10
The heAlTh | April, 2020
| Cover Story |
RESILIENT
amidst a crisis
The world’s largest
glove manufacturer is
expanding production to
meet surging demand
BY CAMILIA REZALI
While most businesses in the world are reeling from
the adverse eff ects of the Covid-19 pandemic, Top Glove
Corporation Bhd is in an enviable position. The world’s
largest glove manufacturer has seen demand for its
products surging as the pandemic sweeps the globe.
“We are expecting more sales orders to come in
depending on the severity of the outbreak. it will
depend on how long it will last noting that the
World health Organisation (WhO) has declared this a
pandemic,” its executive Chairman and Founder
Tan Sri Dr lim Wee Chai tells The Health.
Top Glove's
milestone
wall at its
headquarters
in Setia Alam,
Malaysia.
R&D is continuously done for product enhancement and innovation.
Auto packing as the final process of production.
To be sure, such disease outbreaks
are not new to Top Glove. Having been
in the industry for about 30 years, it has
experienced and seen spikes in demand for
its gloves such as during SARS in 2002/2003,
the H1N1 outbreak in 2009/2010, Swine fl u in
2009, MERS in 2012 and Ebola in 2014.
But to Lim, it’s not all about enjoying
profi ts.
“While our sales have surged, we are
sad to see so much sickness and suff ering.
We are pleased to be in a position to help
protect and save lives. We donated three
million gloves to hospitals in Wuhan,
Hubei in January 2020. We will continue to
produce as many gloves as we can to help
contain this outbreak.”
Lim sees the glove manufacturing
industry as relatively resilient from
economic and political uncertainties.
Indeed. While the share price of other
listed companies has fallen sharply due
to the pandemic, the shares of Top Glove
remained resilient at more than RM6
compared to less than RM5 early this year.
The Group just announced a revenue of
RM1.23 billion for its 2QFY2020, which is
an increase of six per cent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, its 2QFY2020 profi t was RM116
million, an 8.7 per cent increase compared
to 2QFY2019. It said it was looking to very
robust 2HFY2020.
Since February 2020, its sales order book
has doubled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Initially, the sales orders came mainly
from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and
South Korea. Still, now there are substantial
sales orders from Europe, the US and other
countries following the virus’ rapid spread
to diff erent continents.
Among tycoons in the country, Lim, 62, is
known to be one who puts great emphasis
on health for both himself and his staff . He
exercises regularly, plays badminton and
golf and makes time for yoga. He equates the
human body to a smart factory.