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Commerce officials to seek closer rice trade cooperation with Vietnam
Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom will lead a team of officials to Vietnam next month in search of closer intergovernmental cooperation in rice trading in order to promote higher prices.
As Thailand and Vietnam are the world’s leading rice-exporting nations, Boonsong said the countries should strengthen cooperation on trading so as to increase their bargaining power.
The cooperation is aimed at solving the practice of price-cutting and promoting better incomes for farmers, he added. – The Nation
Kingdom ranks 2nd in Kuoni top destinations
Maldives has again topped Kuoni’s annual poll of where British customers want to spend their holidays, having held on to the top slot since 2005. Thailand ranks second in the poll for 2012 travel, ahead of Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Kuoni predicts South Africa will witness huge growth over the next 12 months, helped by the exposure from the soccer World Cup in 2010 and the weakened currency against sterling.
The only mid-haul destination in the 2012 top-10 selling destinations is the United Arab Emirates, mostly because of the popularity of Dubai holidays. – The Nation
Payless shoes stores set to open in Thailand
Collective Brands, a US retailer that said in August it was reviewing strategic options, will open its first Payless shoe stores in Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea this year.
The company plans to open 16 outlets through franchise agreements in the three countries, said LuAnn Via, who heads the Payless division.
“We are very interested in Korea; we think that our brand will resonate very well there,” Via said. “We perform extremely well” in developing countries, she added.
Collective Brands said last year that it was studying alternatives in order to boost the price of its stock.
Payless, with about 4,500 stores in 34 countries, opened its first franchised unit in 2009 in Kuwait. It now has 140 franchised locations and expects to increase the number to about 700 by 2014. – Bloomberg
Major investors up stakes in BTS
Foreign investors and major shareholders of BTS Group Holdings, operator of the Bangkok Skytrain, have gradually accumulated a number of BTS shares to receive higher-than-expected dividends.
According to Stock Exchange of Thailand data as of January 31, major shareholder Keeree Kanjanapas has increased his holding to 22 billion shares (38.89 per cent) from 21.5 billion shares, while Goldman Sachs’s shareholding has risen by 500 million shares to 2.81 billion and Bangkok Bank has upped its stake by 500 million shares to 2.29 billion.
A local analyst said the stake increases in BTS had likely been made to reap the estimated interim dividend of 20 satang per share, which is higher than expected.
The key driver behind BTS’s results should be the return of passengers after the severe floods last year, said the analyst. – The Nation
DTAC capex could hit Bt9 billion this year
Total Access Communication has set this year’s capital expenditure in the range of B8 billion to Bt9 billion, according to a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.
It also expects revenue growth to come in at a high single-digit number, with the main growth drivers remaining increasing the number of subscribers and expanding data services.
DTAC’s net profit last year stood at Bt11.8 billion, 8.5 per cent higher than in 2010. – The Nation
