The Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest industrial conglomerate, reported an 18% fall of net profit year-on-year in the second quarter of the year on surging oil prices and production costs, president and chief executive Kan Trakulhoon said yesterday.
Livestock operators say banks' reluctance to lend money to them in the slow economy is complicating their efforts to stay afloat amid high feed prices fuelled by energy costs.
PROPERTY
Phuket's property development boom is expanding to four small nearby islands with total project investments of around 20 billion baht, says Risinee Sarikaputra, head of research at property consultant Colliers International Thailand.
PETROCHEMICALS
PTT Chemical (PTTCH), Asean's leading petrochemical producer, has acquired a 50% stake in the world's largest producer of oleochemicals in a deal worth 104 million. The wholly owned subsidiary PTT Chemical International Private entered into the share purchase agreement with Cognis BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of the German-based chemical company that was the former shareholder of Cognis Oleochemicals.
Mergers and acquisitions should become easier under new securities regulations aimed at better protecting companies submitting tender offers.
INVESTING
Property and commodity funds represent good investment options in a high inflation environment, according to Adisorn Sermchaiwong, an executive vice-president of Siam Commercial Bank.
LENDING
Credit ratings for Thai retail borrowers are expected to remain relatively high, despite slowing economic growth and weak consumer and business confidence, according to the National Credit Bureau (NCB).
INVESTMENT
The Board of Investment (BoI) is maintaining its full-year target of 600 billion baht worth of investment applications despite falling short of its first-half goal.
ENERGY
PTT Plc, the majority state-owned oil and gas company, has affirmed it did import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), countering activists' claims that its import reports were a hoax.
Southeast and East Asian nations will discuss the possibility of regional energy facilities in order to secure resources at the Asean Energy Forum next month. Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop said the issue would be raised at the Asean energy ministers' meeting in Bangkok from Aug 4-8, as one way to tackle high energy prices.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Financing details for four new Bangkok mass-transit routes should be finalised within the next two months, Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said yesterday.
Risk premiums for the Thai market are at their highest levels in a year, as global investors continue to reshuffle their portfolio holdings in light of external and domestic factors, according to local analysts.
BANKING
Thai banks could suffer slowing growth and deteriorating asset quality in the second half of the year due to a weakening economic outlook and falling consumer and business sentiment, according to the credit agency Fitch Ratings.
BANKING
Tisco Bank expects that its capital funds will increase by two to four percentage points under the new Basel II framework. Oranuch Apisaksirikul, the bank's chief financial officer, said the adoption of Basel II would help raise the bank's capital base without the need to issue new equity or subordinated debt.
The Charoen Pokphand Group has added a new business group, the feed ingredients trading business, to its stable of 10 business groups as a way to cope with the skyrocketing prices of raw materials for animal feeds.
MANAGEMENT
There is no denying that some Thai companies that rely on the domestic market have suffered over the last three years in the sluggish economy. One solution is to look overseas and they could start by sending their mid-level managers to promising markets, says Anthony Ainsworth, the head of RGC Executive Search.
TOURISM
The government intends to announce both tax and non-tax measures to stimulate the tourism industry following the completion of a study on the next two months, according to Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee.
STATE ENTERPRISES
State enterprises will be requited to set up public service account (PSA) programmes by the 2010 fiscal year, says Sathit Limpongpan, the deputy permanent secretary of the Finance Ministry. The PSA system is aimed at improving the transparency of public accounts by separating out profits and losses incurred from operations dictated by state policies with normal operations.
Absolute Group, the owner and operator of Absolute Yoga centres, has opened a 250-million-baht wellness resort on Koh Samui. Inaugurated yesterday, the 38-room Absolute Sanctuary provides detoxification programmes, yoga classes, vegetarian foods and medical spa.
TECHNOLOGY
True Move, the country's third largest mobile operator, is introducing a series of mobile internet convergence packages by integrating fixed-broadband WiFi to go on mobile phones on top of existing Edge and General Packet Radio Access (GPRS) systems. Touted as the first of their kind in Thailand, the packages come with three tariff plans. True Move prepaid and postpaid customers can have unlimited internet access through WiFi, Edge and GPRS nationwide at 20 baht a day or 450 baht a month, or they can choose Edge and GPRS services for 10 baht a day or 250 baht a month, or postpaid subscribers can choose unlimited calls and online services for 299 baht per month.
TECHNOLOGY
CAT Telecom intends to introduce third-generation (3G) services on its CDMA mobile network installed by Huawei Technologies in 51 provinces by the end of this year in order to keep pace with market leader Advanced Info Service.
TECHNOLOGY
Sixty-nine percent of urban Thais have access to the internet and spend an average of 21 hours a week online, according to the market research firm Synovate.
RETAILING
The Mall Group is exploring sales opportunities by hiring the Olympic hero Somluck Kamsing as its presenter for a new campaign to lure customers to spend on sporting goods during the 2008 Olympics, which will take place in China next month. Saritpong Rattanapot, senior chief merchandising officer of SportsMall, a unit of The Mall Group, said it would spend 30 million baht, almost half of the total marketing budget for the sports business unit, on its Olympic 2008 campaign from July 30 to Aug 27.
APPAREL
Domon, which used to be a must-have youth fashion brand three decades ago, is moving to revive its image and sales.
IN Brief
PROPERTY : Sansiri Plc has stocked 9,800 tonnes of steel worth 354 million baht, partly to fix its construction costs in line with its projections and to ensure that it can deliver units as promised to customers.
IN Brief
COMMODITIES : The price of Thai 100% B grade white rice rose 2.7% yesterday from last week, and could rise further after Vietnam announced plans to impose an export tax on rice, Thai exporters said.
