BioAlpha upbeat on health supplement sector
BANGI: BioAlpha Holdings Bhd is well-positioned to benefit from the growing health supplement industries in Malaysia, Indonesia and China as they are its key operating markets, said chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Mamat.
“Malaysia’s health supplement market is forecasted to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3 per cent to RM4.5 billion by this year, driven by rising household income and improved health awareness.
“Indonesia saw its economy expand 5.1 per cent last year, with household consumption the main driver of its economic growth,” said Abdul Rahman in its 2017 annual report.
He added that the market there was projected to register CAGR of 12. 7 per cent or US$2.1 billion (RM8.3 billion) this year due to the growing middle-income population and increasing interest in health products.
“In China, the health supplement market is expected to increase to US$221.6 billion this year, underpinned by rising disposable income, a rapidly ageing population and changing lifestyles,” he said.
Abdul Rahman said the company’s prospects continued to be bright as it executes its expansion plans in view of a more favourable market sentiment.
“Domestically, Malaysia’s manufacturing and retail pharmacy businesses are expected to do well in the coming year. We will continue to expand the group’s products base to sustain interest with periodic rollouts of products.
“For our retail pharmacy business, we expect to franchise more ‘Constant’ pharmacy outlets outside of the Klang Valley and expand from our current network of 16 outlets. As for herbal farming, land clearing and planting activities have started on the 356ha land in Pasir Raja Herbal Park. We aim to fully cultivate the area with various plants and harvest 2,000 tonnes of raw herbs by 2020,” he added.
BioAlpha’s net profit of RM7.9 million for its financial year 2017 was 7.4 per cent lower than the previous year’s net profit of RM8.5 million.
The company said the drop was mainly due to non-operational expenditures incurred during the year, including higher deferred tax arising from origination and reversal of temporary differences of RM1.7 million.
Its financial position remained solid as at December 31, with deposits, cash and bank balances jumping to RM25.7 million from RM5.9 million the year before, attributed to internally-generated cash from operations and unutilised portions from a rights issue.