Thursday June 26, 2008
The Star Online

Three sectors to drive Sindora
By ZAZALI MUSA


JOHOR BARU: Sindora Bhd sees the plantation, shipping and insurance brokerage businesses becoming more important as the engines of growth for the group.

Chairman Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim said activities from these sectors were inter-related and added synergistic value to the group, which would be a basis for its business direction.

“We are focusing on the three sectors to further grow the group but at the same time we will identify other sectors that can add value to the group,” Ali told reporters after Sindora AGM on Wednesday.

He said the company was confident it would continue to perform well in the current financial year despite the uncertainties in the global economy.

Ali said the price of palm oil in the world market was expected to remain strong this and next year as palm oil supply was getting tight due to demand for its usage for biofuel.

He said with the price hike in crude oil in the global market would also push the price of crude palm oil as the usage of biofuel would also rise.

Ali said shipping activities related to the logistics and transportation of foods and non-food goods, and oil and gas-related products would also increase especially from China and India.

“Shipping is critical as demand from all over the world will increase as many countries will engage in the import and export of crops,” he added.

Ali said Sindora was on the right track when it started the Intrapreneur Venture Business (IVB) in 2002 and its 10 IVB subsidiaries and associate companies had contributed significantly to the company.

The company would continue to look for companies to be part of the IVB as it believed there were many small and medium enterprises which could be further nurtured and developed.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, Sindora recorded pre-tax profit of RM30.76mil on revenue of RM295.16mil compared with RM14.49mil and RM205.64mil respectively in 2006.