Honeywell CEO sees steady growth in Asia

By Scott Malone

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Honeywell International Inc (HON.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) expects to see its strongest revenue growth this year in India, China and the Middle East, but takes a more conservative view on the United States and Europe, the diversified U.S. manufacturer's top executive said on Tuesday.

"This is as economically murky a time to predict as I've ever seen," said Dave Cote, chairman and chief executive of the world's largest maker of cockpit electronics.

"What we try to do is say, 'Let's plan both the U.S. and Europe on the conservative side, and let's assume when it comes to India, China and the Middle East that that continues to do as well as it has in the past because there's enough momentum," Cote told the Reuters Manufacturing Summit in Chicago in a telephone interview.

He said Honeywell, which also makes automation systems for large buildings and automotive turbochargers, is looking for indications of the slowing U.S. economy weighing on its emerging market operations but so far has not seen any signs.

"If you're in India, there's talk about what will be the impact of the U.S. there. If you're in China, there's some talk about inflation, bank tightening and what can happen there," Cote said. "The Middle East just keeps spending, but so far even though there is talk and concerns, it doesn't really show up in any of the metrics."

He said the company, which last year generated about half its $34.6 billion in revenue outside the United States, expects to continue to grow its foreign sales as a proportion of the corporate total.

"When you figure that two-thirds of the world's economy is outside the United States and we're at 50 percent, that says that there's room for us to grow," he said.

BACK ON THE DEAL TRAIL

Cote also said that Honeywell would be likely to make a few acquisitions in 2008 after largely stepping back from deal-making last year, with individual deals to come in at "under a billion dollars."

He also voiced support for the Morris Township, New Jersey-based company's automotive consumer products group, which sells spark plugs and Prestone anti-freeze. While the unit's growth has slowed in the face of a weak economy, Cote said, "Just because things get tough doesn't mean you bail."

Honeywell shares were up 94 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $58.85 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The shares, which Dow Jones dropped from its benchmark industrial average .DJI earlier this month, trade at about 15.4 times forecast earnings, a premium to the forward price-to-earnings ratio of 14.4 for the Standard & Poor's Capital Goods Industry Index .GSPIC.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, editing by Phil Berlowitz)

(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)

(For more on the Reuters Manufacturing Summit see ID:nN25228243