Ticon earmarks Bt12 bn to buy land for rental factories, warehouses

Managing director Varapan Pulges said that during the first half, the company and its subsidiary Ticon Logistics Park (TPARK) spent Bt6 billion to purchase a total of 1,200 rai (192 hectares) in the Eastern industrial area and the border provinces in the Northeastern region. 

Recently Ticon bought 226 rai in Amata City and Amata Nakorn industrial estates. At the beginning of this year TPARK also acquired more than 200 rai in Khon Kaen province and in July purchased 180 rai in the Bangkok Free Trade Zone (BFTZ), which will be developed into “TPARK Bangplee 2” after the success of TPARK Bangplee 1. As a result, TPARK has become the warehouse and logistics-park developer with the greatest amount of ready-for-use land in the strategic Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan province where demand for ready-built warehouses is increasing rapidly.

At present, Ticon group has a total 7,268 rai of ready-for-use land, both developed and under development. Within this total land area, 36 per cent is under Ticon management and 64 per cent under TPARK.

Ticon has total space of 990,990 square metres of factory space for rent in 15 projects, while TPARK has total space of 705,556sqm of warehouses for rent in 27 projects in major strategic locations of the country. 

In the second half of the year Ticon group will proceed with its intention to buy more land in strategic locations. The company aims to increase its land bank to a total of 7,500 rai by the end of 2013. “This will enable the company consistently to meet demands for both factories and warehouses for rent and at the same time confirms the readiness of Ticon group to cope with the demand from the industrial sectors which will continue to expand steadily in the future,” Varapan said.

 

First-half performance 

The company announced that first-half performance was on target. Net profit as at June 30 was Bt421 million, an increase of 32 per cent compared with the same period of last year. 

Most revenue came from factory and warehouse rental, totalling Bt558 million. Of this amount, 55 per cent came from Ticon’s factories and the rest from TPARK’s ready-built rental warehouses. 

The company also has other revenue from investment in the Ticon Property Fund (TFUND) and TPARK Logistics Property Fund (TLOGIS). Ticon holds 20-per-cent shares in each fund. Foreign investment continued to flow into the country during the first half of 2013. Ticon gained 41 new customers renting its factories and warehouses during the period, resulting in a total of 500 customers of Ticon and TPARK as at the end of July. More than 90 of this total are international companies and about half are from Japan. 

Most customers are in the automotive, electronics and modern-trade industries. Specifically the consumer sector shows a significant increasing trend.

As at the end of July combined new leased space of Ticon’s factories and TPARK’s warehouses totalled 254,981sqm. The company is therefore confident that it will be able to increase space for rent to a total of 400,000sqm, or 30-per-cent growth, by the end of 2013, the target announced at the beginning of the year.