This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 16, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd has been granted a licence by US technology and manufacturing company Honeywell International Inc to manufacture high-precision water meter measuring components for the V100 and V110 C-Class volumetric water meters.

George Kent currently imports Honeywell precision measuring components and registers, which are then assembled with the brass housings manufactured by the group.

Under a new agreement, George Kent will now manufacture the measuring components, the brass housings and assemble the parts into complete water meters.

The agreement also includes the transfer of associated machinery and tools.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, George Kent said its wholly-owned subsidiary George Kent International Pte Ltd had entered into a long-term licence agreement with Honeywell for the purpose.

“The licence agreement also allows the group to exclusively sell the products under its GKM trademark and George Kent brand name to 26 territories, including 15 new territories in Asia, allowing further opportunities for growth,” it added.

“This is an important development for George Kent. With this agreement, we can now manufacture the complete meter, including the precision measuring components and assemble the complete meter at our world-class production facility,” its chairman Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock said in a separate statement.

“This will enable us to have better control over our component supply chain to meet increasing demand and reduce production cost.”

The group will continue to sell the products to Elster Group for its sales into other worldwide markets.

George Kent said the agreement is not expected to have a material effect on the group’s earnings for the current financial year ending Jan 31, 2020, but it is expected to contribute positively to the group’s earnings in the years to follow.