double the production capacity of its existing plant in Penang, will be fully operational by the third quarter, according to reports.