Leader ... Apr11

It is still keen to expand in Saudi Arabia although it said it had scrapped out its plan to set up a joint-venture firm in the kingdom.

The company, which is already exporting some of its products to Saudi Arabia, was working on other more “cost-effective” means to expand its presence in that country which currently contributes a small portion to its overall revenue.

The parties (involved in the abandoned proposal) are still co-operating and pursuing their plans in the kingdom. Thus far, the company has been successful in its application for pre-qualification of some of its products, which is a prerequisite for the supply of products directly to Saudi Electric Co.

Leader produces telecommunication cables such as copper and optical fibre cables, bare conductors and PVC insulated power cables from low, medium to high voltage as well as upstream products such as copper and aluminium rods and wires.

About 35% of its wire and cable sales are currently from exports with the key markets being the Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Besides wire and cable business, Leader has another segment power generation which it sees as its second engine of growth.

Leader's priority is now the construction, completion and operation of its power transmission project and a 200-MW coal-fired power generation project in Cambodia.

The company expects to see partial revenue towards the end of the year from its power transmission project in Cambodia after the completion of the first phase.

Leader's first independent power producer project via its unit Cambodia Utilities Pte Ltd was completed and started operations in the mid-90s. The investment provides it with fairly healthy returns.

As at Dec 31, 2010, 95.3% of Leader's RM2.49bil revenue came from the cable and wire division. Only 4.5% was from the power generation segment and the remaining from its other divisions.

Projects such as the light rail transit system extension and the Sarawak power grid development were among those that would require more cable and wire products.