KUALA LUMPUR (March 7): PPB Group Bhd, which has planned an RM831 million capital and other commitments for the group's further expansion over the next four years, said it has begun talks with relevant parties on the expansion of its cinema exhibition and distribution business into Myanmar.

Speaking at a press and analyst briefing here today, chief executive officer of Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) Koh Mei Lee said while the expansion into Myanmar is not an immediate necessity, plans for it could be concluded as soon as possible.

"Myanmar is within the Indochina market, where we already have presence in Vietnam and are planning to open (cinema) in Cambodia, so it is a natural progression that we cover Myanmar as well.

"We would like to have exhibition, and once we have that, we can have distribution. We are still talking, it is still very preliminary," said Koh.

GSC contributed 26% to the group's total profit in its financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18).

At the briefing, PPB managing director Lim Soon Huat announced that the group has planned for an RM831 million capital and other commitments to be spent on the group's expansion over the next four years.

Nearly half of this will be spent on its grains and agribusiness (RM401 million) for its Chinese and Vietnam flour mill expansion, followed by RM373 million for its film exhibition and distribution segment where it will see new and upgrading of existing cinemas.

The remaining will be used for the construction of new production facility and purchase of assets for its consumer products division (RM16 million), purchase of equipment and office renovation for environmental, engineering and utilities division (RM5 million), and upgrading of its existing malls (RM3 million), and the balance of RM33 million on other plant and machinery purchases.

At noon break today, shares in PPB settled two sen higher at RM18.42 with a market capitalisation of RM26.26 billion.