M'SIA'S TOP GLOVE EYES 30 PCT GLOBAL MARKET SHARE BY NEXT YEAR

KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 (Bernama) -- Top Glove Corporation Bhd, the world's
largest rubber glove manufacturer, hopes to grow its global market share to 30
per cent by next year from 23 per cent now.

It would not be easy, said chairman Lim Wee Chai.

The company needed to increase its production capacity either through
organic growth or by way of acquisition to capture that amount of global market
share, he told reporters at the Invest Malaysia 2011 conference here Wednesday.

He said there was also a need to strengthen the marketing division by
getting more people and to expand the company's presence.

Top Glove has over 900 customers in more than 180 countries. It manufactures
13 major types of rubber glove products which are variations of latex powdered,
latex powder free, vinyl, nitrile and surgical gloves.

Asked on its acquisition plan, Lim said: "Of course we have been talking to
some parties but the pricing is still high. So, we have to continue to look out
for suitable acquisitions."

He said the company was also in the process of adding four new plants with a
construction cost of about RM160 million (US$53 million).

The plants would have 80 production lines with a production capacity of 7.5
billion pieces per annum, he said.

Currently, Top Glove has 20 factories, of which 14 are in Malaysia, four in
Thailand and two in China.

Once the new plants were completed, Lim said, the company would have a total
of 459 production lines with a total production capacity of 41.25 billion pieces
per annum.