Top Glove

Top Glove is a Malaysian rubber glove manufacturer. The company owns and operates 45 manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, Thailand, and China. It also has marketing offices in these countries as well as the United States, Germany, and Brazil.[1]

Top Glove Corporation Bhd
Publicly traded company
Traded asMYX: 7113
ISINMYL7113OO003
IndustryRubber
Founded1991
FounderLim Wee-Chai
HeadquartersSetia Alam, Malaysia
Number of locations
45 (as at June 2020)
Key people
Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee-Chai, Executive Chairman

Dato Lee Kim Meow, Managing Director

Mr Lim Cheong Guan, Executive Director
ProductsRubber gloves
Number of employees
19,000
Websitewww.topglove.com

History

The company was founded in Malaysia in 1991 by Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai, with one production line and 100 staff. Wee Chai's parents are rubber plantation owners and traders. Top Glove has since become the world's largest manufacturer of gloves, commanding 26% of the world market share.[2]

  • Number of production lines: 700 lines as of 30 March 2020
  • Countries of export: 195 countries
  • Number of customers: 2,000

Top Glove was listed on the Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur in 2001, and within a span of slightly more than a year, Top Glove Corporation Bhd's listing was promoted from the Second Board to the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange on May 16, 2002. On 28 June 2016, Top Glove was also listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange. As at 19 March 2020, Top Glove had a shareholder fund of RM2.6 billion and an annual turnover of about RM2.4 billion.[3] In 2017 Top Glove announced that they would launch a new condom business in 2018 with a RM30 million (US$7 million) investment.[4]

In April 2018, Top Glove concluded its acquisition of leading surgical glovemaker, Aspion Sdn Bhd, its biggest M&A to date, which will see Top Glove emerging the world's largest surgical glove manufacturer.[5]

In April 2020, the company announced that it would manufacture face masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

Entrance to Top Glove Tower

Labour controversies

In December 2018, The Guardian reported that migrant workers were being allegedly subjected to forced labour, forced overtime, debt bondage, withheld wages and passport confiscation.[7] The company has denied these allegations and claim that it has since improved its labour initiatives, which include the introduction of a zero cost recruitment policy.[8] An investigation by Channel 4 News in June 2020 found that staff were living in cramped conditions, paid £1.08 an hour, forced to work overtime to meet the demand for gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic and could not adequately socially distance despite the company claiming appropriate measures were taken. Workers, many of whom are migrants, also claimed they paid up to $5000 in recruitment fees to secure employment, leaving them in debt bondage[9]. Top Glove did not address any specific claims but called the investigation inaccurate.[10]

References
  1. http://www.topglove.com.my/index.php/contact-us
  2. "Lim Wee Chai". Forbes. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  3. http://www.topglove.com.my/index.php/about-us
  4. "Top Glove to kick off condom business next year". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  5. "Not all gloom and doom for Top Glove". The Star. 14 July 2018. Archived from the original on 28 October 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  6. Regencia, Ted; Stepansky, Joseph (10 April 2020). "Coronavirus deaths rise but signs of progress seen: Live updates". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  7. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (9 December 2018). "NHS rubber gloves made in Malaysian factories linked with forced labour". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  8. Chua, Gigi (14 December 2018). "Top Glove denies forced labour allegations". The Edge. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  9. Channel 4 News Investigations Team (16 June 2020). "Revealed: Shocking conditions in PPE factories supplying UK". Channel 4. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  10. FMT Reporters (18 June 2020). "FMT: Top Glove denies worker exploitation claims in British TV Report". FMT. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
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