Intracom eyes a bigger role in the Balkans and China
Intracom, the telecommunications equipment manufacturer and IT company, expects to sign deals and orders to the tune of 500 million euros by the end of the year, of which 200 million euros will relate to exports. Socratis Kokkalis, chief executive, told shareholders at yesterday’s annual meeting that the order book up to May 15 was valued at 200 million euros, with 135 million euros alone coming from exports. He said the company is presently negotiating with a major Turkish telecommunications firm and expects to announce a deal next month. In addition to Turkey, Intracom also aims to venture into Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, the Czech Republic and China. Kokkalis said the company is close to finalizing deals in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Earlier this month, Intracom acquired a 41-percent stake in Siemens Tele Industrie, the information and communication network of Siemens. Siemens holds an equal stake, while National Bank owns an 18-percent share. The joint venture will eventually be floated on the Athens Stock Exchange. Kokkalis said Intracom plans to increase the share of defense revenues to group sales. Earlier this week, it signed a pact with Raytheon Missile Systems to produce electronic systems for Maverisk missiles. Group sales this year are projected to rise by 4 percent to 1 billion euros and pretax profits by 6 percent to 169 million euros.
