Singapore's Xpress Holdings, a dotcom firm turned printer, plans to expand in Vietnam to tap demand from the country's growing financial sector for services, company officials told Reuters.
The expansion will involve setting up "print stations" in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City where customers can get help with design and translation, as well as a network of printers to speed up the printing and delivery process.
"We've been there four months and we are already seeing huge demand for our core financial services - annual reports, corporate profiles, IPOs," executive director Poh Eng Seng said in an interview.
Xpress, which derives about 53 percent of its revenues from China, focuses on printing time-sensitive documents such as prospectuses for initial public offerings and stockbrokers' research reports.
Its business model involves "print stations" in the business districts to be closer to customers. These outlets can electronically transmit proofs to Xpress' Singapore headquarters, which then arranges for printing to be carried out at plants near the intended recipients to shorten delivery time.
For large customers such as UBS and Merrill Lynch, Xpress provides staff and machinery on site to help with design and transmission of the finished report to the printers.
Xpress, with a market cap of $128 million, reported a 43 percent rise in net profit in its fiscal year ended July 31. Its share price has, however, fallen 26 percent (plse update before sending) since the start of the year.
K.K. Fong, Xpress' founder and chief operating officer, declined to provide a forecast but said there was no reason why the company could not continue to maintain its double-digit growth rates.
Xpress, formerly known as i-One.Net, made its stock market debut in June 1999 at the height of the dotcom craze. Its first day performance was one of the best in Singapore history as its shares rose more than fourfold.
But its shares subsequently dived amid the dot.com crash. Fong stepped down as chief executive in 2001 and was replaced by a new management team, which renamed the company Xpress and focused on the firm's core printing business.
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