GUH seeks more land for property projects

WHILE GUH Holdings Bhd continues to look at its printed circuit board (PCB) division as the primary driver of growth this year and in years to come, the firm continues to expand its landbank for other activities.

Managing director Datuk Kenneth H'ng Bak Tee said for its PCB business, the company will move into niche, better pricing and future trend products such as light emitting diode (LED)-based special tuners and power supply.

"In further restructuring our clientele base," he noted, "we are moving away from Taiwanese and Chinese clients who are generally known for their low pricing and being bad paymasters."

While South Korean clients are basically associated with average pricing and are good paymasters, H'ng said the focus would be more on Japanese, the US and European clients who are known for not only good pricing, but also for being good paymasters.
On the property development side, GUH is looking at acquiring land in the Klang Valley, Penang island and upcoming spots in Seberang Prai.

He said GUH's Taman Bukit Kepayang development in Seremban, has so far seen development of 120 hectares and there was a balance of about 108 ha left to be developed over the next six to seven years.

"We want to maintain our current build-and-sell strategy for residential and commercial development," he added.

On GUH's plantation activities, H'ng said the 154 ha of plantation land in Kedah, acquired as a testing ground, had proven to be very successful and boasted industry-standard yields.

"We are now looking to increase the estate size to between 1,200 ha and 2,000 ha in order to achieve meaningful economics of scale," he added.

By Business Times