Friday 29 Mar 2024
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PETALING JAYA (April 1): Timber products manufacturer NWP Holdings Bhd, which diversified into the motorcycle business last year, expects the new venture to contribute between RM6 million and RM7 million to its top line this year.

Its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Nelson Kee Soon Ling said the group hopes to take advantage of the booming food delivery business amid the Covid-19 pandemic to boost its sales of motorcycles.

The group saw total sales of RM100,000 or 15 units of motorcycles since February, he told a press conference after the launch of the group's showroom here today.

The 15,000 sq ft showroom, belonging to its wholly-owned subsidiary NWP Access Sdn Bhd, provides sales, service and spare parts for motorcycles, as well as a wide range of motorcycles from renowned brands such as Yamaha, Honda, Modenas and Benelli along with a variety of motorcycle accessories.

“This motorcycle showroom costs us roughly RM1 million, including all the operating expenditures and capital expenditures,” he said, adding that the company plans to expand its automotive business to other regions, such as Penang and Johor, by next year.

Kee said NWP will have a zero down payment promotion for the credit sale of 10,000 units of its motorcycles to individuals whose financials are affected by the pandemic.

“The scheme is designed so that more riders are able to own motorcycles at a more affordable rate, and the daily instalment can go as low as RM3,” he said.

At today's launch, NWP Access signed collaborative agreements with four partners, namely BlackBixon2Go Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of Ni Hsin Resources Bhd), IOU Pay (Asia) Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of iSentric), Yayasan Keusahawanan Sosial, and MBP Solutions Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of TFP Solutions Bhd), to further consolidate its services to its customers.

For the partnership with IOU, it aims to provide financial assistance to customers for service and replacing spare parts for their motorcycles with the ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ programme.

The collaboration with Yayasan Keusahawanan Sosial is for the purchase of motorcycles with the Easy-to-Own programme, while the tie-up with MBP Solutions is to provide services such as micro-insurance to motorcycle riders to provide for their safety.

With BlackBixon2Go, NWP Access will supply motorcycles to facilitate the delivery of BlackBixon2Go’s energy coffee.

Turning to NWP's property business, Kee said the company will partner with a property developer for a new project that comes with a gross development value of RM300 million.

“Currently, we are still in the midst of discussion and expect to announce this partnership by next week,” said Kee, adding that the developer will engage NWP to undertake property management and sales consultancy related works.

Kee said two companies, namely GS Realty (M) Sdn Bhd and GT Nelson Sdn Bhd, will be assisting NWP on the project.

Kee is a 24.55% shareholder of GS Realty, one of Malaysia’s largest real estate agencies, which has offices and representatives throughout Malaysia, and partners in Asean countries.

NWP posted a net loss of RM1.44 million, on the back of RM714,000 revenue, for the quarter ended Nov 30, 2020, with business operations adversely disrupted by the pandemic. For the 15-month period ended Nov 30, 2020, it posted a net loss of RM6.47 million on revenue of RM6.6 million. There is no comparison figures due to the change in financial year end from Aug 31 to Feb 28.

NWP's share price stood at 22 sen as at 3pm, giving a market capitalisation of RM104 million.

Edited ByS Kanagaraju
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