KUALA LUMPUR (March 18): Frozen seafood firm SBH Marine Holdings Bhd, en route to list on Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market, is setting its sights on capturing a larger share of the premium seafood market in China.
Exports to China only accounted for about 3% of the company’s RM135.32 million total revenue from the international market, according to its prospectus launched on Monday. South Korea is currently SBH’s biggest market.
“They have consistently approached us to actually increase the [premium seafood products]” already available in China, SBH executive director Saw Leng Hean said at a press conference after the company’s prospectus launch on Monday.
SBH is also seeking to strengthen its existing international presence amid heightened demand. “All our existing customers have been actually asking us to produce and deliver to them more,” Saw said.
The company processes and sells frozen shrimp, squid, octopus and cuttlefish, and farms black tiger prawns and whiteleg shrimp in Perak. The company’s existing processing plant in Kuala Kurau has an annual capacity of 4,800 tonnes.
“There are a lot of seafood producers in Malaysia. However, we place our product in the premium market and target the premium market,” Saw said. “Basically, we are actually going away from the commodities market.”
Further, premium seafood products will allow the company to command a “much better” profit margin, he said.
SBH is targeting to transfer its listing to the Main Market over the next three years, as its latest net profit figure has already exceeded the minimum requirement to be listed on the main board, Saw said.
“We want to ensure that we go step by step in whatever we do,” he said, stressing that the company intends to “learn from the process to improve ourselves first”.
SBH recorded a net profit of RM8.4 million for the cumulative nine months ended Sept 30, 2023 (9MFY2023), on the back of RM144.21 million in revenue.