Lighting & Equipment sees shining opportunity
Lighting & Equipment (L&E), a light solutions provider and manufacturer, aims to double its revenue from Bt2 billion in 2011 to more than Bt4 billion over the next few years as it penetrates Asean markets, said chief executive officer Pakorn Borimasporn.
“We’re the leader in the Thai lighting industry. Now we believe that we have potential and that no one in this region can [equal] us. So we will use our potential to grow in Southeast Asia,” he said.
Pakorn said the economies of many Asean countries were growing. Demand for lighting equipment in the property sector such as residences, hotels, office buildings, restaurants and shopping malls will increase over the next few years. Environmentally friendly and energy-saving lighting such as light-emitting diodes (LED) will boom as well, resulting in increasing demand for both replacements and new buildings.
L&E’s targets in this region include the markets where it already operates such as Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines, and new ones such as Indonesia.
“Myanmar is interesting for us as the country needs new properties to serve the influx of foreign investment, whereas Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia, and we’ve not entered this market yet,” he said.
In Myanmar, the company is considering whether it should set up a joint venture or do business via sales agents. The company has already touched the market but the scale is quite small.
For Indonesia, L&E is looking for investment opportunities. It also needs to study Indonesian regulations before deciding to invest in that country.
Mergers and acquisitions are another approach that may help the company enter the Indonesian market easily. There are some deals in the offing, but the company has to consider them cautiously.
“The value of the lighting-equipment market in Thailand is about Bt11 billion, with a growth rate of roughly 15 per cent [per year]. Now we’re looking to gain from the region, which has a market size of Bt55 billion to Bt60 billion,” Pakorn said.
He said L&E aimed to boost its revenue to Bt4 billion from Bt2 billion in 2011 after the company penetrates Southeast Asia aggressively. Once the target is achieved, the revenue contributed from overseas is expected to account for 40 per cent, up from 7 per cent currently.
He added that the company would also look for opportunities to set up factories in Asean, depending on good partners and good investment regulations.
Such investments may not come to pass for a few years, but the company will keep its eyes open in this regard.
