Sarawak-based CCK Consolidated Holdings Bhd (CCK), which has embarked on a regional expansion for its poultry and seafood business, is targeting Jakarta as its next investment destination in manufacturing and retail activities, reports StarBiz of Malaysia.

Group managing director, John Tiong Chiong Hiiung, said CCK was now conducting a feasibility market study in the Indonesian capital city as it had a big population.

He said: "Hopefully, by the end of this year, we can make a decision (whether to set up a business base in Jakarta)."

Mr Tiong said CCK had invested about US$2 million (6 million ringitt; MYR) in a manufacturing plant and four retail stores in Pontianak, west Kalimantan, Indonesia.

He said the Pontianak factory produced chicken hot-dogs and burgers.

He added: "The demand and growth potentials in Pontianak are good. We plan to open more retail stores there and also in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, which are our new frontiers."

CCK group now owns and operates a chain of 40 wholesale and retail stores, trading departments and processing plants throughout Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia. There are five retail stores in Kuala Lumpur.

In the last 12 months, the group opened two new stores each in Pontianak and Kuching and set up chicken hatchery and chicken breeder houses in Sabah. It ventured into Pontianak two years ago.

CCK operates an integrated supply chain of breeder, hatchery and broiler farms. Its poultry division is equipped with the latest breeding farm technologies, computer-controlled hatching chambers and automated abattoir.

The abattoir, the only in Sarawak with a HACCP certification, is capable of processing some 4,000 birds per hour.

Mr Tiong added: "Currently, we sell about 25,000 dressed chicken a day in Sarawak."

He said the group's capital expenditure was between MYR10 million and MYR15 million a year.

With further expansion, the company is targeting an annual revenue growth of between 15 and 20 per cent.

For the financial year ended 30 une 2010, CCK recorded a group turnover of MYR355.7 million, an increase of 8.3 per cent over MYR328.6 million in 2009. Group pre-tax profit rose by 40 per cent to MYR23.5 million from MYR16.8 million in 2009.

StarBiz reports that the poultry and retail sectors contributed 65 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, to the group revenue in the last financial year. Other sectoral contributors were feed (12 per cent) and prawns (six per cent). CCK is also involved in prawn aquaculture and processing, largely for the export markets.