KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 25): Careplus Group Bhd said its subsidiary had secured a licence from the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) to manufacture and assemble energy efficient vehicles.

The licence granted to Nexv Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (NMSB), a 51:49 joint venture (JV) between Careplus and GoAuto Group Sdn Bhd, applies to passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and electric motorcycles, said Careplus in a bourse filing.

The glove maker and GoAuto intend to build an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and assembly hub on a 74-acre (29.95-hectare) piece of land in Chembong, Negeri Sembilan owned by Careplus. Both companies signed a term sheet in June to look into selling and manufacturing EVs as JV partners.

Careplus announced in April plans to explore the energy efficiency management and renewable energy business, via a partnership with Howard Woon Howl Chuen, who would take up a 7.7% stake in Careplus’ wholly-owned unit Masterclean Technologies Sdn Bhd, with an option to raise his stake to 40%.

The group had said that it was seeking opportunities to diversify into other viable businesses, given the challenges faced by all the major glove players in the market.

Careplus has been in the red for seven consecutive quarters. It registered a wider net loss of RM82.79 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, compared with RM15.77 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, as revenue shrank 63.91% to RM12.16 million from RM33.68 million. The company has changed its financial year end to June 30 from Dec 31.

On Wednesday, Careplus closed up half a sen or 1.92% at 26.5 sen. This gave the group a market value of RM155.02 million. Year to date, the counter has declined over 44%.