The Singapore group PD International has announced that its turnover for the financial year ended June 1996 stood at S$ 80 million, up 9% from the S$ 73.4 million reported the year before. The founder…
The Singapore group PD International has announced that its turnover for the financial year ended June 1996 stood at S$ 80 million, up 9% from the S$ 73.4 million reported the year before. The founder and managing director of PD International, Poh Ah Tee, has stated in the past that he believes that future growth lies in regional expansion. The building materials company now has factories producing glass and metal cladding products for the building industry in Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, Jakarta in Indonesia, Bangkok in Thailand, and New Delhi in India. The group has a second factory under construction in Shanghai, and a float glass factory valued at up to S$ 84 million in Shangdong which will have several partners. PD is also in negotiations for a second facility in Shangdong. An increasingly regional emphasis will however, mean that contributions from overseas operations will reach 70% of turnover by the end of 1999, Mr. Poh said. For this year, about 60% of the group“s current book orders of S$ 100 million are from its local business, with the remaining S$ 40 million accounted for by overseas work. Expanding regionally makes sense, he added, since start-up costs in countries like Indonesia and China are only about a third of what they would be in Singapore. PD“s founder has also ensured that plant and machinery are invested only in places where the company can be assured that work would be enough to justify the cost. For example, the company supplied Indonesian contracts from Singapore until it received a S$ 16.5 million contract to provide wall cladding for the Jakarta Stock Exchange. Then, Mr. Poh said, it was decided to start producing the coated reflective glass in Jakarta in April this year. Supply contracts now average above US$ 10 million each, while historical profit margins have been between 5% and 10%. PD“s main factory in Singapore now sits on a 44,000 sq. m. area in Jurong. One of the three production lines it houses is a fully computerised glass coating production line. Production is carried out under a 1993 joint venture with Asahi Glass. Mr. Poh pointed out that the US$ 10 million computerised production line was the first of its kind in Singapore. PD has, through its tie-up with Asahi, provided glass for the refurbishment of the Changi Airport terminals, the Ritz Carlton and Suntec City. PT Reflexindo Prima Glass in Indonesia and PD“s Shanghai factory will each have a computerised coated glass production line, the first such machines in both places. Keeping ahead of the competition also means PD spends at least S$ 250,000 annually on employee training and research and development. It invested more than S$ 1 million in 1993 to build a rig to test the glass panels it produces for durability, water tightness and also wind load factors. Strong business growth required an increase in PD“s paid-up capital from S$ 2.4 million to S$ 20 million in 1994. At present, about 56% of the shares in the company are held by its directors, while the remainder is held by various parties; among them, venture funds managed by the Economic Development Board and South East Asia Venture Investment (Seavi); Turie Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of listed Hong Fok Corporation; and RSP Architects.