$Oceanus^(579.SI) greg_dfvalue EVEN MALAY eat Abalone? Dubai, Middle East! Trade Oil for Abalones? HUAT LA. FINAL DUE D by greg_dfvalue!

 

YONG HUI: Is abalone consumption growing?

 

PETER: Yes, I think people will eat more abalone in the future. A lot of restaurants and weddings are now shying away from shark' s fins due to environmental reasons. This helps increase the demand for abalone.  Recently, many are also using abalone in yusheng instead of raw fish. Petrol kiosks also ran out of abalone during the Chinese New Year period.

 

YONG HUI: What is your retail strategy? Are you competing on price?

 

PETER: I don&rsquo t want to fight on price, because if we fight a price war, the company will not survive. We will price it in a way which is value for money, with the focus on quality, rather than being cheap or expensive. Generally, abalone isn&rsquo t cheap as people know. Anyone who buys abalone does not mind paying a few more dollars. They go for the quality and taste. We also want our abalones  to be  halal-certified.

 

YONG HUI: Are non-Chinese eating abalone?

 

PETER: It is still a small number now, but it will grow with education. Some try out  of curiosity. Why do the Chinese like it so much? It is slowly opening up, and this will give us a larger market.

 

YONG HUI: Is Indonesia one of the markets you want to educate?

 

PETER: We are looking to enter the whole of Asia-Pacific.

 

YONG HUI: Where can people expect to find your abalone?

 

PETER: We will start with e-commerce because we are not large-scale enough for the traditional channels&mdash neither do we have the retail operations or the SKUs for that, so we will tie up with ecommerce partners, as well as through our own ecommerce channel.

 

MORALITY ETHICS CHECK

 

YONG HUI: How do you ensure the quality of your abalone?

 

PETER: For example, even though we have to pay two or three times more to ship our abalones to Australia to process it there, we do it. We have been approached by very questionable vendors in China who promised us many things. They say they can &ldquo value-add&rdquo at no extra cost, to make the abalones look bigger and whiter. The only condition is not to  ask how they do it! We are not comfortable with such things.

 

POWER INDON BIZ

 

YONG HUI: Will your canned abalones be branded Oceanus?

 

PETER: Yes, and that explains why we are so careful about this, because we are literally  putting the company' s name on the product.

 

YONG HUI: What has been the response so far?

 

PETER: There was this Indonesia couple whom I know through a friend&mdash they wanted to throw a feast and wanted to buy some abalone, so we sent them a few cans. They got back, with an order for ten cartons. We are not the cheapest, but yet they chose our abalones. She brought me into their kitchen and showed me a whole row of other brands they had tried. She asked why our abalones aren&rsquo t bigger. . . so I explained to her.

 

HOW NOT TO INVEST IN OCEANUS AND THIS MAN [Read on]

 

PETER: What shareholders should do is believe in themselves. After seeing what we as a company is doing to change, they have to decide. In the past, there was a lot of talk,  but nothing happened. Right now, they have to see for themselves whether we have changed, and did we see things through and deliver our plans.  During our last AGM, there were a lot of questions from disgruntled shareholders, but  what started off as  a rowdy crowd, at  the end, they understood better  where  Oceanus is heading. What took me by surprise was this middle-aged lady who shouted: Mister CEO, now that you have said all these, should I buy more shares? [laughs] That was  a very difficult question. Look, I cannot control the market. I can tell you what the direction of the company is, but I cannot tell you how to invest your money.  Interestingly enough,  this other gentleman who was quite vocal shouted back&mdash what are you waiting for? Go and buy!

 

YONG HUI: Will you consider taking the company private?

 

PETER: We don' t have that in mind.

 

YONG HUI: Might that be beneficial for the company?

 

PETER: It won&rsquo t be beneficial to the shareholders. When you do that, it is over for the shareholders who bought earlier. It isn&rsquo t doing them a service.  My moral obligation is to do well for our shareholders and employees. I have to be accountable to shareholders.

 

https://www.hnworth.com/article/become/high-profiles/peter-koh-ceo-oceanus-group-limited/