Rubber Glove Companies

Latexx appears to be succeeding in its aggressive growth plan. It is expected to post strong growth until 2012 as it ramps up current production capacity of 5.2 billion pieces a year to six billion pieces by the end of this year, 7.5 billion by 2010 and nine billion by 2012.

Latexx and Adventa have seen the most aggressive capacity expansion (as a percentage of current capacity) among rubber glove companies.  Nevertheless, Latexx is confident of selling the additional capacity as it currently cannot meet its customers' demand.  All its facilities are located in Kamunting, which ensures better quality control and lower operating costs. 

Adventa has a 15% share of the global surgical glove market.  As it is operating at close to full capacity, Adventa is planning to aggressively expand its surgical glove production from 250 million pieces a year to 350 million by early 2010 and 450 million by end-2010.

From the edge newspaper:  Focussing on FY 2010 valuations, the rubber glove companies are still cheap in an industry where Malaysia is the dominant player and where pricing power exists.  Adventa is the cheapest rubber glove company with a prospective FY2010 price-earnings ratio (PER) of only 7.5 times. 

Rubber glove companies offer a rare combination of being defensive and offering growth.  Investors would be familiar with those like Top Glove, Supermax, Kossan Rubber and Hartalega, but there are some smaller ones like Adventa, Latexx and Singapore-listed Riverstone that operate in interesting niches and perhaps offer better growth prospects as they start from a lower base.

Company Share price Market Cap
Top Glove 8.11 2409.8 m
Hartalega 5.45 1320.6m
Kossan 4.64 741.8m
Supermax 2.80 727.2 m
Latexx 2.27 443.0 m
Riverstone Holdings 0.44 331.0m (Singapore)
Adventa 1.73 218m
Medi-flex 0.09 103.3m (Singapore)
Shun Thai Rubber 1.60 81.0m (Thailand)