KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- Paos Holdings Bhd, having secured acontract to manufacturer Dettol soaps for Reckitt Benckiser (RB), seeks tooffer similar services to other well-known multinational companies.Its executive chairman, Datuk Lim Tong Yong @ Lim Tong Yaim said Paos hasbeen appointed by RB, the world's number one household cleaning (excludinglaundry detergents) company to manufacture the medicated bar soap rangeincludes the "Original" soap, "Fresh" soap and the recently launched"Sensitive" translucent soap.The group, an associated company of Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, is nowbetter placed to tap opportunities in the finished soap markets afterhaving met the ISO9001 quality management standards awarded by SGS UnitedKingdom Ltd.The group's main operating subsidiary, Paos Industries Sdn Bhd (PISB)manufactures soap chips, which are mainly exported to China, Korea andBangladesh. It also contract manufactures finished soaps for third partiesunder their own brand names.Premier Oil Industries Sdn Bhd (POISB), also in the Paos stable, makesspecialty fats and animal feed. The fats are exported mainly to Pakistanwhile the animal feed products are contract manufactured for Berg &Schmidt who distributes them to Germany and other European countries.In his latest annual statement, Lim said the increased demand for animalfeed from Europe had resulted in the group further increasing its capacityfrom 2,500 to 4,500 metric tons by the commissioning of an additionalspray cooler.With this step-up in production capacity, the future of the animal feedbusiness looks even more promising, he addedThrough its research and development with MPOB, the group has developed aprocess to manufacture palm wax using palm oil as a raw material.This palm wax can be used as a substitute for paraffin wax, which is beingutilised in the manufacture of candles.The chairman said the group had started some initial sales of palm wax tocandle manufacturers in China and South Africa, and was optimistic thatsales would grow in due course.With continued efforts to improve efficiency and competitiveness,commitment towards research and development for new products and services,the group strives to overcome the prevailing world economic slowdown andimprove its performance for the coming year, he added.The unprecedented world events, namely the terrorists attack in the UnitedStates and the consequential war in Afghanistan had a significant negativeimpact on trading conditions for the Paos group during the year ended May31, 2002.The group posted a 11.8 percent increase in turnover to RM279.9 millionfor the last financial year. However, pre-tax profit fell 45.3 percent toRM11.5 million from RM21.0 million previously.POISB's pretax profit would have been much higher than the RM6.15 millionachieved if not for the cancellations of orders from Pakistan customers asa result of the war in Afghanistan.In the case of PISB, the pretax profit of RM4.34 million was less thanone-third the amount in the previous year due mainly to high crude palmoil prices and increased competition from lower cost producers inIndonesia in the soap chips markets. -- BERNAMA