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Commerce Ministry proposes trade deal with Bhutan
The Commerce Ministry will propose to the Cabinet tomorrow a draft trade agreement between Thailand and Bhutan and ask it to consider assigning the ministry to sign on to the deal.
According to a Cabinet source, the draft agreement covers collaboration on trade, investment, tourism, construction, health, education, energy, logistics, and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
CPF’s Q3 profit surges 10%
Charoen Pokphand Foods revealed that its sales in the third quarter reached Bt105.2 billion and Bt2.6 billion in net profit, surging 8 per cent and 10 per cent respectively compared with the same quarter of last year.
CPF achieved Bt285.8 billion in total sales in the first nine months of this year with Bt5.3 billion in net profit.
New home-décor centre for Pattaya
Home Product Trading on November 30 will open Decco in Pattaya, a new 5-rai (8,000-square-metre) high-end home-decorative centre, to cash in on growing demand in the resort city.
Kittipong Sumanon, executive director of the company, said demand was rising, reflected by the continued launches of new luxury housing estates and condominium projects in the city.
“The market has a lot of potential, as Thai and foreign residents show high purchasing power. New projects are launched and residential demand remains high, and this will spur demand for decorative items,” he said.
DKSH unit, Health Impact ink pact
DKSH’s Business Unit Healthcare has signed a long-term agreement with Health Impact in Thailand to provide warehousing, physical distribution and credit management as well as collection services for Health Impact’s skincare and food-supplement products.
Health Impact is a Thai over-the-counter and consumer health company specialising in food supplements and cosmetics.
Money Expo sees Bt17 bn subscriptions
The eighth “Money Expo Chiang Mai”, which ended on Sunday, saw people subscribe to a total of Bt17 billion worth of financial and investment services, with 90,000 people from Chiang Mai and adjacent provinces attending the three-day fair.
According to Money & Banking magazine, which led the hosting of the event, the highest transaction value was for home loans, totalling Bt12.7 billion, thanks to the attractive interest rates on offer, followed by SME loans of Bt2 billion and personal loans of more than Bt270 million.
There will be six Money Expo events next year across the country, beginning with the fourth “Money Expo Pattaya” from February 7-9.
NMG’s joint venture in Myanmar approved
Nation Multimedia Group’s board has resolved to establish a 49:51 joint venture in Myanmar with Eleven Media Group to offer media and related business. Eleven-Nation Media was registered with capital of Bt40 million.
The move is part of the group’s plan to expand its business in light of the Asean Economic Community and create new commercial businesses, NMG said in a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.
Plunge in consumer spending
Anuwat Chalermchai, president of the Marketing Association of Thailand, said yesterday that consumer spending had plunged due to the political rallies.
Overall business growth has dropped 5-10 per cent this year, which is below the target of double-digit growth or two times GDP growth.
GDP growth has been revised by local authorities from 5 per cent to only 3.8 per cent. Business will follow GDP in the same direction.
Local marketers need to delay their spending on marketing activities this year, while taking a close look at the situation. They have to be ready to quickly adjust their business and marketing plans to be in line with the situation, he added.
More Thai stocks join MSCI index
MSCI Inc, a global index provider, on November 27 would add 17 Thai stocks to its indices, including BTS and TMB into the MSCI Global Standard Indices.
The other 15 stocks will be added in the MSCI Global Small Cap Indices, including six that have just listed this year, as a result of MSCI’s semi-annual index review.
Charamporn Jotikasthira, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said yesterday that the two Thai stocks have been added to MSCI Global Standard Indices with no deletions, making Thailand the country with the highest net addition in Southeast Asia. There are now 30 Thai stocks in the indices.
These stocks, with a combined market capitalisation of Bt225 billion, are BTS Group Holdings and TMB Bank. Two Thai stocks were removed from MSCI Global Small Cap Indices for a net increase of 13. Thai stocks in MSCI Global Standard Indices have increased since November 2010, reflecting that Thai companies are getting bigger and have more liquidity, boosting their attractiveness among foreign investors.
New Lufthansa link to SE Asia
Lufthansa plans to offer a new flight connection from Frankfurt to Southeast Asia.
In the summer 2014 flight schedule, the German airline will increase its offered seat capacity in the booming region by 27 per cent over last year.
Kuala Lumpur will be linked for the first time with a nonstop flight to the Lufthansa hub in Frankfurt five times a week and also Indonesia’s capital Jakarta will be included in the flight schedule once again via Kuala Lumpur. The flights will operate with a modern Lufthansa Airbus A340 600.
Up to now, Kuala Lumpur could only be reached with Lufthansa four times a week with a connection from Bangkok. This intra-Asian Lufthansa flight from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur will be dropped as a result of the new direct flight from Frankfurt to Malaysia.
