(Yicai) Nov. 20 -- Cosmos Chemical’s shares jumped after the Chinese supplier of raw materials for daily chemicals said the firm plans to enhance its global market competitiveness by building a sunscreen products factory in Malaysia at a cost of CNY711 million (USD99 million). It will be the firm’s first overseas plant.

Cosmos Chemical [SHE: 300856] finished 4.8 percent higher at CNY64.78 (USD9.03) a share in Shenzhen today, bringing its market capitalization to about CNY10.5 billion (USD1.46 billion). 

The plant will have an annual capacity of 10,000 tons of sunscreen products, the Nanjing-based firm said late on Nov. 17. The project will be overseen by Cosmos Personal Care Malaysia, a joint venture set up by Cosmos Chemical and its controlling shareholder Nanjing Cosmos Investment Development Cosmos, with the pair contributing 70 percent and 30 percent of its capital, respectively, it added.

Cosmos Chemical's revenue from overseas markets surged 52 percent to CNY1.1 billion (USD153.2 million) in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier, equal to 90 percent of its total income thanks to a growing number of clients abroad. 

Procter & Gamble, L'Oréal, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and other large multinational makeup and specialty chemical companies are among Cosmos Chemical's main sunscreen product customers, according to the company. The firm’s business covers Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and other regions, and it will continue with a global operating strategy to make and market its products worldwide, it added.

Cosmos Chemical's net profit surged 111 percent to CNY540 million in the nine months ended Sept. 30 from a year ago, while revenue jumped 42 percent to about CNY1.8 billion. Its third-quarter profit soared 73 percent, and income rose 36 percent. 

Editor: Martin Kadiev