SHAH ALAM: DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd (Deftech), the wholly-owned subsidiary of DRB-HICOM Bhd, is aiming to realign CTRM Aviation Sdn Bhd back on track this year through a series of capital injection.
Deftech chief executive officer Datuk Amril Samsudin said through the new business plan of up to five years, CTRM Aviation was well-positioned to return to profitability.
CTRM Aviation is a subsidiary of Composites Technology Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd (CTRM), which in turn is a subsidiary of Deftech. CTRM Aviation was formerly known as Eagle Aircraft Malaysia, which started operations as a light aircraft manufacturer in the early 1990s.
Amril said the capital injection would be used for infrastructure such as systems and facilities, and recruitment of competent and professionally-trained staff.
However, he declined to reveal the amount of investment and whether it would be from Deftech or DRB-HICOM.
“We are trying hard to turn CTRM Aviation around and I believe we can do that by this year. If we do not see a profit, we will try to break even,” he told Business Times in an interview recently.
Amril said CTRM Aviation had managed to reduce losses and was set to recover progressively and keep the momentum going.
He attributed the improvement in operations to enhanced efficiency coupled with on-time delivery of services.
On the company’s focus, Amril said CTRM Aviation’s main investment activities was developing its engineering and composite repair capabilities.
“Over the years, we have continually upgraded ourselves with cutting-edge technology to keep pace with the latest composite repair approaches and that enabled us to be aligned with the industry’s best practices.”
The contribution made by these investment activities could be seen through the expansion of its customer base throughout the years, which also contributed significantly to the profit and revenue, he added.
Amril said CTRM Aviation’s revenue was generated from three main segments, namely contracts with the police’s Pasukan Gerakan Udara and Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), and composite repair works for commercial airlines.
“We expect the three segments to contribute almost equally in terms of revenue. We are also seeing increased revenue contribution from our airlines segment as growth in domestic and regional passenger traffic is on the uptrend,” he said.
CTRM Aviation has contracts with the Defence Ministry for composite repair and composite engineering capability for aerospace and non-aerospace assets belonging to RMAF.
It also has a contract with the Home Affairs Ministry for maintenance, repair and overhaul and parts supply of the police air wing’s Cessna and Beechcraft fleets.
“Both contracts have a combined value of RM36 million,” said Amril.