KUALA LUMPUR: Signature International Bhd is looking outward as growth prospects in the domestic market slows and takes a bite out of the kitchen cabinet and wardrobe specialist’ profits. Tan sees the group taking advantage of the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta), which enables Asean countries to trade with zero or minimal tariff, for its growth plans. “We still have an advantage within Asean as the kitchen furniture manufacturing industry in most countries is still small,” Tan added. Signature is experiencing margin compression in its project segment as local developers are more cautious in their spending and put pressure on suppliers like Signature to reduce their price. The project segment — where Signature secures projects from developers by providing kitchen cabinets for their residential units — now contributes about 70% of its total revenue.

Source: The Edge Markets April 10, 2017 01:35 UTC