Ingress Corp eyes bigger job from Proton

Automotive parts and components manufacturer Ingress Corporation Bhd sees growth in its earnings over the next few years, said Executive Vice Chairman/Group CEO Datuk Rameli Musa.

The company, which bagged contracts worth about RM84.8 million from Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd (Proton) last month, is eyeing a larger contract for the manufacture of some parts of Proton's Global Small car.

Ingress has also been awarded a contract worth RM55 million from Tenaga Nasional Bhd for the construction of power substations in Kota Setar and Cahaya Baru, scheduled to start in the first quarter of its financial year ending Jan 31, 2013.

The group has also been recording an increase in sales of BMW vehicles, he said. BMW Malaysia has appointed Ingress' wholly-owned unit, Ingress Auto Sdn Bhd, as its authorised dealer.

With such positive developments, Rameli is confident of Ingress' financial position in the coming years. "We are also looking at good numbers for our current financial year," he told Bernama in an interview. Rameli directly and indirectly owns 31.2 per cent of Ingress' shares.

He said that the four markets that Ingress has been operating in, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and India, are expected to record good Gross Domestic Product growth of between 5 and 8 per cent this year.

"This should be very good for the group's performance for this year. "Despite the tsunami and the recent flood, we are optimistic that we'll do better for the financial year 2011/2012," he said.

For the nine months of its current financial year, Ingress recorded a net profit of RM17.4 million on turnover of RM512.8 million.

Rameli said Ingress' performance for the current year could have been much better had the recent flood not affected one of the company's three plants in Ayutthaya in Thailand.

"The plant was closed for 43 days as all equipment and machinery was damaged," he said. He added that the total amount insured was 1.2 billion baht and the first claim had been made. He expects recovery to start by the end of the first quarter of 2012 with full recovery by the middle of the year.

For the full year of its financial year ended Jan 31 2011, Ingress recorded a net profit of RM17.1 million on revenue of RM761.2 million. -- Bernama