Established in 1998, Sunzen Group focuses on animal health and nutrition as well as markets a wide range of related products for both livestock and companion animals. The achievement and development of Sunzen Group enabled it to be granted pioneer status by the ministry of international trade and industry (MITI) in 2006. In 2007, Sunzen was named the outstanding animal health provider by the Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia.
Successful research led to the new product offering
Sunzen’s extensive research found that orgacids allows a low usage rate to sanitise the feeds and prevent recontamination. The group prided itself on this research and presented it at the World Poultry Congress in Brisbane, Australia.
Eco lite success due to increasing demand for herbal health foods
Witnessing the trend of the public wanting health-related products and more attention towards traditional Chinese medicine, Sunzen acquired Ecolite Biotech to diversify into manufacturing and trading traditional Chinese medicines and herbal food and beverages. With the Ecolite manufacturing plant, Sunzen can manufacture products that bring both the world of traditional remedies and modern science.
End-to-end process in developing bird’s nest products
With the increasing demand for bird’s nest products, Sunzen has three subsidiaries that support the end-to-end process in bird’s nest product development, namely Yan Ming, Yan Wo and Sunzen International. Yan Ming Resources served as the leading raw material supplier of bird’s nest products and raw clean bird’s nest exporter. Yan Ming can provide up to 400kg of net bird nests every month.
With raw materials supplied by Yan Ming, Sunzen International focused on improving the value chain of bird’s nest products by developing overseas markets and innovating different bird’s nest products, including bird’s nest coffee, bird’s nest mooncake, stewed bird’s nest and bird’s nest cup. The demand for vegetarian-friendly bird’s nests drives Sunzen to have Yan Wo in the group, focusing on researching and developing vegetarian-friendly instant bird’s nests. Yan Wo has successfully made the lives of these consumers easy by packaging the instant bird’s nest into handy bottles for easy consumption.
Successful acquisition of Finsource credit
The growing demand for financing drives Sunzen to focus on establishing its footprint in the alternative financing industry. The successful acquisition of Finsource credit has enabled Sunzen to serve SMEs that are underserved by banking institutions. Currently, their financing options include a clean loan, property secured loan and having these 2 loans in 1 option.
Asset rationalisation to improve efficiency
To improve profitability, Sunzen sold its factory in Kota Kemuning in 2021, achieving RM600,000 in annual cost savings. Besides, the group has implemented several cost-reducing measures, including the closure of eight retail outlets in traditional Chinese medicine segments.
Improving profitability in 2023
For its three-quarters sales, Sunzen’s sales were RM80.07 million compared to RM61.45 million in 2021. The net income increased to RM2.5mil. The basic earnings per share from continuing operations improved 35 times for these 9 months.
The group managing director, Teo Yek Ming is optimistic that the group is on the right path to return to profitability in 2023, credited to strong demands for its SME loan financing, increasing profit for its traditional Chinese medicine and health-related products and beverages as well as bird nest and all the cost reduction measures.
Eyes merger and acquisition (M&A)
The group managing director also intends to engage in merger and acquisition in the next 2 years to diversify revenue streams and improve profitability. He is interested in collaborating with businesses that involve in wellness, healthcare and cosmetics to create synergy.
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