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Facing higher costs, S Khonkaen lowers growth outlook
S Khonkaen Foods has lowered this year’s revenue-growth forecast from 15 per cent to 10-12 per cent as it has faced rising costs for raw materials, especially pork and chicken, said chief executive officer Charoen Rujirasopon.
The company last month increased the prices of its processed food by 3 per cent to reflect these higher costs and to maintain gross profit margin of 28 per cent.
Charoen said the company would invest about Bt300 million to build new plants to expand production capacity to 14,000-15,000 tonnes per year from 7,000 tonnes at present. The output from the new plants will help expand its export markets in Europe and Middle East.
The construction is expected to be completed by the first quarter next year.
Charoen said the company planned to appoint agents and build distribution centres in countries in the region to cash in on the coming Asean Economic Community, starting in Laos. S Khonkaen Foods will negotiate with partners in that country in the next three to five weeks.
MINT buys into Siem Reap resort
Minor International (MINT) has invested in The Sothea, a boutique resort in Cambodia.
As part of its filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand this week, Lodging Management (Mauritius) Ltd, a 100-per-cent subsidiary of Hospitality Investment International Ltd (BVI), which itself is a 100-per-cent subsidiary of Minor Hotel Group, a 100-per-cent subsidiary held by MINT, said it had acquired an 80-per-cent stake worth US$6.4 million (Bt204 million) in a new joint-venture company, Sothea Pte Ltd, to be an owner of The Sothea in Siem Reap.
Rida Khun owns the other 20 per cent of the joint venture. She has no relationship with MINT either as a major shareholder or a director.
The transaction is aimed at strengthening MINT’s presence in Southeast Asia and establishing the footprint of its Anantara brand in Cambodia.
Dynamic IT, Kale Logistics link up
JVK Group subsidiary Dynamic IT Solutions, a software company, has entered a partnership with Kale Logistics, an Indonesian provider of information-technology solutions for the logistics and airport industries worldwide.
DITS and Kale Logistics will cooperate in the areas of sales, implementation and support of Kale’s enterprise services in Thailand. It is hoped that the partnership will give Kale Logistics a wider reach in Thailand and strengthen its presence in the region.
Kale caters to the entire logistics and cargo-supply chain, covering forwarders, customs agents, airports, container freight stations, warehouses, fleet operators and transporters. As it expands its international interests, Kale is strengthening its network by partnering with complementary businesses like DITS.
The partnership, which will form part of DITS’s product division, will enable DITS to provide an enhanced range of products and services to the logistics sector.
Toyota Leasing debentures rated
TRIS Rating has assigned a “T1+” rating to the proposed issue of up to Bt40 billion in guaranteed debentures under the short-term debenture programme No 2/2556 of Toyota Leasing (Thailand) Co.
At the same time, TRIS has affirmed the ratings of TLT’s guaranteed debentures, issued under its Bt60-billion medium-term debenture programme, at “AAA”. It has also affirmed the rating of guaranteed debentures under the Bt40-billion short-term debenture programme No 1/2556 at “T1+”. The outlook remains “stable”.
IATA calls for collaboration
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged governments in Eastern Europe to work with industry stakeholders to fully realize the benefits of aviation across the region.
“Aviation connectivity can play a key role in the economic success of Eastern Europe. But in order to achieve these benefits, the region will need to tackle some long-standing problems which hamper competitiveness and innovation,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO during the opening of the Aviation Day in Bucharest.
Tyler set out three areas including environment, passenger right, and infrastructure, where governments could embrace innovation in a partnership agenda with the industry to enhance the economic and social benefits of aviation connectivity.
OIC suspends Union Inter Insurance operations
Union Inter Insurance was ordered to halt business temporarily from Thursday onwards because of a negative capital fund.
Pravej Ongartsittigul, secretary-general of the Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC), said the company had not yet submitted its quarterly results for the first half, on top of some irregularities in premium booking, sales-promotion expenses, and provisioning.
Before it can resume services, the company must overhaul its human-resources, accounting and finance, compensation, risk-management, and internal control systems. Reserves and provisions must be increased, along with other orders. All must be completed before the end of the year.
The OIC expects minimal impacts from the order, as nearly all of UIC’s 100,000 customers hold compulsory vehicle-insurance policies.
Two more companies are on the OIC’s radar.
Move on securities firms’ commissions
The Association of Thai Securities Companies will collect commissions on proprietary trading from November 1 ,2013 while lowering the trading amount to 50 per cent of total shareholders’ equities from 75 per cent.
“The collection will be done on daily trade,” Asco chairwoman Pattera Dilokrungthirapop said. At present, daily trade accounts for 60 per cent of total proprietary trade and the rest for long-term trade.
The move is to prevent securities companies’ proprietary accounts gaining advantage over retail investors’.
Asco asks securities companies to calculate their commission rates. Commission-based income can be inspected through each securities company’s financial statements.
Rice release to pay warehouse bill
The National Rice Policy Committee (NRPC) is planning to release rice worth Bt4 billion to settle payments to warehouse owners, overdue since 2008.
Commerce Minister Niwatthumrong Boonsongpaisan said the government would clear its debt on warehouse leasing fees by selling rice to those warehouses owners as a counterbalance payment.
In addition, the NRPC agreed to spend Bt200 million to improve its information-technology system for managing rice stocks under the pledging programme.
SEC imposes fines on trio totalling Bt1.65m
The Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that its settlement committee imposed fines totalling Bt1.65 million on Swake Srisuchart for using inside information to purchase Power Line Engineering (PLE) shares as well as on Usavadee Srisuchart and Perayuth Nark-In for aiding and abetting Swake’s wrongdoing.
After a referral from the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the SEC probed the case and found that from April 7-21, 2010, Swake had, via other persons’ securities accounts, purchased 5 million PLE shares in a manner that took advantage of others by using PLE’s positive non-public information material to the share price.
As PLE’s chairman of the board, of the executive committee and of the foreign debt collection committee, he learned of the information on the company’s first-quarter 2010 operating profit of Bt184.10 million. The profit marked a significant increase of 182.47 per cent from its first-quarter 2009 net loss of Bt223.23 million, and 145.60 per cent from its the fourth-quarter 2009 net loss of Bt403.75 million, respectively, because of cash received from written-off foreign accounts receivable and disposal of non-operating land.
Usavadee and Perayuth facilitated Swake’s action by placing trading orders through other persons’ trading accounts and making payment for such transactions.
As the three people agreed to enter the settlement procedure, the settlement committee imposed a fine of Bt985,849.53 on Swake, and fines of Bt33,333.33 each on Usavadee and Perayuth.
