KUALA LUMPUR (June 20): Muda Holdings Bhd is expecting to see a similar or better bottomline and topline growth for its financial year ending Dec 31, 2017 (FY17) on higher selling prices.

Since the beginning of this year, the company has increased the selling price of its carton box products by 10% to 12% and paper products by 25%.

"We are trying to negotiate with our customers for the price increase. Hopefully, we can still maintain our margin as last year," said its deputy managing director Datuk Lim Chiun Cheong.

The group will be allocating about RM110 million for capital expenditure for FY17 on upgrading, modernising and replacement of existing plants and machinery to raise productivity.

Lim said 70% of the funds will be from bank borrowings, with the remaining from internally generated funds.

With the higher demand for core board products, the company will be investing RM40 million to increase the production capacity by 20,000 metric per tons by next year, said Lim.

At 12.30pm, shares in Muda Holdings were unchanged at RM1.59 for a market capitalisation of RM485.03 million.