IRCP aims for Bt10 BN revenue on mergers

The plan is aimed at boosting revenue from private-sector clients. The firm, which currently deals mostly with public-sector customers, targets revenue of Bt10 billion for the period from 2012 to 2017.
Kungval Kusoltammaratana, chief executive officer of IRCP, said that after three years of tackling structural problems and reversing a Bt77-million accumulated loss in 2008, the company had made a turnaround, reporting accumulated profit of Bt23.30 million in the first quarter of 2011. It recorded net profit of Bt32.06 million at the end of last year.
The company now is in a position to bid on telecommunications-network installation projects.
IRCP expects mergers and acquisitions to play a vital role in growing its business. The company is in negotiations with two or three non-listed partners with annual revenues ranging from Bt100 million to Bt200 |million.
Negotiations are progressing well with two companies and are expected to wrap up late this year.
Both operate similar businesses, but their expertise lies in their dealings with private-sector customers, which could add to IRCP’s customer base, Kungval said. Mergers are an indirect and fast way to grow that add to the firm’s know-how while reducing competitors.

INCOME DIVERSIFICATION
If the merger is finalised as planned, IRCP will be able to diversify its income, as its private-sector customers will increase to 30 per cent of total customers from 20 per cent starting next year.
“We believe the company has the ability to achieve the targeted revenue as we have several big suppliers as business partners, which could allow us opportunities to expand overseas to places such as Laos and Burma.
“If the 3G [third-generation cellular] system is opened up, the company will have a chance to earn more projects. The public and private sectors are expected to speed up the adoption of new technologies,” Kungval said.
The Asean Economic Community, which will be implemented in 2015, will also give IRCP opportunities to provide information and communications technology at the regional level because of companies’ need to standardise their IT systems to cope with the increased competition, he said.
From this year, IRCP has to be well equipped in terms of both staff and capital for future expansion, Kungval said. Its debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) has remained at 1.28 times, lower than the industry average of about 2 times, and that gives the company room for more borrowing to fund project bids.
In 2012, IRCP projects its revenue will increase 20 per cent from last year on anticipation of growing demand for replacement products after last year’s floods.
Its revenue was Bt1.23 billion in 2011.
Both the public and private sectors are keen to implement solutions to help them recover from the floods. Demand for cloud-based software and data-sharing systems is also growing, Kungval said.