SINGAPORE - Mainboard-listed Nico Steel Holdings announced on Monday (Dec 3) new orders of about 22 tonnes per month of aluminium alloy materials for two customers.

Of the new orders, 20 tonnes per month is from an existing customer - a major global brand of tablets. The material to be supplied is specifically for the fabrication of the LED back panel of the priced tablets.

The other order of 1.8 tonnes monthly is for a new customer - a major printer solutions manufacturer. The customer intends to enhance the aesthetic aspects of its printers by incorporating metal into its plastic design.

Nico Steel said it does not expect the contribution from these new orders to have a material impact on its financial year ending Feb 28, 2019. It also cautioned that the increase in production volumes for metal alloy materials is dependent on the demand for the end products of the brand owners.

The aluminium alloy materials to be supplied to these two customers require customised solutions for their specific applications, said the company.

Danny Tan, executive chairman and president of Nico Steel, said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with globally renowned brand owners on their evolving requirements for metallic materials in their current and new electronic devices."

He added: "This is the first model where the printer solutions manufacturer has decided to innovate the aesthetic aspects of its printer. We hope the success of their first model will lead them to broaden the application to their wide range of printers."

Steven Tang, Nico Steel executive director who heads the group's marketing and product innovation division, said: "We are working on more than 20 new projects for our customers that are at various stages of their product development process. These are on top of the current ongoing projects. We will continue to sharpen our expertise in metal materials and engineering solutions, to assist the design and engineering teams of electronic devices and the brand owners to achieve better performances for their products and their economics."