Business

Saturday June 27, 2009

Aveva positive on growth despite economic uncertainties

By LEONG HUNG YEE


KUALA LUMPUR: Aveva Sdn Bhd, which is part of Aveva Group plc, expects a “reasonable growth” this year despite the economic uncertainties.

Asia Pacific vice-president and regional manager Rozita Mohd Nor said its business was slow at the beginning of the year but it has started to picked up again.

Rozita Mohd Nor ... Last year was a great year for the group

“We’re quite positive on our growth. Many of our long-standing customers are coming to renew their contracts. We will also be pushing the sales of our new product, Aveva Net,” she told StarBizWeek in Kuala Lumpur.

Apart from Malaysia, Rozita is also in charge of Indonesia and Brunei. She said the company had experienced good growth in Malaysia, without giving financial details of its operation.

However, Aveva Group’s revenue increased by 29% to £164mil (RM954.6mil) for the year ended March 31, 2009 (FY09) while net profit rose 23% to £42.1mil (RM244.9mil) compared with £127.5mil (RM741.6mil) and £34.2mil (RM251.2mil) respectively in FY08, she says.

“Last year (FY09) was a great year for the group. We’ve achieved record revenue and profits. Asia Pacific was the main contributor, contributing £67.1mil (RM390.2mil) to the group’s topline,” she said.

Aveva is a leading British supplier of engineering information technology systems for power plant, oil and gas and marine industries.

The company will continue to focus on providing services and solutions for the power and oil and gas sectors, Rozita said, adding that although it provides solutions for the marine industry, the bulk of its sales are still from the power and oil and gas sectors.

“Our marine industry is not as successful as our neighbouring countries. There’s still a lot to catch up.”

Aveva’s clients include Petronas Carigali, MMC Corp Bhd, Kencana Petroleum Bhd and KNM Group Bhd.

To a question, Rozita said the company also plans to expand its power plant business. “We are very successful in the power sector in China. Hopefully we can emulate the success to other nations and Malaysia,” she said, adding that it provides solutions to KNM to build its biodiesel plant in Kuantan.

Rozita said the company hopes to be more visible with its success and capabilities as its parent company is well known in Europe.

“We conduct a lot of activities – live demonstrations to our customers, organise user group seminars, roadshows and also advertise with trade publications,” she said, adding that the company constantly updates its customers on the availability of new solutions.

“Our solutions are value for money. Our products can help clients reduce time and are very cost effective,” Rozita said when asked if its products are expensive given its speciality in the industry.

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