INGRESS Corporation Berhad sees its Indonesian car parts manufacturing plant generating RM15 million annual sales revenue for its financial year ending January 31, 2005.

The plant was originally targeted to operate last June but was delayed due to changes made by its Japanese clients.

Executive vice-chairman Rameli Musa said the plant will start mass production of components for Mitsubishi from the end of this year, followed by those for Suzuki within the first half of next year.

"We expect the facility here to contribute around 10 per cent to the group's total revenue," Rameli told reporters after Ingress Corporation's annual general meeting (AGM) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Ingress has invested more than RM25 million in its Indonesian facility.

The company's net profit for the financial year ended January 31, 2003 fell by 22 per cent to RM20.44 million from RM26.17 million before.

This was achieved on a slight 1.6 per cent revenue decline to RM171.65 million from RM174.58 million.

For the first quarter ended April 30, 2003, Ingress' net profit decreased to RM2.94 million from RM5.06 million recorded in the previous corresponding period on the back of a 17.9 per cent revenue drop to RM33.41 million.

The group attributed the less-favourable performance mostly to the slowdown in the domestic motor vehicle industry for the year under review.

Despite the less-impressive start for the year, Rameli is optimistic that the company is able to maintain the same profit level as before.

The group's saving grace will likely come from the sales growth of its Thai car parts manufacturing operations in the second half of the year.

He said the Thai market grew stronger than the domestic market, which has been affected by the lower sales of Proton and Perodua in the first quarter.

"We saw our sales in Thailand growing by about 10 per cent in the second quarter which could indicate a strong growth potential for the company in the car market there," he added.

Ingress had spent RM35 million on its Thai facility last year and had allocated another RM15 million this year for machinery and upgrades to cope with the escalating demand.

The facility, which supplies parts and components to Honda, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Ford and Mazda, currently contributes around 30 per cent to the group's sales revenue.

Rameli also said that the group expects to see significant contribution growth from its overseas operations.