The Inquisitor
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Proton to Start Building Cars in EgyptMalaysia's Proton says studying Egypt car assembly
reuters article
| Quote: | LANGKAWI, Malaysia (Reuters) - Malaysian state carmaker Proton Holdings is studying plans to assemble cars in Egypt to help expand export sales, managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said on Monday.
"So from Egypt -- we plan to use that as a base to enter the African continent and the Middle East," he said.
Asked when a decision was expected, he said, "early next year."
Proton, which faces a shrinking market share in an increasingly competitive domestic market, expects to return to profit this financial year helped by the launch of a new model, Syed Zainal was quoted as saying by state media last month.
Proton badly needs a tieup with a global carmaker to boost its sales and turn itself around, and state investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which owns 43 percent of Proton, is in advanced talks with German carmaker Volkswagen and U.S. auto giant General Motors to sell some of its stake in the company.
Proton lost 591 million ringgit in its fiscal year ending March 31, compared with a 47 million ringgit profit the previous year. The state-controlled firm has yet to report financial results for its first quarter to June 30.
Proton's shares were down 0.9 percent at 5.50 ringgit at 0358 GMT. |
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