UG Healthcare facilities operating at 'optimum production efficiency'

CATALIST-LISTED manufacturer of disposable gloves UG Healthcare Corporation said in a regulatory update on Tuesday that its facilities are operating at "optimum production efficiency", with the production capacity of 2.9 billion gloves per annum amid higher demand for gloves.

The planned additional annual capacity of 300 million gloves will be added in FY2021 ending on June 31, 2021. Plans for further expansion of its production capacity will be announced in due course, said UG Healthcare. 

This comes as the group faces increasing orders for gloves and ancillary products from both existing and new customers since the outbreak of Covid-19 in its core markets of Europe, North America, South America, China and Africa.

With the surge in demand for gloves and healthcare and medical disposables leading to higher average selling prices, UG Healthcare said that it "remains committed to building long-term business relationships with its customers".

While the group continues to operate both its upstream glove manufacturing and downstream distribution businesses, it is doing so in accordance with directives from the respective governments and authorities, it said. 

It has also put in place precautionary measures to prevent transmission of the Covid-19 virus in all its upstream and downstream premises in Malaysia and other countries where it operates, to safeguard its employees, business partners and the community.

At the same time, it has continued to strengthen its proprietary "Unigloves" brand in the markets in which it operates.

Shares of UG Healthcare closed on Tuesday at S$0.32, down 2.5 Singapore cents or 7.2 per cent.