PETALING JAYA: Perusahaan Otornobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) has not seen any disruption in supplies from auto parts manufacturer Ingress Corp Bhd.

"ingress has so far met all our demands and requirements and it has not indicated that there will be any disruption in supply on its side," Perodua managing director Datuk Syed Hafiz Syed Abu Bakar told StarBiz in an e-mail.

Ingress, a prominent parts supplier to Proton and Perodua, told Bursa Malaysia on Friday that it had missed a payment on its RIMI60mil Islamic bond.

This had created doubt about the company's financial position and the potential impact on its customers. However, it yesterday posted another statement following a query from Bursa Malaysia on its earlier announcement.

"We wish to clarify that Ingress' inability to make the required deposit of 50% of the Sukuk first principal repayment of RM50mil by April 9 relates to Ingress' failure to observe or perform its obligations under Clause 5.1(c) of the ljarah Agreement.

"Such failure does not tantamount to Ingress' failure to pay any amount due front it (i.e. default in payment) which requires full details of information/disclosure as required under Item 3.1 of Practice No 1/2001," the company told Bursa Malaysia.

It said the due date for the first principal repayment of RM50mil was July on 9.
Syed Hafiz said there would be a big impact on Perodua if supply from Ingress was disrupted but said it had more than one auto parts supplier.

He, however, added that Perodua had various auto parts vendors as a safeguard should any one of its suppliers fail to deliver or goes out of business.

"This will ensure that we have a pool of vendors to choose from in the event of a failure to deliver by any of our suppliers," Syed Hafiz said.

Apart from its core business of car component manufacturing, Ingress is also engaged in power engineering and railway (PER).

For its fourth quarter ended Jan 31, 2009, Ingress posted a net loss of RM49.65mil on revenue of RMI 5 1. 1 2mil compared with a net loss of RM5.55mil on revenue of RMI 07.97mil in the previous corresponding period.

The company announced last Friday that it had hired PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services to review its finances and advise it on a financial restructuring.

A local analyst that covers the stock said Ingress should "ditch" its PER business to achieve profitability.

"Because it is not its main business, it lacks the expertise and need to invest a lot of time and money to be efficient," She said, adding that Ingress also lacked economies of scale for its PER division.

Malaysia Rating Corp Bhd (MARC)also announced last week on its website that it had lowered its rating on lngress Sukuk. Bhd's (ISB) RM160mil Sukuk Al -Ijarah to BB-IS from BBB-IS.

ISB is a wholly-owned funding vehicle of Ingress.

'The rating downgrade reflects increase likelihood of payment default with respect to the upcoming Sukuk'. redemption on July9, 2009," MARL said on its website.