Eng Kah Corporation Berhad: Company Profile of Penang’s Listed Cosmetics OEM and Its RM21 Million Question

Eng Kah Corporation Berhad is the Bursa Malaysia-listed Penang manufacturer that has made perfume, cosmetics, toiletries and household products for other companies’ brands since founder Ewe Eng Kah started the business in 1967. Once a RM95.6 million-a-year supplier to names such as Avon, Johnson & Johnson and Cosway, it reported revenue of RM31.5 million and a fifth consecutive annual loss in FY2025, closed its Nilai plant, and now carries a stock-market value of about RM21 million — roughly the same figure at which it values that idle Nilai factory. Behind it sit RM14 million in cash, almost no debt and a founding family that owns more than 60% of the shares.

Key Takeaways

• Eng Kah Corporation Berhad (Bursa Malaysia: ENGKAH, stock code 7149) is a family-controlled contract manufacturer of personal care, perfume and household products, operating two plants in Bayan Lepas, Penang, through its subsidiary Eng Kah Enterprise Sdn. Bhd.
• Revenue fell from RM50.2 million in FY2022 to RM31.5 million in FY2025, and the group has reported a loss every year from FY2021 to FY2025 — about RM24.5 million in total — as gross margin fell from roughly 26% to 18% and its largest customers cut orders.
• The Nilai plant was merged into Penang in 2024 and reclassified in FY2025 as an investment property, which the company values at RM21.4 million on its own estimate; no disposal had been announced as of 13 September 2026.
• Founder Ewe Eng Kah has raised his direct stake from 42.32% in 2019 to 48.97%, while the last large outside shareholder — Tan Thiam Hock, founder of Silkygirl maker Alliance Cosmetics — sold out in October 2023.
• On Malaysia’s cosmetic registry, Eng Kah is manufacturer of record for 389 active products for 31 brand owners, 160 of them fragrance filings; JAKIM’s halal directory lists two of its products, both fabric starch.

Company Snapshot

Company History & Background

Eng Kah’s history is a Penang manufacturing story that grew with multinational outsourcing and shrank when that outsourcing moved on. According to the company, Ewe Eng Kah started the business in 1967; the operating company, Eng Kah Enterprise Sdn. Bhd., was incorporated in 1985. It added hair dye in 1986, skin care in 1992 and household products in 1997, and listed on Bursa Malaysia in 2002 at RM1.80 a share. By 2005, The Edge described it as the only cosmetics manufacturer on Bursa’s Main Board, with customers including Avon, Johnson & Johnson, Cosway and Unza, and 95% of formulations developed in-house.

The peak came around 2011. The Edge reported FY2011 revenue of RM95.6 million and net profit of RM13.3 million, with clients including Sara Lee, SC Johnson and Nutrimetics, an Australian supermarket group among its customers and Australia accounting for 13.65% of sales, and a 30% stake in a manufacturing joint venture with Cosway in Guangzhou. The share traded at RM3.46 in March 2012. From there the business contracted through the 2015 GST shift, the loss of export volume and, after a pandemic lift from hand sanitisers in 2020, a margin collapse from 2021. In 2019 the founder moved from Managing Director to Executive Chairman as part of a stated succession plan, and his daughter Ewe Wei Ru became Managing Director.

Business Model: Contract Manufacturing for Other People’s Brands

Eng Kah makes products that other companies sell under their own names, and almost all of its revenue depends on a small number of those companies. According to its FY2025 annual report, the group reports two segments: Personal Care — perfume, skin care, colour cosmetics and toiletries — at RM25.1 million in FY2025, and Household — laundry, cleaning and air-care products — at RM6.4 million, down from RM17.5 million in FY2022. About 29.8% of FY2025 revenue came from overseas customers, principally in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, South Korea, Australia and Singapore.

Customer concentration defines the business. In every year since 2017, one to three customers have each bought 10% or more of revenue, together accounting for 30–58% of sales; the annual reports never name them. In FY2024 two such customers bought RM23.8 million; in FY2025 three bought RM14.0 million — a drop almost equal to the year’s entire revenue decline, which management, in its fourth-quarter 2025 report, attributed to “the timing of order replenishments from key customers, particularly within the household product segment”.

The cosmetic side of the book can be seen on Malaysia’s NPRA notification registry, where Eng Kah Enterprise is manufacturer of record for 389 active products. Its clients there include Rank Distributors (Designer Collection, Bioglo), Alliance Cosmetics (Silkygirl), Wipro Unza (Enchanteur), DXN, Xepa-Soul Pattinson and Anakku; since 2024 a wave of smaller online brands — serum, skincare and licensed-fragrance labels — has joined them. Fragrance is its craft: 160 of the 389 products are perfume, eau de toilette, roll-on or body-mist filings. See how its body-spray and fragrance-mist line compares to two other Malaysian specialists in OEMReview’s body spray and fragrance mist manufacturers review. The group also runs small own lines, including a “Simply EK” perfume range notified in January 2026 and souvenir fragrances in 3D-printed glass bottles through EK Universal Marketing, and sells to Universal Joy, a gift retailer in which director Ewe Wee Ting has a substantial interest.

M&A & Investment Track Record

Eng Kah has done little buying and a steady amount of unwinding, and its most valuable remaining corporate asset is a factory it no longer uses. The main moves on record:

• April 2018 — Nilai land sale. Sold a vacant freehold plot in Nilai to Kian Hoo Canpack Sdn. Bhd. for RM9.37 million, booking a gain of about RM8 million that lifted FY2018 profit (The Edge).
• September 2021 — exit from Cosway China. Sold its 30% stake in the Guangzhou manufacturing joint venture with Cosway for about RM0.70 million.
• April 2021 — bonus issue and warrants. Issued two bonus shares for every three held and free Warrants B at RM1.19; the warrants expired unexercised on 13 April 2026, with the share far below the exercise price.
• 2024 — Nilai plant closed. “Amalgamated its Nilai operations with the head office in Penang as part of the Group’s efforts to streamline operations and achieve cost savings,” according to the FY2024 annual report.
• June 2025 — exit from Atika Beauty. Left its 35% joint venture in Atika Beauty Manufacturing, set up to sell halal cosmetics; the disposal gain of about RM1.3 million produced the group’s only profitable quarter of 2025.
• March 2026 — Eng Kah (Macau) Co., Ltd. Incorporated a small import-and-export trading subsidiary.

The Nilai factory at Lot 152, Jalan Permata 1, Arab Malaysian Industrial Park — about 124,000 square feet of freehold land — is now carried as an investment property, “held to earn rentals or for capital appreciation”. The FY2025 annual report puts its fair value at RM21.4 million, “determined by reference to similar land and buildings which had been sold”, without an independent valuer, against a book value of about RM4.3 million. A sale near that figure would equal roughly the company’s whole market value and about 43% of its net assets, a size that under Bursa Malaysia’s listing requirements calls for an immediate announcement and, in all likelihood, shareholder approval. No such proposal had been filed as of 13 September 2026.

Ownership has tightened at the same time. Ewe Eng Kah has bought in small lots since 2020, taking his direct stake from 42.32% to 48.97%; with his wife and two children, the family holds about 61.6%. The outside blocks of 2019 — Tan Thiam Hock’s 11.31% and a Singapore fund group’s 10.73% — have both gone. The founder’s steady buying is consistent with a family that intends to stay; no privatisation or strategic review has been announced.

Financial Snapshot: Five Loss Years, a Clean Balance Sheet

The losses come from a cost base built for a bigger business. Once gross margin dropped from the mid-20s to about 18% in 2021, gross profit of roughly RM9 million no longer covered administrative costs of about RM13 million, leaving a recurring pre-tax loss of RM2–3 million before any one-off items. Inventory write-downs added to it in 2023, 2024 and 2025 — after management had deliberately built stock to RM28.5 million in 2022 “to negotiate better prices” — and FY2025 carried about RM5.9 million of inventory write-downs and write-offs plus an RM0.8 million equipment impairment.

The balance sheet is the counterweight. At the end of 2025 Eng Kah held RM14.0 million in cash against RM23,000 of borrowings, shareholders’ equity of RM49.2 million, and net assets of RM0.40 a share; its auditor, Grant Thornton Malaysia PLT, has issued an unmodified opinion every year. The shares trade at about 0.43 times book value, and no dividend has been paid since the 3.5 sen declared for FY2020. The second quarter of 2026 brought the first clean operating profit in years — RM0.43 million after tax on revenue up 13.5% — with personal-care sales up 31% in the half, while household sales kept shrinking.

Why Eng Kah Matters in Malaysia’s Cosmetics OEM Industry

Eng Kah matters less for its size than for what it reveals, because it is apparently the only cosmetics contract manufacturer listed on Bursa Malaysia — the one Malaysian OEM whose accounts anyone can read. Its filings show the economics most private OEMs never disclose: how thin margins run on multinational and distributor contracts, how a single customer can supply a third of revenue, and how quickly a factory’s cost base becomes a burden when that customer moves. They also show where the domestic market has moved without it. Malaysia’s fastest-growing cosmetic demand comes from halal-positioned and online-first brands; Eng Kah lists no halal cosmetics in JAKIM’s directory, sold its halal joint venture in 2025, and has only recently begun winning small online brands in number.

Its strengths are just as specific. A fragrance book of 160 active filings, decades of alcohol-based compounding, established distributor clients and an export channel worth RM9.4 million a year are real assets in a market where many OEMs carry little or no fragrance at all. For the wider industry, the useful lesson is that scale bought through a few large accounts is fragile — and that the next decade of Malaysian OEM growth rewards breadth of clients, halal depth and speed with small brands.

My Take

My take on Eng Kah is that it is a sound factory attached to a business model that stopped working, and the family has so far chosen to shrink it carefully rather than reinvent it. The cash, the clean audit and the absence of debt mean there is no crisis; the five loss years, the closed plant and the lost household volume mean there is no growth story either. The Nilai property is the pivot. Valued at RM21.4 million by the company and worth about as much as the entire listed company, it could fund a real rebuild — halal certification for its cosmetic lines, a push into the small-brand market it has only just started to serve, or a larger fragrance operation. Or it could simply sit on the balance sheet while the founder’s stake creeps toward 50%. Until the family says which, I read Eng Kah as a fragrance specialist worth shortlisting for scent-led brands, provided the buyer asks the continuity questions a shrinking supplier should be asked: which Penang line runs the product, how stock is managed, and what happens to formulas and tooling if volumes move again.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Eng Kah Corporation Berhad do?

Eng Kah Corporation Berhad is a Penang-based contract manufacturer that makes perfume, skin care, colour cosmetics, toiletries and household products for other companies’ brands, through its subsidiary Eng Kah Enterprise Sdn. Bhd. It is listed on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market (7149). Personal care made up about 80% of its RM31.5 million revenue in FY2025.

Who owns Eng Kah Corporation Berhad?

The Ewe family controls about 61.6% of Eng Kah. Founder and Executive Chairman Ewe Eng Kah holds 48.97% directly as of 1 April 2026, and his wife Neoh Lay Hwa and children Ewe Wei Ru (Managing Director) and Ewe Wee Ting (Executive Director) hold the rest of the family stake, according to the FY2025 annual report.

Why has Eng Kah been losing money?

Eng Kah reported losses every year from FY2021 to FY2025 because gross margin fell from about 26% to 18% while overheads stayed near RM13 million, and its largest customers — particularly in household products — cut orders. FY2025 also carried inventory write-downs and an equipment impairment. The group returned to a small profit in the second quarter of 2026.

Is Eng Kah selling its Nilai factory?

Eng Kah closed its Nilai plant in 2024 and reclassified it in FY2025 as an investment property valued at RM21.4 million on the company’s own estimate. As of 13 September 2026 there was no Bursa Malaysia announcement of a sale; a disposal of that size would require an announcement and likely shareholder approval.

Is Eng Kah halal certified?

Eng Kah Enterprise holds JAKIM certificates with a lineage from 2009, but as of September 2026 JAKIM’s halal directory lists only two products under them, both fabric starch, and no cosmetics. Brands needing halal-certified cosmetics should ask for the certificate that will cover their specific product.

Who are Eng Kah’s customers?

Eng Kah’s annual reports do not name customers, but Malaysia’s NPRA registry shows brand owners including Rank Distributors (Designer Collection, Bioglo), Alliance Cosmetics (Silkygirl), Wipro Unza (Enchanteur) and DXN among its 31 clients as of September 2026. Earlier press coverage named Avon, Johnson & Johnson, Cosway, Sara Lee and SC Johnson.

Is Eng Kah one of the top 10 OEM skincare manufacturers in Malaysia?

In my subjective opinion, no. Skincare is not where Eng Kah’s registry book sits: of its 389 active NPRA notifications, only eight are serums, essences or ampoules and none are masks (September 2026), and most of its lotions and creams are body and hand care for toiletry brands. A national top-10 skincare OEM would carry a deep record in facial skincare, actives and masks. Eng Kah’s genuine strength is fragrance, not skincare.

Is Eng Kah one of the top 10 cosmetic OEM manufacturers in Malaysia?

Not as an all-round cosmetic OEM, in my view. By active NPRA notifications it ranks around #25 among Malaysia’s locally registered cosmetics manufacturers, it serves 31 brand owners, it lists no halal cosmetics in JAKIM’s directory, and its revenue has fallen for three straight years. In fragrance, though, it belongs on any Malaysian shortlist: its 160 active fragrance filings are around the fourth-largest perfume book among the 192 Malaysian manufacturers with any fragrance filing (NPRA, September 2026).

What products is Eng Kah best at making?

Fragrance and toiletries. Of Eng Kah’s 389 active cosmetic notifications, 160 are eau de parfum, eau de toilette, roll-on perfume or body-mist filings and 26 are deodorants, for clients such as Designer Collection, Silkygirl and Enchanteur (NPRA, September 2026). It also makes body washes, lotions, hair care and household products. Colour cosmetics and active skincare make up a small part of its book.

Does Eng Kah accept small orders, and what is its MOQ?

Eng Kah does not publish a minimum order quantity on engkah.com. Its business has been built on multinational, distributor and retailer contracts, although since 2024 several small online brands have appeared among its clients on the NPRA registry. A founder planning a first run should ask for a written floor per SKU, the lead time and the plant that will run the product before comparing quotes.

What is Eng Kah Corporation Berhad worth on the stock market?

At RM0.17 a share on 13 September 2026, Eng Kah Corporation Berhad (Bursa Malaysia: 7149) had a market value of about RM21 million across 123.5 million shares — about 0.43 times its net assets of RM0.40 a share. It held RM14.0 million in cash at the end of 2025 and has paid no dividend since FY2020. Trading is thin, averaging about 12,500 shares a day.

Related

• M&A & Investment Insights — the full landing page for Malaysia and ASEAN consumer deals
• More company profiles, including Scientex Berhad
• Fragrance and perfume contract manufacturers in Malaysia
• What Is Contract Manufacturing? A Guide

For the founder’s story — from home-made shampoo in Penang to the 2019 succession — see our profile of Ewe Eng Kah.

Sources

• Eng Kah Corporation Berhad — Annual Report 2025
• Eng Kah Corporation Berhad — Annual Report 2024 (Bursa Malaysia)
• Eng Kah Corporation Berhad — Annual Report 2023
• Eng Kah Corporation Berhad — Annual Report 2022
• Eng Kah Corporation Berhad — Annual Report 2021
• Eng Kah Corporation Berhad — Annual Report 2020
• Quarterly report, quarter ended 31 December 2025 and quarter ended 30 June 2026
• Bursa Malaysia — company profile, ENGKAH (7149)
• KLSE Screener — ENGKAH market data and announcements
• Minutes of the 29th Annual General Meeting, 15 June 2026
• Eng Kah Corporation — corporate structure (official website)
• The Edge Malaysia — Eng Kah disposes of land in Negeri Sembilan for RM9.4m
• The Edge Malaysia — Tan: Eng Kah stake purely investment
• JAKIM halal directory — Eng Kah Enterprise Sdn. Bhd.
• NPRA — cosmetic manufacturer list (notification counts from OEM Review’s September 2026 registry extraction)

Disclaimer: This article is for informational and editorial purposes only. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities and does not constitute investment advice.