CONSTRUCTION giant IJM Corp Bhd
is still very bullish on operating in India despite the recent volatility in the Indian stock market resulting from the jostling among parties for the Prime Minister's job.
IJM chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Krishnan Tan sees overseas operations, especially construction work in India, contributing more to the group's revenue in the near future.
Currently, construction activities in India, worth RM200mil, contribute to less that 20% of the group's total overseas revenue
“Most of our current projects in India are at the tail-end, but we will continue bidding for new ones in India and in emerging markets,” he told reporters after IJM's AGM and EGM in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Earlier in the year, Tan said, IJM was targeting to derive 30% of the group's revenue from overseas activities.
“We didn't quite achieve the target last year but it can be done,” he said, adding that the group had on-going construction projects in Vietnam and had started bidding for construction projects in the Middle East, particularly in Dubai and Qatar.
“It's still early days as far as securing quality projects in the Middle East goes, but IJM is confident the growth potential for infrastructure projects and residential property development in the region is good,” he said.
On the trend among local construction companies to consolidate, Tan said this was inevitable as there were fewer big projects available locally this year.
“For a big construction company like IJM, it will be difficult to control operational costs if we do not secure projects overseas,” he said, adding that the group had managed to increase its order book for local projects this year while expanding overseas.
Only 4 months into the year, IJM can already boast of having added RM1.4bil worth of new contracts to its order book.
IJM : [News] [Stock Watch]
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