KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 26): Padini Holdings Bhd chairman Chia Swee Yuen said it is cautiously optimistic of successfully navigating through the current Covid-19-driven crisis and delivering long-term value to shareholders as the pandemic continues to pose unprecedented challenges resulting in business disruption, economic volatility, employee and public safety besides financial issues despite massive stimulus measures and vaccination efforts implemented by governments worldwide.

Chia said in Padini’s latest annual report, which was filed with Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday (Oct 26), that the clothes retailer’s domestic operations continue to be the main driver of revenue and profits. 

"Compared to domestic operations, our overseas operations are relatively small. The group will continue to monitor the overseas markets for opportunities to increase our market presence in Asia, especially ASEAN countries, although this may not be so imminent currently,” he said.

According to Chia, the world is changing and every crisis creates opportunities for those who are ready to accept the challenges. 

He said all these come back to the basics of the group’s strategies, which are to manage both the top and bottom lines and customers’ expectations.

"The group will remain vigilant and continue to implement measures to protect the health and safety of our employees and customers, control cost, [optimise] working capital, [preserve] cash and [streamline] its operations to minimise the adverse impact. In addition, adapting to the new normal post pandemic leads to changes in consumer behaviour, including in-store shopping and digital retailing. 

"Good understanding of consumer needs, ability to deliver value and speed-to-market will continue to be critical success factors. These components have been ingrained into all areas of the marketing, merchandising and supply chain of the group. We have also placed increased focus on further developing digital retailing to reach out to and extend the purchasing channels for the convenience of our customers and for future growth,” he said.

From a broader viewpoint, the uncertainties in the extent of control of the spread of Covid-19 and its variants in Malaysia and worldwide, the continuing global economic trade war and the intensifying regional business competition, currency volatility, inflation and interest rate trends have made the operating environment very challenging for businesses, according to Chia.

He said that despite early successes of various countries in containing the pandemic, a new wave of infections has disrupted business re-openings and caused the re-imposition of lockdowns. 

"Vaccine developments [are] playing an important role to provide a high degree of protection from the Covid-19 effects. The concerted roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine programme in Malaysia is expected to lift business and consumer sentiments and contribute towards recovery in economic activity.

"Notwithstanding that the government is anticipated to continue to implement the necessary measures to support the domestic economy towards full recovery, given the uncertainties from the health crisis, and the vaccine roll-out is a medium-term proposition that doesn’t resolve the immediate challenge from Covid-19, the group expects the outlook for the Malaysian economy for the remainder of 2021 and 2022 to be challenging,” he said.

At Bursa’s 12:30 break on Tuesday (Oct 26), Padini’s share price settled up three sen or 0.94% at RM3.21, giving the company a market capitalisation of about RM2.11 billion.

Padini has 657.91 million issued shares, according to its latest annual report.