SINGAPORE -- About a century ago, two Chinese brothers converted the kitchen of their home in Burma into an herbal laboratory, much to the annoyance of their mother.


They were about to launch a product that would one day become a household name in Asia.


Elder brother Aw Boon Haw (Gentle Tiger, in Mandarin), more aggressive than brother Aw Boon Par (Gentle Leopard), put his name on cure-all herbal Tiger Balm and oils, packed in obscure glass jars with an oriental look.


The balm is now sold in more than 70 countries, with recent markets including Russia, Mexico, Burma and Bahrain.


Now, the vial containing the strong-smelling ointment they developed is contributing to a multimillion dollar business conglomerate here, named after the brothers -- Haw Par Brothers International Ltd.


Share analysts predict a substantial improvement in Haw Par's turnover and profits in the coming years with expansion and diversification of the pharmaceutical business controlled by its subsidiary, Tiger Medicals Ltd, or TML.


"I am quite bullish about the company. Tiger Balm is a good brand and has a good market presence," said Richard Jones, research director at Baring Securities in Kuala Lumpur.


"It's inexpensive. I use it mostly for colds. It works."


In Singapore, a small bottle costs around 3 Singapore dollars (US$1.90) and is a popular item on tourists' shopping lists.


Jones estimates Haw Par group's net profit at 26.5 million Singapore dollars for 1993, nearly 30 percent more than in 1992, and at 29.7 million Singapore dollars in 1994 and 32.8 million Singapore dollars in 1995. Its 1993 results are due this month.


"The group's earnings are expected to rebound strongly over the next three years following the dissolution of the Jack Chia joint venture," he said.


In June 1992, TML took over marketing and distribution of Tiger Balm upon expiry of a 20-year joint venture with the Jack Chia group. The break led to a 42 percent improvement in TML's operating profit that year.


TML accounted for more than 30 percent of the operating profit of the Haw Par group, which stood at 27.6 million Singapore dollars in 1992 and at 28 percent of the group's net profit of 20.4 million Singapore dollars that year.


Leong Chi Meng, a Vickers Ballas analyst, said Haw Par was expected to achieve double-digit growth in earnings in the next few years, much of it coming from expansion of its pharmaceutical activities.


Haw Par, incorporated in Singapore in 1969, is now a diversified business conglomerate with an annual turnover of more than 200 million Singapore dollars in 1992.


The brothers' rags-to-riches story began in the late 1870s in Rangoon, where their herbalist father arrived from China to treat cash-strapped patients who often paid him for his services in kind with a chicken or a dozen eggs.


The book "Tiger Balm King," written by local journalist Sam King on the life of Aw Boon Haw, said U Thaw, an elderly Burmese pharmacist working in their father's dingy clinic, passed on to the brothers a cure-all herbal ointment. He claimed it was made out of his own secret formula and stored in a little jar.


The book relates: "The old man picked up a small glass jar from his table and unscrewed the lid. Inside the jar was a thick compound. 'This may one day make your fortune,' he said simply."


The brothers migrated to Singapore in the 1920s and set up many institutions including the Tiger Balm Garden housing Chinese mythological figures. This is now Haw Par Villa, a theme park.


Before Boon Haw died in 1954, the balm had become one of the world's best-selling painkiller analgesics. In 1970, the United Overseas Bank group acquired substantial control of Haw Par.


Boon Par died in 1944.


TML has launched an aggressive diversification and worldwide sales campaign, highlighting the effectiveness of the balm for both the old and the young with the campaign theme: "Tiger balm works, wherever it hurts."


"They are spending a lot of money to make new Tiger products including pre-exercise sports rub, mouth freshener, medicated plasters to catch the eye of the younger generation, including athletics," said Leong of Vickers.


In December 1992, TML's subsidiary Drug Houses of Australia signed up with Huang He Pharmaceutical Company in Shanghai to expand sales of pharmaceutical products in China.


TML has set up a factory in Malaysia and is said to plan others in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam. Its most exciting prospect is the planned production of Tiger products in China.