Kossan targets higher profit margins, cut costs

Glove power: Shares of rubber glove manufacturers have been on an uptrend since the beginning of the year on the back of a continuous strong US$.

SHAH ALAM: Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd is aiming to raise its profit margins eventually by employing some strategies such as cost rationalisation.

Its group managing director and CEO Tan Sri Lim Kuang Sia the company would like to be more competitive in the longer run to increase returns to shareholders.

“A lot of efforts are going into this. This is one of the key things: especially if we can improve our bottomline. We have something exciting coming up but I don’t want to comment too much. At the moment our pretax profit margins are 

about 12%: I look at it and think why can’t this figure be higher?,” Lim said at a press conference on Thursday after the AGM.

“We don’t want to be too specific as there are certain things we would like to keep confidential. But we are (also) looking at how we can bring costs down. 

"As manufacturers, we have to do this: it is a continuous process. For example, if our capability / productivity was the same as five years ago, we wouldn’t be able to survive: it is impossible,” he added.