FERCO SET TO LEVERAGE KOTOBUKI GLOBAL REACH
Company plans to open showroom in London within next two years
LIDIANA ROSLI
SHAH ALAM lidiana@nst.com.my
FERCO Seating Systems (M) Sdn Bhd may not be a household name to most, but many are already acquainted to its products and quality.
The firm, which specialises in customised public seating across cinemas, auditorium seating, university stadiums, have been making sure that Malaysians have been sitting comfortably since 1996, with the opening of its manufacturing facility, here.
Its impressive clients portfolio boast the likes of Golden Screen Cinemas, Tanjong Golden Village, MBO Cinemas, Cathay Cinemas, Taylor’s University, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, to a name a few.
Last year, Ferco merged with Japan-based public seating giant Kotobuki Seating Co Ltd.
According to chief executive officer Tim Barr, this move would propel Ferco to greater heights.
“The merger with Kotobuki will definitely help widen our portfolio even further, given Kotobuki’s reach alone,” he said.
Barr was reluctant to share details of the merger, but previous report noted that the Japanese company had fully acquired Ferco for about US$4.82 million (RM21.4 million) in September last year.
This, according to the reports, is to enable Kotobuki winning contracts towards delivering seatings for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Ferco has a track record of delivering seats for sports stadiums, including Maracana Stadium, the main venue for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium in the United Kingdom and National Stadium of Bahrain.
Barr said its Malaysian manufacturing unit would continue to be instrumental to the group, despite being fully acquired by Kotobuki.
“Malaysia is instrumental to our growth. Being here for almost 20 year, I can say that the location of the country as well as the talent and the ease of doing business have been beneficial to us,” he said.
Barr said enlarging the Ferco facility was not priority because under the merger, it could tap Kotobuki’s global production that spanned across Japan, Vietnam, the UK, the United States and Indonesia.
“Right now, it is about bringing our product and ongoing innovation into the market by opening more showrooms.
“We now have refurbished our Shah Alam showroom. We have also opened a showroom in Dubai and Beijing to tap the respective markets. The next stop is to open a Kotobuki showroom in London within the next two years,” he added.