Malaysia’s Petronas Lubricants Marketing Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Petronas Dagangan, plans to expand in East Malaysia as part of a strategy to become the nations biggest lubricant supplier by 2018.
In a press release this month, the company announced the appointment of nine distributors to manage key business-to-consumer and business-to-business accounts in Sabah and Sarawak, the main states of East Malaysia. Petronas calls the distributors market execution partners.
The MEPs are expected to further support Petronas extensive network in the two states with the companys differentiated services to customers and business owners, said the release.
Although the company declined to disclose its current market share, The East Malaysia market has been identified as a key growth driver for our lubricants business. We aim to grow by up to 20 percent this year in Sabah and Sarawak, capturing greater market share in these two key markets to seal our position as the number one lubricants player in Malaysia by 2018, said Zubair Abdul Razak, CEO of PLMM.
We will be leveraging on their local know-how, Zubair said. We will be able to increase our sales volume to approximately 16 million liters per annum from our current target of around 10.6 million liters this year.
PLMM said it will provide comprehensive business solutions for distributors, including relationship management tools, sales toolkits and sales and dealer management systems. Petronas will also provide technology and training designed to improve the customer service that distributors provide, along with promotions and benefits.
Parent company, Petronas lubricants revenue increased by 5 percent to 582.9 million ringgits (U.S. $157 million) for the financial year 2014. The company markets passenger car motor oils under the Syntium brand, motorcycle oils under the Sprinta and Syntium brands and heavy-duty diesel engine oils under the Urania brand. It also sells industrial and marine lubricants.