For Immediate Release
October 17, 2005

Cable maker CCHB to venture into medical field
By Shiling Woo

CABLE and connector maker ConnectCounty Holdings Bhd (CCHB) plans to diversify into medical field applications in the near term, said group managing director C.J. Ang. 

“We plan to start some groundwork by the third quarter of next year with market research to learn about market demand as well as letting customers know of our upcoming new services,” he told StarBiz in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.  

The Mesdaq-bound company is mainly involved in designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing of customised, value-added and industry-standard cables, connectors and related products. 

Its products are used in the broadband satellite communication solutions, digital audio entertainment equipment, computer and disk drive industries. 

In addition, CCHB is also involved in system assembly and sub-assembly of electronic components such as printed circuit boards and CD/DVD-ROM drive components. 

It focuses on value-added products and services, which refer to performance enhancements of off-the-shelf or Internet standard products in consultation with its customers.  

Meanwhile, its customisation works involve a complete product design including conceptualisation, designing, prototyping, tool building, testing and debugging, assembly equipment and tooling, as well as manufacturing methodology. 

CCHB’s research and development (R&D) team utilises the latest computer engineering systems to accomplish the development based on customer requirements. 

“Therefore, the group will allocate RM6.89mil from its listing proceeds for ongoing R&D, with the aim of acquiring laboratory equipment and tools to upgrade value-adding capabilities and advanced design tools to boost engineering capabilities,” Ang said. 

He said the emphasis on the group's R&D team was a gateway to capturing a larger market share.  

“It is because we do not have ready-made products to sell to our customers. We are required to look for potential players and build products as per their requests,” Ang said.  

The group expects to raise RM16.25mil from its listing exercise, of which RM6.2mil will be used for working capital, RM600,000 to upgrade manufacturing equipment and machinery and RM300,000 for setting up an enterprise resource planning system. 

Another RM250,000 will be used to renovate the office of its newly incorporated subsidiary, Rapid Conn Electronics (RCC) in China. The remaining RM8.89mil proceeds will be used to fund the listing exercise. 

RCC is the international procurement arm for CCHB. It sources raw materials, components and finished goods, in addition to conducting sales, in China. 

Currently, RCC is awaiting approvals from the relevant authorities to commence operations.  

CCHB is offering 41.55 million shares of 10 sen each at an issue price of 32 sen. The company is scheduled to be listed on Thursday. 

CCHB’s present R&D centre, Rapid Conn Inc (RCI), is in the United States. The strategic location of RCI is vital to the group, as product standardisation committees from US-based hi-tech companies drive the next generation interconnection solutions. 

However, the company plans to expand its product development capability to Malaysia as an extension of its R&D team.  

“It is more cost effective to set up our R&D team locally instead of in the US. It will be our key objective to establish an R&D team in Malaysia as the country provides an appropriate infrastructure to further strengthen our products,” Ang said. 

CCHB is also investing RM500,000 to set up a new R&D centre in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics (IMEN). The memorandum of understanding with IMEN was signed in June.  

The centre will mainly consist of high-end equipment and software for the creation and testing of new products. 

“It will serve as a practical training laboratory to build up UKM students' knowledge in the engineering sector,” Ang said. 

CCHB expects to get the construction for the new R&D centre underway early next year after UKM resolves some outstanding issues. 

The group also plans to introduce a wider range of serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) cables and connectors next year, aimed at capturing larger information technology users.  

SATA is a storage interface specification for the next generation computing platform and is a replacement for the current parallel advanced technology attachment (ATA) physical storage interface. 

Ang said CCHB expected sales in Malaysia to grow in the next four years as it had moved its development team to the country. 

In five years, the group plans to expand its market to Europe. 

“The key strategy for us to tap into Europe is by appointing distributors and agents locally and we will provide them with training on our existing interconnection products,” Ang said. 

CCHB registered a net profit of RM2.78mil from a revenue of RM41.13mil for year ended Dec 31, 2004.