KUALA LUMPUR (March 12): Nitrile glove manufacturer Hartalega Holdings Bhd aims to increase annual production to about 32 billion pieces by March 2019 from some 27 billion pieces now, as the company focuses on organic growth via capacity expansion.

Hartalega executive chairman Kuan Kam Hon said the group will stay focused on organic growth in the absence of merger and acquisition (M&A) targets.

“No M&A and no targets have been identified at this moment. We are purely on organic growth," Kuan told reporters after Hartalega's extraordinary general meeting EGM) here today.
 
"Currently, this year FY18 (ending March 31), we have about 27 billion pieces. In FY19, we are targeting to produce 32 billion pieces,” he said.

At the EGM today, Hartalega secured shareholders' approval for its proposed one-for-one bonus share issue, involving up to 1.71 billion new shares.

At Bursa Malaysia, Hartalega shares settled at RM11.32 at 12:30pm, for a market capitalisation of RM18.71 billion. The stock saw 998,700 units traded.