INTER-ROLLER Engineering yesterday announced that it had bagged four contracts worth a total of $103 million. The company, which specialises in airport and industrial logistics systems, has secured two projects each in the Middle East and Asia to design and build airport baggage handling systems.

Inter-Roller's success hardly comes as a surprise. Analysts had forecast that it would bag more projects.

Meanwhile, the company's chief executive officer, Lim Yee Min, said that air travel demand would continue to grow, as air tickets are getting cheaper.

'Now, everyone travels on planes like they're taking the bus,' Mr Lim said. 'With increasing air traffic, governments need to expand and build new airports, so they hire us to upgrade or build their systems.'

One of the four newly secured projects is a baggage handling system for Dubai Airport, which was previously estimated to be worth $90 million. Inter-Roller declared that there was a reduction in value as the scope of its works had been narrowed.

And having previously done 12 projects for various Chinese airports, the fact that one of the four projects is for China is unsurprising. The company attributes its success in clinching it to its track record, and its design and competitive price.

The company said that the major portions of the projects are expected to be completed by 2006. It also expects the completed portions to contribute to the turnover and profits of the group starting from the current financial year.

In the stock market yesterday, the counter closed six cents higher at $1.12.

《The Business Times》