Tue sday,M a rch 1 3,2 0 18 NEW STRAITS PAGE 1 News / BUSINE SS US$100M I N V E ST M E N T “InvestKL looks internally at our business to have a better under- standing of how they can help. They open doors, facilitate meetings and Sports Direct plans help us to promote ourselves do- mestically and in the region by tapping other agencies and giving us a slightly different perspective on what support is available and expansion in Greater KL how it can help us grow. This has been very helpful,”said Gibbons. Sports Direct International Plc is the UK’s largest sporting goods SHAREN KAUR an annual revenue growth of at retailer by revenue, and operates a SUBANG JAYA least 10 per cent per annum. diversified portfolio of sports, fit- bt@me diaprima.com.my In the next five years, Sports ness, fashion and lifestyle fascias Direct aims to have a retail pres- and brands. PORTS Direct, the United ence in each of the leading South- In the 2017 financial year, group Ki ng do m’s largest sporting east Asian markets, either directly revenue hit £3.2 billion (RM17.6 Sgoods retailer, aims to set up or with joint venture partners. billion), operating 757 sports stores a regional distribution centre in The Sports Direct proprietary across the UK and internationally, Greater Kuala Lumpur, in a bid to website is due to be launched this plus Premium Lifestyle stores in reach out to the 10 markets in the month and it will continue to de- the UK. Asean region. velop a marketplace shop-in-shop The company operates a wide port- The company offers the widest platform with Lazada. folio of globally recognised sports, range of sportswear, footwear and While the e-commerce expan- fashion and lifestyle brands, includ- equipment at unbeatable value and sion is taking on a major focus, it is ing Slazenger, Everlast, Lonsdale, has plans to use Malaysia as the seen to compliment its retail store Karrimor, Kangol, No Fear and Fire- hub for its regional expansion, said business, not compete against it. t ra p . Sports Direct Malaysia managing “One thing about the sports busi- “Our strategy is to invest in peo- director Paul Gibbons. ness is people still need to go out ple and key third-party brand part- Gibbons told NST Business that and try on shoes, sports attire plus ners to attain new levels of ex- US$100 million (RM392 million) will Sports Direct Malaysia managing director Paul Gibbons says the compare the latest technologies,” cellence across multi-brands and be invested for a 20ha site, con- company has invest RM200 million in Malaysia since its inception. said Gibbons. multi-sport offerings to customers. struction and initial operations. He said InvestKL, the govern- We aspire to be a leading sports and “We are looking for a site suitable end of this year. Progressive growth, ment entity set up under the Eco- lifestyle retailer internationally and to build a one million sq ft regional This will help procure both brick supported by InvestKL nomic Transformation Programme, to deliver sustainable growth for distribution centre. We would prefer and mortar businesses around the to attract large global multinational our shareholders in the medium to “Sports Direct has invested in the site to be in relative proximity to region and support licensees, con- companies (MNCs), has contribut- long-term by offering c u sto m e rs excess of RM200 million in Malaysia Port Klang as well as able to utilise sidering that the group owns 30 ed to the company’s development in an unrivalled range of high-quality since its inception here some eight services rendered at the airport with international sports brands. M a l ays i a . leading brands”. years ago,”said Gibbons “and cur- the new Digital Free Trade Zone, and “We will likely keep our head- “We are carefully setting the The group provides a full multi- rently has 28 stores with a plan to then at some point with the rail quarters separated though we foundations for expanded growth channel retail approach across its continue growing for certain strate- system link that is planned. may have retail and training fa- and to meet our parent company’s fascias in the UK, and increasingly gic and geographical locations”. For our business, Malaysia’sce n - cilities built into the facility de- aspirations to become a dominant across its fascias in continental The company is targeting to tral connectivity makes it an ideal pending on the final site location. player within the region. I think we Europe and elsewhere. achieve RM200 million for the fi- and strategic choice. This will depend on consumer ac- have made good progress until to- The group also wholesales and nancial year ending April 2018, hav- We target to manage all the 10 cessibility and remains somewhat day, ensuring that we create the licenses its group brands to part- ing recorded RM157 million in sales markets in the Asean region from secondary to the primary objec- correct disciplines within our busi- ners in the UK, continental Europe, last year in the domestic market. this hub and hope to procure the tive of having a regional distri- ness and InvestKL is helping us to the United States, and the Far The company is hoping to achieve land and a timeline to build by the bution centre,”said Gibbons. achieve our aspirations.” E a st . gional distribution hub to serve a the region and a preferred logistics wider market in Asean will en- gateway to Asean,”said Datuk InvestKL aims for growth in new sectors hance the e-commerce sector and Zainal Amanshah, chief executive boost digital economy. officer of InvestKL. ALAYSIA strides towards amid a firm trajectory. itally-driven economy. Recent global lead- He said Greater KL building a strong Digital The traditional businesses like Under Malaysia’s National e- ers like Sports Direct, has both the soft and MEconomy in Asean, attract- oil and gas (O&G), supply chain Commerce Strategic Roadmap, Givaudan, Air Liquide, hard infrastructure for ing multinational companies management, engineering and headed by the International Trade AXA and Oracle, set- the development of a (MNCs) and other global business- construction are evolving and sec- and Industry Ministry, the govern- ting their global cen- regional hub, and this es in the services and technology tors such as Internet of Things, ment aims for e-commerce to con- tres of excellence and will further boost s e c to r. Robotics, Big Data Analytics, Ar- tribute 20.8 per cent to the gross headquarters in Ma laysia ’s Digital The adoption of emerging tech- tificial Intelligence, Financial tech- domestic product (GDP) by 2020 Greater Kuala Strategy Roadmap. nologies is the key driver in future nology and E-commerce are seen from 18.2 per cent. To expedite Lumpur, is a testa- I n ve st K L’s aim is to economic growth, as the country booming in recent years. this, the National Industry 4.0 Pol- ment to the digital de- attract large global m ove s from a manufacturing and Whether it is the O&G, engineer- icy Framework will be launched ve lo p m e n t . MNCs such as Fortune agriculture-based economy to one ing, FMCG, or the aerospace in- soon this year. “With the growth in 500 and Forbes 2000 that is highly service-oriented and dustry, the focus now is all on dig- One of the biggest milestone for digital economy, com- companies to under- technology driven. ital and innovative services, high Malaysia is the Digital Free Trade panies are looking at take operational head- new growth sectors to Datuk Zainal quarters, international M a l ays i a ’s gross domestic prod- tech and Industry 4.0. The empha- Zone (DFTZ), spearheaded by The Am a n s h a h uct (GDP) figures underscore a trend sis on digital projects is the key Malaysia Digital Economy Corp expand their busi- procurement centres, where the economy is becoming focus during the 4th Industry Rev- (MDEC), which is set to emerge as nesses. Greater KL is regional distribution healthier, with growth becoming olution which signifies Malaysia’s the region’s leading logistics hub. an ideal launch pad for the de- centres or regional shared ser- more broad-based across sectors movement towards a strong dig- The creation of hubs like the re- velopment of new businesses in vices centres in Greater KL..