A year has flown by since Catalist-listed Travelite Holdings (Travelite) made its debut on the Singapore Exchange. During this period, investors and analysts who had their radar locked on the company were few and far between, as evident by its slim trading volume.

Nevertheless, Travelite’s share price has held up rather well of late amidst all the uncertainties and volatilities experienced by the local bourse, predominantly due to its small public float.

Armed with an established track record of more than 20 years, Travelite is primarily engaged in the marketing, sale and distribution of a broad range of merchandise catering to consumers’ travel, business and lifestyle needs.

The company carries a comprehensive array of lifestyle and travel bags under various prominent brand names, including Crocodile, Pierre Cardin, Beverly Hills Polo Club, Camel Active, Elle, United Colours of Benetton, Sisley and Hedgren.

Travelite’s strength lies in its vast distribution network. The company has over 300 points of sale in Malaysia and Singapore alone for luggages and accessories, on top of wholesale distribution to numerous countries, such as Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, China and the Middle East.

More Than Just Luggages
In January this year, Travelite penetrated into the high-end travel bags segment through the acquisition of a 70%-stake in Fashion Street (S) Pte Ltd for $2.55m. Notably, Fashion Street is the sole distributor and retailer of the high-end Tumi brand in Singapore and Malaysia since 1999.

Apart from Tumi, Fashion Street also owns U.R.S & Inc (URS), the leading ladies’ shoes and bags retailing chain in the region, which effectively provides Travelite with an additional promising avenue for growth. As a matter of fact, Travelite has just opened a new URS boutique in 1 Utama Shopping Centre, a premier shopping destination in Kuala Lumpur (KL).

“By the end of July this year, we would be opening another two new URS boutiques – one in KL’s Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall and the other in Kota Kinabalu’s 1 Borneo Hypermall (East Malaysia),” TJ Thang, executive chairman of Travelite, told Shares Investment (Singapore) in an exclusive interview.

According to the management of Travelite, Fashion Street has recently secured the licensing for selling Elle shoes in Singapore, adding yet another feather to its cap. “There is definitely a segmentation between Elle and URS. Elle shoes are sold in major departmental stores, as opposed to URS, which has its own boutiques,” TJ commented.

Earlier in November 2007, Travelite acquired a 100%-interest in YGM Marketing Pte Ltd (YGM) for $14.2m. Boasting over 40 years of experience in the manufacturing and distribution of menswear, apparels and accessories, YGM has obtained several licences for well-known international brands, such as Arnold Palmer, Ashworth, Daniel Hechter, Gianni Valentino, Pierre Cardin and Van Heusen.

Entrenching its reputation as one of the leading distributors of menswear in Singapore, YGM has over 140 points of sale, including a loyal partnership with major departmental stores, like Metro, Robinsons, OG, Isetan, Takashimaya and Tangs.

Boosted By New Acquisitions
Judging from its FY08 report card, Travelite is beginning to reap the fruits of its recent purchases. For the 15 months period ended 31 March 2008 (the company has changed its financial year-end from 31 December to 31 March), the company’s bottom-line increased 37% to $3.2m mainly attributable to a 109.8% surge in revenue to $52.6m coupled with improved gross margin.

As highlighted by TJ, Travelite’s FY08 results was propelled by a four months contribution from YGM as well as a three months contribution from Fashion Street, which amounted to $13m in aggregate. “Assuming that the operating performance of the group remain at status quo in FY09, Travelite’s turnover should reach more than $70m,” TJ revealed.

Forging ahead, TJ mentioned that the company would continue to aggressively hunt for good shopping malls to open new outlets, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia. “No doubt the operating environment is not as good as before, tourists are still flowing into Singapore,” he said. To allow for further business expansion, Travelite is also scouring around for potential investors to inject more funds into the company.

Realising the fact that overseas investors pay more attention to Mainboard-listed companies, Travelite is mulling the possibility of upgrading its listing status – another important agenda on the company’s cards. However, this would have to be put on hold until the company fulfils the criteria of being listed for 2 whole years.