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Thai Delta Electronics puts acquisition plans on hold

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai electronic part maker Delta Electronics Thailand Pcl said on Wednesday it has put acquisition plans on hold to concentrate on expansion existing operations in high-growth markets in India and Slovakia.

The Thai firm, a unit of Taiwan's Delta Group, had been on the lookout for opportunities to buy assets overseas as part of a dive to diversify away from traditional power supply products towards telecoms, automobile and energy businesses.

Director Anusorn Muttaraid told reporters Delta planned to invest about 500 million-600 million baht ($14 million-17 million) this year to buy land and build a new plant at Chennai, India, and up to 10 million baht to buy machinery for its second plant in Slovakia.

Delta planned to spend another 800 million baht on research and development this year, he said, more than the 500 million baht it usually spends on R&D each year, as it aimed to create new high-margins products such as energy-saving escalators and elevators.

Earlier this week, Delta reported a 20 percent fall in first-quarter net profit, with sales in baht terms rising 2 percent.

Anusorn said the company was still targeting 2016 sales growth target of 10 percent, expecting sales to improve in second and third quarters.

(Reporting by Manunphattr Dhanananphorn; Writing by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)