Pelikan Intl Corp Bhd ... Feb 2009

Pelikan is involved in the manufacture of a range of products and services including hardcopy, stamp pads, carbon paper and marking crayons, and school products such as brushes, erasers and wax crayons.

Formerly known as Diperdana Holdings Bhd, Pelikan in 2005 acquired Pelikan Holding AG and Pelikan Japan K.K. through a reverse takeover and transformed its business from logistics related services into the manufacture and distribution of stationery-related products.

What’s NEXT! … dated Feb 2009

Pelikan International Corp Bhd expects slower sales this year owing to the global economic turmoil which would inevitably erode demand.

It does not help matters that its largest market, accounting for close to 40% of total group sales is Germany, which slipped into recession in November 2008.

Being involved in a school-related business makes it somewhat recession-proof as governments will always support education.

Its foreign shareholding has been reduced to 21% as at end 2008, against more than 60% earlier in the year. Pelikan’s market capitalisation has more than halved from six months ago to about RM385mil as of Feb 2009.

As part of its business strategy for the year (2009), certain investments are taking a back seat. Pelikan, whose sales stood at RM1.19bil in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2007, had earlier proposed a joint venture (JV) with a China stationery company to set up a toner powder plant there. The partner is believed to be a leading player in the stationery market in China with a wide distribution network covering a population of 1.3 billion. They have not decided on how to proceed.

Plans for acquisitions this year, however, are still on the cards. In June 2008, the company said it had in place a five-year merger and acquisition plan of up to RM200mil. In 2007, it completed two major acquisitions, namely Pelikan Hardcopy Holding AG and German Hardcopy AG group in February and April 2008 respectively.

Around RM40mil was typically set aside every year for capital expenditure to replace machinery at its eight global plants and for the launch of new products. The allocation would be maintained this year (2009).

Pelikan has eight plants including in Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Scotland. Although the company shut down its Bosnian plant last year, it had no plans to shut down more plants at this moment.