DHARMALA Holdings has made a profit of US$20 million since the beginning of the year, equivalent to 90 per cent of last year's total revenues, according to company managing director Bernard Pouliot. ''Despite a soft market, we have been able to diversify operations and we are in quite good standing,'' Mr Pouliot said yesterday. The company plans to build on its success in China by pumping HK$300 million to $400 million over the next three to five years into its mainland food operations. About 70 per cent of the company's industrial product sales in Hong Kong, which had a turnover of $450 million last year, went to China, Mr Pouliot said. The company is looking at expanding into five mainland cities within the next five years with the ultimate goal of penetrating every major city in China. Depending on population concentration and raw material costs, the company is looking at setting up processing plants and distribution networks in Tianjin, Beijing, Nanjing and Fuzhou. Each project has an investment cost of HK$60 million to $80 million. Dharmala will use its 53 per cent-owned food processing plant in Liaocheng in Shandong province as an expansion base to eventually become the headquarters for its food products in China. The company is talking to Singapore Food Industry, a Singapore Technology subsidiary, on production of chicken nuggets and other chicken-based food products. Financial services will also be expanded throughout Asia. Dharmala will invest HK$70 million in the next two years to set up offices in China, Singapore and Thailand. There will be two China offices, in Shanghai and Shenzhen, with one each in Bangkok and Singapore. In Vietnam, the company has signed memoranda of understanding and is awaiting official approval to set up a number of functions. Total investment over the next two years would exceed HK$60 million, Mr Pouliot said. Dharmala has a food processing and distribution agreement with a Vietnamese company. It will also work with state agencies to distribute heavy machinery, Pirelli tires and Petrofina lubricants. There are also plans to develop housing. The company has restructured its operations into three divisions - agricultural products, industrial products and financial services - each with its own managing director. Along with restructuring comes the renaming of its Hong Kong banking and securities subsidiaries to include the Dharmala name. DMT Capital is now Dharmala Capital and DMT Securities has become Dharmala Securities. The reorganisation was launched last year to give company operations transparency when Dharmala listed publicly.