TODAY by all account, should be a day to rejoice for all loyal Top Glove Corp Bhd shareholders.
In its latest presentation, the world’s largest glove maker revealed that its annual rubber glove production capacity had reached 91 billion pieces as of January 2021 with demand for gloves continued to be strong despite the availability of vaccines to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the current production rate, Top Glove expects to have an annual output capacity of 110 billion gloves by December 2021 as the company adds new capacity of 19 billion pieces of gloves for the year.
Looking ahead, Top Glove’s targeted annual production capacity of 110 billion glove pieces is expected to be achieved via collective output across 39 glove factories with a combined 885 equivalent single former lines.
However, alongside a weak market sentiment (the FBM KLCI dipped 6.74 points), Top Glove is edging closer to breaking the psychological RM6-mark after retreating 12 sen or 1.95% to RM6.02 with 29.13 million shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM49.37 bil.
But in all fairness, all the Big Four glove counters ended in the red. The biggest loser was Hartalega Holdings Bhd which slumped 22 sen or 1.83% to RRM11.80 with 5.5 million shares traded (market cap: RM40.45 bil).
This was followed by Supermax Corp Bhd with a 20 sen or 3.17% decline to RM6.11 with a volume of 15.55 million shares (market cap: RM16.62 bil) and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd which shed 11 sen or 2.67% to RM4.01 with 9.25 million shares traded (market cap: RM10.26 bil).
As the adage goes, the market is pretty irrational – we can blame it on the ‘shorties’ or JP Morgan for its damning RM3.50 price target (for Top Glove) – but the truth remains that the future of the Big Four glove makers is hanging in the balance at least for now. – Jan 21, 2021
