Datuk Rameli Musa, executive vice chairman, said the contribution from its operations in Thailand was also set to grow, mainly due to its volume of exports of spare parts.

Ingress is set this month to open its fourth Thai plant in Ayutthaya, which caters to Honda's City, Jazz and Accord models. The Thai factories also manufacture parts for Isuzu, Mazda and Mitsubishi, and will soon be supplying parts for Nissan automobiles.

"With that, we will be able to service most of the other Japanese brands, except Toyota," Rameli said.

Ingress is also seeking to diversify its product offerings, having acquired Fine Components Thailand for Bt85 million last month.

"We're going to restructure the company and the potential is very good as it supplies to second- and third-tiers for Toyota cars as well," he said. "They also specialise in tool-and-die products, for which we have depended on technical partner Katayama Kogyo in the past.

"We saw a decrease in demand for Proton car components in the past year but the current high demand for Perodua parts more than compensates for it."

It is also hoping to pass the 400 million Malaysian ringgits (Bt4.14 billion) mark in revenue this year.

As Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) prepared to export its vehicles, Ingress was ready to meet increased demand for parts, he said. "We already have that capacity," he said after the company's annual general meeting yesterday.

Overall, Perodua sales make up 40 per cent of Ingress' revenue, followed by Honda at 20 per cent.

On the company's Indonesian operations, Rameli said car sales had dropped 60 per cent in the first five months of 2006 against the same period last year. "We have secured new business in Indonesia but the returns may be delayed for one or two years," he said.

Despite the slowdown in automotive sales, he remains upbeat on the company's prospects as it counts Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Daihatsu as its clients. "Suzuki, for instance, has begun exporting vehicles from Indonesia to Malaysia, and we've increased production of Mitsubishi parts by 10 per cent due to higher demand."

On the oil and gas business, he said the company was focusing on tank-cleaning activities in Indonesia but looking for opportunities for engineering and inspection services in Malaysia.

Ingress will also look at mergers and acquisitions as part of its strategy to grow and is currently in talks with two local parties. An announcement is expected in two months.

On the BMW distributorship, Rameli said the construction of its 4S centre near Mutiara Damansara had been delayed. "We thought it would take nine months, but it will now take 13 to 14 months to complete. It will be up by the end of 2007, although it will not make much difference to our main plans."

On moving to the Indian and Chinese markets, Rameli said Ingress was in talks with two groups in India to sell parts in New Delhi and Bombay. It is also evaluating opportunities to work with a Taiwanese company planning to enter China.

The Star/ANN

SERI KEMBANGAN, Malaysia