Betamek’s road beyond Perodua

FOR many, Betamek Bhd runs synonymously with Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua).

After all, Perodua has been the main factor underpinning Betamek’s growth over the years.

Betamek was founded by a Taiwanese engineer in the late 1980s, exporting car stereo systems and cassette players to the United States.

Speaking to StarBiz 7 in a recent interview, managing director Mirzan Mahathir says the market had started talking about components for Proton at that time.

“Betamek was one of the companies I considered investing in.

“The founder was pleased to have local participation and I ended up being the majority stakeholder with a 55% share.”

Shortly after that, Perodua launched itself into the market in 1994.

Mirzan says Betamek bid for a contract from Perodua to provide car stereo systems and was awarded it.

Perodua’s very first creation – the Kancil – had radio systems by Betamek.

“Since then, every model that Perodua has come up with, we’ve been involved in, particularly the music side.

“Over the years, we’ve grown and expanded into other components like the complete infotainment system,” he explains.

But there is more to the automotive electronics manufacturer than its close ties to Malaysia’s largest carmaker.

Betamek is broadening its horizon by expanding into higher-value products, growing its customer base and exploring new business segments – all to create new revenue streams while reducing its reliance on a single customer.

Right now, Perodua’s contribution to Betamek’s revenue is about 80%.

Mirzan says previously, it was hitting about 90%, but Betamek has been slowly working on lowering that percentage.

Mirzan says since listing three years ago, the group has not been resting on its laurels.

Betamek acquired Sanshin (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd in July 2024, which owned a manufacturing plant in Sungai Petani, serving international companies up north.

“They were doing electronics manufacturing for these companies, before they decided to sell.

“We bought them over, and with that, also absorbed the set of customers that they were serving,” he says.

Mirzan reckons there is room to grow.

“They don’t only do automotive electronics, but more consumer electronics,” he adds. “And that is where I see Betamek further diversifying into.”

He opines that the company’s strength should lie in electronics – which includes the development – ensuring the quality is there and remaining competitive within the marketplace.

“That is a challenge though, because we want to value-add here. But I know there is talent in Malaysia that can do this together,” he says.

According to Mirzan, the company is looking at expanding its footprint into the Asean region, as well as China and India.

“I see a lot of opportunity, as the environment is still one of low base and high growth,” he says.

“We already have technology partners that we work with in China – they are a very dynamic economy with many young entrepreneurs who are able to come up with new products and new features that we are looking to introduce to both our local market and abroad.”

Another brainchild of Mirzan’s is a research and development (R&D) body, which he hopes will become an innovation lab some- day.

“In fact, even with Perodua, we are considered a Tier-1 service vendor, so we create, design and develop products that fit into each model nicely.

“All this requires extensive R&D,” Mirzan explains.

Owning its own intellectual property is also something Mirzan is keen on.

He wants Betamek to be the one determining what sort of technology is needed for its components, before developing its own and claiming rights to it.

“This is proof that you are coming up with something new and creative,” he opines.

“We are very customer-led in the sense that ideally, they might tell us what they’d like and we will develop components with suggestions.

“Everything is about quality, so when the components come out, they’re almost fault-free.”

So, would Betamek be open to more mergers and acquisitions?

Sure. Mirzan says it is a definite way to expand, and it can do it either organically or by acquisition.

“If the opportunity arises that fits into our strategy, then why not?

“We are definitely looking to grow because there is a lot of benefit in economies of scale.

“We are actually quite small, but the companies we deal with are big,” he says.

Mirzan adds the company has been getting enquiries from car companies across the globe, and have participated in some tenders so far.

Meanwhile, speaking about electric vehicles (EVs), Mirzan reckons Betamek is well-positioned to capitalise on the industry transition, leveraging its existing automotive electronics expertise and longstanding relationships with original equipment manufacturers.

“I think that it is a new avenue of growth for us.

“I think the internal combustion engine car is not going to disappear, not in the near future.

“But EV vehicles, we expect to see growth of 5% to 10% every year. So this means new revenue streams for us,” Mirzan says.

He points out that as more infrastructure like charging stations are being added on very quickly, and the government’s also quite encouraging, the population is likely to transition to EVs where possible.

And it isn’t just the four-wheelers that Mirzan is looking at, but also two-wheelers.

“There have been two-wheelers out there that are electrified for some time now, especially in cities,” he says.

“Everyone wants to reduce their carbon footprint. We also want to cater to that market.”

As for the company’s financials, Mirzan says it has been able to maintain a profit margin of about 12%. He will aim to maintain that this year.

“We’ve learnt from our recent financial growth, we cannot escape the cycles,” he opines.

“But the good thing is that there are also things which are counter-cyclical – this helps because we are in the final product delivery side.”

For its fourth quarter ended March 31, 2026, Betamek’s profit came in at RM8.43mil on a revenue of RM66.02mil.

For its full financial year, the company posted a profit of RM33.16mil for the financial year 2026 on the back of a revenue of RM275.51mil.

It declared a fourth interim dividend of 1.25 sen, to be paid on June 19, bringing the full-year payout to 4.75 sen per share.

At the time of writing, Betamek’s share closed higher at 62 sen with a market capitalisation of RM280.76mil.

The company listed on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on Oct 26, 2022 at an issue price of 50 sen.