Voltas to widen focus from Middle East to SE Asia

Engineering projects and airconditioning firm Voltas' current order book will take care of revenues for FY12, and it is now widening its focus from the Middle East to geographies like South East Asia, a senior executive said.

"We have almost fully covered for FY12...So whatever orders that you are talking about, that is primarily for FY13." The firm's order book as of December 31 was at Rs 47 billion, of which 31 billion came mostly from Middle East and Rs 16 billion from India, MM Miyajiwala, chief financial officer, told Reuters late on Tuesday over the telephone. "You have the window up to Sept-Oct of current year. If you book something in Oct then your revenue will start kicking in FY13." The Tata group firm has been for some time going slow on bids for Middle East projects due to a squeeze in profit margins owing to heightened competition, he had told Reuters in September. "All the people who are operating in Dubai...are competing in the other markets and they are willing to cut the prices so that even if their fixed costs can be met, it is enough for them," he said, with regard its go-slow approach to the Middle East. "I think that is the kind of situation for not getting orders etc, rather than any political or social issues," in the region he added. Many Indian engineering project and construction firms have exposure to Middle East and North African markets that are currently seeing political turmoil and social unrest and investors are keeping a close watch on projects from the region. "Our major concentration is in UAE and Qatar at this point of time...we don't really have a exposure in any country which has trouble right now or potentially could have trouble going forward," Miyajiwala said. "We have increased our geographical spread, so that for future instead of depending on these two countries we have started looking at other countries...in same region and in south east Asia."