B Grimm banks on energy projects

The company, established locally in 1878 originally as a pharmaceutical business, will focus its attention on energy business, raising the current contribution from 50 per cent of turnover to about two-thirds in 2018, he said.
“We plan a surge in our revenues from the Bt19 billion expected for this year to about Bt60 billion in 2018, when we celebrate our 140th anniversary in Thailand,” said Link. “We also expect our revenues to reach Bt150 billion when we celebrate our 150th anniversary.”
B Grimm, one of the oldest corporate entities in Thailand, is a multi-business corporation active in the fields of energy, cooling, healthcare, lifestyle, transport and real estate. Throughout its history, the company has constantly been at the forefront of technological and infrastructure development with innovative ideas and products.
Link said that the energy business now contributed about 50 per cent of B Grimm’s revenues, while another 15 per cent each comes from air-conditioning and healthcare business.
“We expect energy business to share two-thirds of our revenues by 2018,” he said.
B Grimm yesterday celebrated |the 50th anniversary of its partnership in Thailand with Carrier, the world’s leader in high-tech heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions.
The partnership began in 1962 when B Grimm was appointed the distributor for Carrier air-conditioning equipment in the Kingdom. In 1984, the relationship evolved into a joint venture that formed Carrier Thailand.
Carrier is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of US giant United Technologies Corp.
“The 50th anniversary is a significant milestone for both Carrier and B Grimm,” said Ross Shuster, president of UTC Climate, Controls & Security – Asia. “Our strong and successful partnership has allowed us to effectively respond to market trends and customer needs and has been beneficial to the company, our customers and our communities in Thailand.
Link said the company’s B Grimm Air Conditioning joint venture was investing Bt50 million in capacity expansion of its commercial air-conditioning facility in Bangkok’s Nong Chok district.
Shuster said UTC achieved US$58 billion (Bt1.8 trillion) of global revenue last year, of which about $19 billion was from Carrier and fire and security businesses. About 15 per cent of Carrier and fire and security business is from Asia.
“Asia is a diverse market with high-growth countries, including China, India, Thailand and Vietnam. We see the growth in Asia being driven in the long term by urbanisation and increased consumer focus away from low cost to the efficiency of products,” Shuster said.
He added that Carrier, which holds a 40-per-cent stake in a global joint venture with Toshiba, had just expanded the air-conditioning facility at Bangkadi Industrial Park in Pathum Thani to increase production capacity and manufacture the company’s new air-conditioning products, which will come on to the market by next February. Carrier will also expand its manufacturing footprints in Asia, particularly in Thailand, China and India, said the UTC Climate, Controls & Security executive.