Pharmaniaga aims to grow revenue from Indonesia ops

PETALING JAYA: Pharmaceutical firm Pharmaniaga Bhd aims to grow revenue contribution from its Indonesian operations by 17% to 18% this year.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017, the company registered a total revenue of RM2.3bil, of which 32%, or RM736mil, was derived from its Indonesian operations.

Pharmaniaga has two operations in Indonesia, namely, PT Millennium Pharmacon International Tbk and PT Errita Pharma.

Speaking at media briefing following the AGM yesterday, Pharmaniaga chairman Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin said the company remains confident that the Indonesian operations will continue to do well and contribute positively to the earnings going forward.

“Our presence is quite timely, having been able to position ourselves well in Indonesia to ride on the population growth, increasing living affluence, and rising demand for better healthcare products,” he said.

Apart from that, Pharmaniaga has allocated an estimated RM75mil for this year’s capital expenditure, which has been earmarked for the upgrading of the company’s manufacturing machineries and equipment in Indonesia, as well as enhancing warehousing facilities in Malaysia.

Pharmaniaga managing director Datuk Farshila Emran said the vaccination plant project was undergoing the feasibility studies stage. “We are on track with the vaccination plant progress and expect the first commercial batch to be produced by 2024.

“We have four years to complete everything (for the plant), including research and development works.

“Once completed, it will be the first vaccination plant in Malaysia,” she said, adding that the tentative plan is to construct the plant in Sri Iskandar, Perak, or Sg Petani, Kedah, where Pharmaniaga has a landbank of 26 acres in these two locations.

Previously, Pharmaniaga had said that the vaccination plant was to be built in Puchong.

The company has a total of six plants, excluding the vaccination plant.

The vaccination plant was the outcome of a collaboration agreement between the company together with Technology Depository Agency and India’s Hilleman Laboratories last December.