Poh Kong confident of doing better in fiscal year

Kuala Lumpur: Jewellery retailer, Poh Kong Holdings Bhd, is optimistic of outperforming its previous year's financial performance, riding on better gold prices.Head of Corporate Affairs, Admin and Human Resources, Margaret Hon said gold prices were expected to better the level last year, which already saw price grow by about 13 per cent to around US$1,300 per ounce from about US$1,200 per ounce in 2016.

"2018 will be a better year than 2017 for jewellery business as the economy starts to pick up and the ringgit strengthening against the US dollar," she told reporters after the company's annual general meeting here Wednesday.

She said currently, the gold price stands at US$1,340 per ounce and analysts were expecting the precious metal price to hit US$1,350 per ounce in the short term.

"Hopefully, by year-end, it will reach US$1,500 per ounce," she said.

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In the financial year ended July 31, 2017 (FY17), Poh Kong's pre-tax profit jumped to RM37.48 million from RM17.48 million in FY16 while revenue rose to RM876.99 million from RM776.53 million previously.

On business expansion, Hon said the company was allocating up to RM15 million for capital expenditure to open three new branches this year, of which two had been opened in Johor Bahru while the location of the third branch was still being identified.

With the addition of the two new branches, she said Poh Kong currently has 94 branches in Peninsular Malaysia.

Executive Chairman/Group Managing Director, Datuk Eddie Choon said the company had no immediate plans to open outlets in Sabah and Sarawak.

"We are planning to expand there in the future but not this year," he said.

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Meanwhile, Marketing Manager, Elizabeth Choon said the company's effort to diversify its sales channel through online platforms had started to show positive effect, as indicated by the double-digit sales growth recorded last year through these platforms.

She said following its presence in e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and 11street, the company was expected to announce another collaboration with an e-commerce platform in the second quarter of this year. – Bernama

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