Osotspa Plc, the country's leading consumer product manufacturing conglomerate, is ramping up its business strategy to cope with the anticipated recovery of the domestic market in the second half of the year.
Chidapa Amralikit, head of the company's corporate strategy and finance & accounting, said that Osotspa had seen improved sales sentiment since late last month.
"In the second half of this year, we are ramping up innovative product development to serve consumer lifestyles, an ageing population, and adding more health and wellbeing products. Digital network and data analytics will be used for better and faster decision-making," she said.
In addition, according to Ms Chidapa, the company is looking for partners that would be a good strategic fit, to grow together and provide Osotspa with cost efficiencies and new capabilities, particularly in the digital space.
With the Covid-19 pandemic expected to continue, the company will also focus more on launching new products from core brands such as the M-150 energy drink and C-Vitt vitamin drink.
Osotspa has recently been appointed as the distributor of Yanhee Vitamin B water by Yanhee Hospital Group.
The company plans to work with Yanhee Hospital Group to co-develop and bring other products to the market.
According to Ms Chidapa, Osotspa has studied the potential of cannabis and hemp beverages and personal care products since 2019. The company is closely monitoring related regulations and the market readiness for such products, which it expects to launch next year.
In addition to growing its drinks range domestically, the company has also targeted Myanmar, as part of its bid to raise its international business to double-digit growth this year.
"There is still market potential in Myanmar despite reports of high Covid-19 infections and political unrest. This is because we have a strong brand, a local factory and a local team over there,'' Ms Chidapa said.
The company aims to spend 2-2.5 billion baht in its investments this year. Most of the budget will be used to repair the cold tank at its glass factory in Ayutthaya, and invest in digital facilities.
Osotspa said its sales revenue increased by 17% to 6.91 billion baht in the second quarter of this year, with a net profit of 820 million baht, up 1.9% over the same period last year. Of the total revenue, 4.71 billion baht was from an energy drink and functional drink in the domestic market, 440 million baht from personal care, 493 million baht from others including original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business, healthcare and confectionery, and the remaining 1.27 billion baht came from international business.
In the first half of this year, the company's revenue from sales totalled 13.68 billion baht, an increase of 8.7% from the same period the previous year, with net profit up 5.4% to 1.82 billion baht.
"Strong growth was driven by domestic beverages and the international market,'' Ms Chidapa said.