GEORGE TOWN: Texchem Resources Bhd will allocate RM36 million capital expenditure (capex) for operations this year whereby a large chunk of the fund will be used to expand its restaurant division.
The company has set plans to open more Sushi King outlets nationwide with the capex of RM20 million.
Group executive chairman Tan Sri Fumihiko Konishi said Sushi King has become one of the most-sought after Japanese restaurants in the country and the company is keen to grow the number of outlets.
He added that Sushi King restaurants had contributed higher revenue since its outlets after receiving halal certification in 2017.
"Currently, we have 125 outlets in Malaysia, and we are targeting to open up to 146 outlets by year end. The business in Sabah and Sarawak is doing well too.
"For Indonesia, we have three outlets there and we will increase four more by year end with the capex of RM20 million," he told a press conference after the company's annual general meeting at Jen Hotel here today.
Texchem's other restaurant, Hoshino Coffee, will also expand its wing with the opening of two more outlets by year end involving RM1.8 million capex.
Apart from its restaurant division, the company is also keen on expanding venture business and polymer engineering with capex of RM4 million and RM5 million respectively.
President Yap Kee Keong said the future of bioplastic under its venture business division is promising with more countries pledging to go green in the near future.
He said Texchem Polymers had produced and commercialised several items in small quantity where the items were produced with only half of it made from plastic and the other half from biomass.
"Some of the items we have produced are tooth brush, toy sets and even the chopsticks you see customers using at Sushi King.
"We hope to see the results by this year before expanding our production further," he added.
On the polymer engineering division, Yap said the company had been producing items for medical field and also for aerospace industry and hope to see it grow from this year onwards.
On the food division, Yap said the division had suffered losses a few years back but bounced back in the last two years particularly the upstream integration.
He said the RM5 million capex would be utilise to improve external raw material supply.
"We will focus more on fish farming as well. Currently, we have eight ponds in Myanmar and we will be increasing it to 15 later this year and to 26 ponds next year," he added.
Texchem reported a revenue of RM1.131 billion and a pre-tax profit of RM4.69 million for last year.