AAPICO Forging (AF) has registered capital of Bt500 million and generated revenue of Bt1.08 billion last year.

Yeap said the company had already cleared KPN's debt with financial institutes. It targets to double AF's revenue this year. The company also expects to increase revenue by 20 per cent this year thanks to revenue recognition from AAPICO Forging. It posted revenue of Bt8.01 billion last year, down 3.6 per cent from the previous year.

"We hope that AF will generate revenue for us of around Bt2 billion this year," Yeap said. "Apart from AF, we will try to maintain our revenue at Bt8 billion despite an automotive sales slowdown."

He said that the sales volume of most automotive companies last month declined between 17 per cent to 53 per cent, compared with the same month last year.

Part of its revenue for this year will also come from auto-parts supplies for new automotive projects that will start operations in 2009 and 2010.

"We are scheduled to supply auto-parts such as jigs for Nissan and Isuzu this year," he said "If the government approves an eco-car project, we will certainly make more investment to support auto-parts for our customers here."

AAPICO Hitech invested to establish a new plant in Ayutthaya and started operations last year. The new plant has a production capacity of 14.9 million pieces per year.

He said the plant would not only support the automotive business but also the hard-disk drive industry.

The net profit of the company and its subsidiaries for last year was Bt381 million, a decrease of 46.41 per cent from Bt711 million in 2005.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation