Sabah steel manufacturer Colform Group Berhad started from a rented factory in Sandakan and is now preparing for a much bigger stage in Peninsular Malaysia. After more than two decades of building its manufacturing base in East Malaysia, the company has crossed RM100 million in annual revenue, listed on Bursa Malaysia and committed millions of ringgit to establish a stronger presence in Klang.
Its latest move makes that ambition much clearer.
In October 2025, Colform agreed to acquire approximately 2.96 hectares of industrial land at Pulau Indah Industrial Park in Klang for RM25.2 million. The land is intended for new production facilities and offices and is expected to become an important operating base for the company in central Peninsular Malaysia.
For a business that started by producing roofing sheets from a rented factory in Sandakan in 2003, it is a significant step.
But the bigger story is not simply about one factory or one piece of industrial land.
Colform is testing whether a company built primarily in Sabah can turn itself into a much bigger national manufacturing business.
Colform’s beginnings were relatively modest.
The company began operations in 2003 from a rented factory in Sandakan, where it manufactured roofing sheets. Over time, it added roofing accessories and purlins before moving into its own manufacturing premises.
By 2009, the company had also expanded into steel processing.
That allowed Colform to process steel coils internally instead of relying entirely on external suppliers and processors. The processed steel could then be used across more of its own downstream products.
This was an important part of Colform’s development.
Rather than remaining a company that mainly sold roofing sheets, it kept adding products and manufacturing capabilities around the same construction supply chain.
The company later expanded into Kota Kinabalu, developed roof truss systems, entered Industrialised Building System, or IBS, steel framing and obtained additional industry registrations and approvals.
It became registered with JKR as a supplier of prefabricated cold-formed steel roof trusses and was later involved in supplying materials for projects including the Sekolah Daif Improvement Project.
Its highway guardrails were also approved by JKR.
The result is a business that now stretches well beyond roofing.
Today, Colform manufactures and supplies steel roofing and cladding, roof structures, IBS steel framing systems, floor decks and other downstream steel products. It also carries out steel-coil processing, trades construction materials and handles installation and project-management work.
Calling it simply a roofing company therefore misses much of what the business has become.
By 2024, Colform had reached a different level of scale.
For the financial year ended December 2024, the group recorded approximately RM100.72 million in revenue and RM18.88 million in profit after tax.
Manufacturing and steel-coil processing made up the largest part of the business.
Around 58% of its 2024 revenue came from manufacturing and steel-coil processing, while trading of downstream steel products and building materials contributed another 29%. The balance came mainly from supply, installation and project-management activities.
For a Sabah steel manufacturer, breaking through RM100 million in annual revenue is significant.
But reaching that size can also create a new problem.
Once a business has already built a sizeable position in its home market, where does the next stage of growth come from?
Sabah has a smaller population and construction market than Peninsular Malaysia.
A company that wants to keep growing eventually has to consider expanding geographically, adding new products or doing both.
Colform appears to have chosen both.
Colform listed on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia on 10 February 2025.
The IPO raised approximately RM41.19 million in gross proceeds for the company.
More interesting than the listing itself was how the money would be used.
Colform allocated:
This is where Colform’s story starts becoming much more than another Bursa listing.
The company had already identified Peninsular Malaysia as part of its next growth plan before the shares even started trading.
The listing gave the group additional capital to begin building that expansion.
At the same time, Colform has continued investing in Sabah.
A new storage facility and colour coil coating production line have been developed around its Kota Kinabalu operations, giving the company greater control over its manufacturing process.
The strategy is therefore not simply to move from East Malaysia to West Malaysia.
It is to strengthen the Sabah operation while creating another growth base across the South China Sea.
Peninsular Malaysia offers something Sabah cannot provide at the same scale: a much larger construction market.
Malaysia recorded approximately RM86.8 billion worth of construction work done during the first half of 2025, based on figures cited when Colform announced its Pulau Indah acquisition.
Around RM71.8 billion of that activity came from Peninsular Malaysia.
For a company supplying roofing, cladding, IBS systems, steel products, guardrails and other construction-related materials, the opportunity is obvious.
Colform does not necessarily need to become one of the largest steel manufacturers in West Malaysia for the expansion to make financial sense.
Even a relatively modest share of a much larger market could create another meaningful source of revenue.
That is one of the most interesting parts of the strategy.
Companies operating in smaller regional markets eventually face diminishing room for expansion. Winning another few percentage points of market share can become increasingly difficult.
Moving into a much larger geographical market gives the company another way to grow.
Colform’s West Malaysia expansion is no longer just an idea written inside an IPO prospectus.
The company already lists an operation in Telok Gong, Port Klang, alongside its existing Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan operations.
The Pulau Indah land acquisition pushes the strategy much further.
The industrial property measures approximately 29,595 square metres, or around 2.96 hectares.
Colform intends to develop the site into production facilities and offices, creating a much larger operational base in central Peninsular Malaysia.
The location itself is also important.
Pulau Indah sits close to Port Klang and some of Malaysia’s busiest logistics infrastructure.
For a company dealing with bulky steel products and construction materials, logistics can have a significant impact on competitiveness.
Shipping products from Sabah to Peninsular Malaysia means additional freight costs, longer delivery times and more complicated inventory planning.
Having production, processing or warehousing closer to customers in West Malaysia could reduce some of those disadvantages.
That is why the Pulau Indah investment should not be seen as simply another branch opening.
For a Sabah steel manufacturer trying to grow nationally, it could materially change the economics of serving the Peninsular market.
There is no guarantee the expansion will succeed.
Peninsular Malaysia offers a much larger market, but it also comes with much more competition.
Colform will be entering a region where developers, contractors and distributors already have established relationships with existing suppliers.
Many of those competitors also have factories, warehouses and distribution networks located much closer to major projects.
Being successful in Sabah does not automatically mean customers in Selangor, Johor, Penang or other states will switch suppliers.
Colform will have to compete on price, product quality, delivery speed, reliability and relationships with contractors.
The company will also need enough demand to justify the capital committed to land, facilities, machinery and operations.
That makes the next few years especially important.
A new industrial hub only creates value if enough business eventually passes through it.
Still, Colform enters this phase with something many companies do not have.
It already has more than 20 years of operating experience, existing manufacturing capabilities, established products, project experience and a sizeable business in East Malaysia.
It is expanding an existing industrial platform rather than trying to build one from zero.
Colform’s expansion also raises a wider question about Malaysian business.
How many sizeable companies in Sabah and Sarawak remain relatively unknown simply because most national business coverage is concentrated in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley?
Malaysia’s corporate conversation naturally focuses heavily on Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor.
Those states contain many of the country’s largest corporate headquarters, factories and industrial clusters.
But it can create the impression that most significant Malaysian businesses begin there.
That is not always the case.
Sabah has manufacturers, construction companies, plantation groups, logistics operators and industrial businesses that have spent years building significant operations without receiving the same national visibility.
Geography is part of the reason.
For a Sabah steel manufacturer, entering Peninsular Malaysia is very different from a Selangor company opening another operation in Johor.
There is a sea between the two markets.
Inventory has to travel farther. Freight costs are higher. Separate distribution networks may be needed. Customers in West Malaysia already have local alternatives.
A company can therefore become substantial in Sabah while remaining relatively unfamiliar to buyers and investors in Peninsular Malaysia.
Colform is now trying to cross that divide.
Look at the company’s development over more than two decades and the progression becomes easier to understand.
It started with roofing sheets in Sandakan.
Then came steel processing.
Then its own manufacturing facilities.
Then expansion into Kota Kinabalu.
Then roof trusses and IBS systems.
Then larger construction and infrastructure-related products.
Then annual revenue above RM100 million.
Then Bursa Malaysia.
Now comes Klang.
It is not the kind of business expansion that produces flashy headlines every few months.
Manufacturing growth usually happens more slowly.
Companies buy machinery, add production lines, improve logistics, increase capacity, win larger customers and gradually expand into new markets.
That is largely what Colform has spent the past two decades doing.
The Pulau Indah operation could eventually become another factory in a long list of Malaysian industrial facilities.
Or it could become the point where Colform changes from being known mainly as a Sabah steel manufacturer into a genuinely national steel and construction-products business.
That is the part worth watching.
For decades, much of the national conversation around Sabah’s economy has centred on commodities, tourism, infrastructure and the economic gap between East and West Malaysia.
Those are important issues.
But they can overshadow another story taking place within the state.
Some Sabah businesses have already spent years developing manufacturing capabilities, products, customers and technical expertise.
The challenge comes when those companies reach a size where Sabah alone may no longer provide enough room for the next stage of expansion.
Colform is one example.
A business that started manufacturing roofing sheets from a rented Sandakan factory now has operations across Sabah, is listed on Bursa Malaysia and has committed RM25.2 million to industrial land in Klang as part of its push into West Malaysia.
The company still has plenty to prove.
Its expansion into Peninsular Malaysia will bring new competition, higher operating complexity and pressure to generate returns from significant capital investment.
But the direction is clear.
This Sabah steel manufacturer is no longer looking only at the Sabah market.
It is trying to build a business capable of competing on both sides of Malaysia.
If Colform succeeds, perhaps the more interesting question will not be how far the company can grow.
It will be:
Which Sabah manufacturer will be next?
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