INDIAN SOFTWARE COMPANY TO STRENGTHEN OPS IN MALAYSIA

PETALING JAYA (Malaysia), Nov 21 (Bernama) -- Indian business software company, Focus Software Ltd, is to invest RM30 million over the next three years to strengthen its operations in Malaysia and for forays into other Asean countries and the Far East,said its chairman, Hasnain Ali Khan Friday.

He said the company is expected to increase revenue contribution to the
group from Malaysia and Singapore to over RM20 million in the next three years
from only RM4.5 million currently, by entering new markets such as lndonesia,
Vietnam, Thailand and Hong Kong.

Focus Software posted revenue of RM40 million last year, he said, adding
that the Middle East contributed about RM25 million while RM4.5 million came
from Malaysia and Singapore and the remainder from India.

"Malaysia and the regional business software market is valued at RM300
million annually and this is expected to almost double within the next four
years.

"We are confident that our products will see an increasing share with a 30
percent growth over the same period," he told reporters after launching the
company's latest product, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software
here.

Meanwhile, he said the company was in negotiations with partners in
Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong to market the new product.

He said Focus Software planned to increase its local skilled workforce to
100, from the present 20, within three years.

To date, the company has 21 offices in 13 countries.

He said the company which is making a RM200 million initial public offering
(IPO)on the Mumbai Stock Exchange, will be listed in July next year.

"Despite the current financial crisis, our business is not affected and we
believe the market will settle down within nine months," he said. (US$1=RM3.62)