KUALA LUMPUR: LKL International Bhd’s (LKL) export revenue doubled to RM5.6 million in the third quarter (Q3) ended January 31, 2021 from RM2.8 million a year ago. The medical healthcare beds, peripherals and accessories provider said this was driven primarily by improved sales of medical and healthcare beds to distributors in Europe, and ongoing deliveries of nitrile and latex gloves to Hong Kong to fulfill export contracts secured in the second half of 2020. LKL’s exports accounted for 48.7 per cent of total revenue in Q3 from 20.9 per cent previously.
Managing director Lim Kon Lian said the company’s exports of medical and healthcare beds to the Netherlands were providing vital support to its Covid-19 response. “We also target to grow our export sales further, and have conducted various sales and marketing engagements with potential customers from new export markets such as United States, Canada, Pakistan and Bhutan,” he said in a statement today. Lim said LKL had been fulfilling glove deliveries to Hong Kong as part of its existing glove supply contracts, and were expected to deliver another RM270 million worth of orders
throughout 2021.
“It is our goal to provide as much assistance as possible to ongoing efforts aimed at containing the pandemic,” he said. On the domestic front, Lim said LKL would continue to explore more avenues to help the medical and healthcare sector combat Covid-19, as well as upgrade capabilities beyond the pandemic.
“Most recently, we promote the adoption of Trace Token digital contact tracing devices in Malaysia, which would enhance Covid-19 mitigation efforts and complement the vaccination programme. As a start, we are targeting sales to hospitals, factories and construction companies within Selangor,” he said.
LKL has exclusive rights to distribute Singapore-based iWOW Technology Pte Ltd’s Trace Token in Malaysia. Trace Token is a small Bluetooth device which detects nearby Trace Token devices and securely stores the contact history of individuals, which can then be downloaded to facilitate contact tracing efforts.
The positive export performance in Q3 helped the company mitigated weaker local sales, which saw a 44.2 per cent decline to RM5.9 million from RM10.7 million last year mainly due to lower sales of medical/healthcare beds.
The local market contributed to a reduced 51.3 per cent of LKL’s total revenue compared to 79.1 per cent a year ago. Overall, the company’s total revenue decreased 14.0 per cent to RM11.6 million in Q3 from RM13.5 million in the corresponding quarter due to lower contributions from the manufacturing segment. Meanwhile, the trading division’s topline contributions remained stable at RM4.3 million, a 2.5 per cent increase from RM4.2 million a year ago, supported by stronger sales of distributed medical peripherals and accessories, which mitigated weaker sales of medical devices. The group’s net profit amounted to RM0.1 million in Q3 from RM0.6 million in the preceding year’s corresponding quarter on less favourable product mix and an increase in administrative expenses. For the cumulative nine-month period, LKL’s revenue increased 20.9 per cent to RM40.5 million from RM33.5 million previously. LKL’s net profit was lower at RM0.3 million compared to RM1.2 million in the preceding year’s corresponding period, due to unfavourable product mix and higher administrative expenses incurred compared to the previous year.