Yong Pang Chaun & Family controls Padini Holdings

April 19, 2021

Padini Holdings Berhad (Padini) a leading apparel company in Malaysia (listed on Bursa Malaysia) is controlled by founder, Yong Pang Chaun, his wife, Chong Chin Lin. Two of their three sons, Andrew Yong Tze How and Benjamin Yong Tze Jet, are Executive Directors. They joined the Padini Group about 10 years ago and were elevated to Executive Directors and the Board five years ago. Youngest son, Chris Yong, is also active in the operations of Brands Outlet in the Padini Group.

Founder Yong Pang Chaun, 69, Managing Director of Padini, joined a textile merchant in Singapore after his secondary education and learned the ropes of the textile trade. At the age of 20 in 1971, he set up a company to manufacture ladies fashion and his astute management and knowledge of the apparel business led to a continuous expansion of his business. His wife, Chong Chin Lin, 67, came from a family that had its beginnings in the manufacture and trading of accessories. She stopped her education in Form Six to help her father in the wholesale and retail of fashion accessories and costume jewellery business. After 3 years she moved on to the retailing of ladies’ fashion. She joined Padini Group thereafter and helped set up Vincci Ladies’ Specialities Centre Sdn Bhd in 1981. She is the Executive Director of Padini and helps to oversee the group’s garment manufacturing operations.  

Andrew Yong Tze How, 39, graduated from the California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles, California with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science. From April 2006 to May 2008, he worked as aAS400 programmer contracted to Patimas PSG and a system operator in Prudential services. He joined Padini in June 2008 as IT manager in Padini Dot Com Sdn Bhd and manages all IT operations, system implementations and IT assets for the Group. He was promoted to General Manager – Operations in August 2015 and was appointed to the Board on 3 December 2015.  

Benjamin Yong Tze Jet, 36, graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts, Media & Communication from the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 2005. He started his career as a Merchandising Assistant with Padini Merchandising department in September of the same year. He was promoted to the position of Merchandiser in 2007 and appointed as the Brand Manager for Padini Workwear in 2009. He is now the Head of Design, Merchandising and Retail of the Group and is responsible for the overall management, development and organisation of the design, merchandising, retail and branding activities for the brands assigned to him. Benjamin was appointed to the Board on 15 July 2016.  

Key Subsidiaries 

All 5 key trading subsidiaries of the Padini Group are profitable. They are Vincci ladies’ Specialities Centre Sdn Bhd, Padini Corporation Sdn Bhd, Seed Corporation Sdn Bhd, Yee Fong Hung (M) Sdn Bhd and Mikihouse Children’s Wear Sdn Bhd. The top two performers are Yee Fong Hung which controls Brands Outlets with a revenue of RM644 million and pre-tax profit of RM72.8 million followed by Padini Corporation that retails the Padini branded apparels with a revenue of RM549.5 million and pre-tax profit of 84.1 million. The third is Vincci Ladies with a revenue of RM272.4 million and pre-tax profit of RM42.4 million.

As at June 2020, the Padini Group has a total of 141 retail stores divided into 28 single-brand stores, 48 Padini Concept Stores, 55 Brands Outlet stores and 10 consignment counters. Except for 6 Padini Concept Stores and 6 Brands Outlet stores which are located in Sabah and Sarawak, the rest of the stores are located throughout Peninsular Malaysia. The Group has expanded to Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Pakistan via franchise operations and it has its own managed stores ( Brands Outlet and Padini Concept Stores) in Cambodia. However, the Group’s domestic operations continue to be the main driver of revenue and profits.   

E-Commerce 

The Padini group embarked on the e-Commerce journey at the end of 2015 to have a marketing channel ready to meet its customers’ needs at the appropriate time. Managing Director, Yong Pang Chaun said that the recent catastrophic pandemic impact brought by the Covid-19 has accelerated and transformed this business platform to a new era. Padini Group has started its own Facebook live to introduce and sell its range of products in May 2020. They have also started to sell their products in Lazada. 

Financial Year 2020 

For the Financial year ended 30 June 2020, Padini Holdings Berhad registered revenues of RM 1.355 billion with a pre-tax profit of RM105.7 million. Revenue decreased by 24% over the previous year’s amount of RM1.78 billion and profit before tax decreased by approximately RM111.9 million or 51.1% from the previous year’s RM219 million as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the movement control order.  

As at 30 June 2020 Yong Pang Chaun and his wife, Chong Chin Lin are the major shareholders in Padini Holdings Berhad with a stake of 43.74%  via their private company Yong Pang Chaun Holdings Sdn Bhd. 

Read more  

  1. Padini Holdings Berhad. Annual Report 2020. https://corporate.padini.com/wp-content/uploads/Annual-Report-2020.pdf 
  2. Iinvestor.com. 23 December 2019. Shak Chee Hoi. Tan KW. https://klse.i3investor.com/blogs/kianweiaritcles/2019-12-23-story-h1481912581-8_things_I_learned_from_the_2019_Padini_AGM_Shak_Chee_Hoi.jsp 
  3. The Star Online. 15 November 2003. Groundwork being prepared for regional expansion. https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2003/11/15/groundwork-being-prepared-for-regional-expansion 
  4. Digital Edge Weekly. 23 September 2015. Esther Lee. Analysts: Worst could be over for Padini. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/analysts-worst-could-be-over-padini 
  5. The Edge Malaysia. 16 October 2019. Supriya Surendran. Padini to tough it out with value-for-money fashion. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/padini-tough-it-out-valueformoney-fashion 
  6. Forbes. 2020 Malaysia’s 50 Richest Net Worth. https://www.forbes.com/profile/yong-pang-chaun/?sh=29630a085dca 
  7. PwC. Groomed for Bigger Roles (Focus Malaysia). An Interesting blend taking after their parents. https://www.pwc.com/my/en/assets/press/2019/20190413-focus-malaysia-groomed-for-bigger-role.pdf 
  8. Clement Ting. 29 October 2012. Padini Part 3. https://clementting.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/padini-part-3/