The Straits Times / The Business Times News on
ISDN Holdings

Singapore's ISDN to sustain strong double-digit growth in sales

By Geraldine Chua - 13 December 2005
XFN - ASIA

WSINGAPORE (XFN-ASIA) - Mechatronics engineering company ISDN Holdings Ltd expects to
sustain strong double-digit growth in sales in the next few years on the back of its aggressive
expansion plans in China.

ISDN provides integrated motion control and industrial computing solutions to diverse sectors
including semiconductor, manufacturing, hard disk drive, medical, aerospace and factory
automation industries.

The company has seen its sales rise 58.4 pct on a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) basis
in the last three years from 21.30 mln sgd in 2002 to 53.46 mln in 2004.

Its net profit jumped 95.5 pct, also on a CAGR basis, in the last three years from 1.52 mln sgd in 2002 to 5.78 mln last year. ISDN managing director and president Teo Cher Koon told XFN-Asia in an interview that he sees the company's sales continuing to expand at strong double-digit rate over the next few years. "It is mainly driven by growth in China," Teo said.

As China continues to grow as a global manufacturing hub, demand for motion control and
industrial computing systems, which ISDN specializes in, are expected to increase, he said.

"We're seeing more and more investments coming in and more local manufacturers are upgrading their capabilities so they are able to make more sophisticated stuff," Teo said.

Last year, ISDN's South Asian operations, which includes Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, made up 64.3 pct of the company's total sales while its business in Greater China, comprising China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, accounted for 35.2 pct of sales. Teo said he expects sales from Greater China to surge in the years ahead.

"Greater China is coming up very strongly. It's going to grow by 30-50 pct in sales every year
from now and it's probably going to be our biggest market in two years time." ISDN has 13 offices around China alone and Teo said he is targeting to increase the number of offices there to about 50 to capture more customers.

Yesterday, ISDN said that it has, in partnership with Germany's Eisele Antriebstechnik GmbHe, set up a company in China to manufacture precision motion control components. ISDN also plans to set up offices in Indonesia, Vietnam and India within two years.

"Our main focus is to cover the region in Asia Pacific that is within the six- to seven-hour flight
zone," Teo said. "We want to ride on the growing wave in Asia and I think we have a good
chance."