PTT Oil and Retail Business Plc (OR) will allocate over 60.4 billion baht for new investment, with the aim of maintaining its status as a leading oil retailer, supporting non-oil businesses and embarking on more investment overseas.
The budget will be spent between 2025 and 2029 under the "Empowering All Towards Inclusive Growth" vision, said newly-appointed chief executive ML Peekthong Thongyai.
OR reported its investment plan to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday. The move came after the company announced it would sell stakes in some businesses, including restaurants, to reduce losses caused by underperforming operations, as well as revisit enterprises that have a dim outlook.
Under the five-year investment budget, more than half of the money, amounting to 31.8 billion baht, will be allocated to OR's mobility business.
OR earlier announced it plans to increase its investment in the battery charging business through its EV Station PluZ plan. The company expects to have 600 electric vehicle charging outlets nationwide this year, up from 400 outlets as of July 2023. The longer-term aim is to raise the number of outlets to 7,000 by 2030.
This will be carried out in tandem with further strengthening of the company's oil ecosystem business by expanding its service station network, said ML Peekthong.
The remaining portion of the budget will be spent on the company's lifestyle business (15.5 billion baht), overseas investment (10.8 billion baht) and innovations and new businesses (2.1 billion baht).
ML Peekthong said the company will focus on an asset-light growth strategy while expanding overseas businesses.
Under the strategy, it will limit or reduce investment in physical assets but depend more on outsourcing and forming strategic partnerships.
Instead of building production facilities abroad, the company will hire local original equipment manufacturers to produce goods for it, said ML Peekthong.
"We are also looking for new exponential growth of businesses to support the current business to create sustainable growth," he said.
In the non-oil businesses, OR will continue to focus on strengthening its Café Amazon business throughout the value chain and seek new investment opportunities to create growth in both food and beverages.
