Quick news
Japanese ad firm Interspace sets up in Thailand
Interspace, a Japanese online advertising agency, has formed a business unit in Thailand, aiming to become the No 1 online marketing service in the near future. The firm targets a number of local and multinational companies, particularly in the financial and tourism sectors.
Founder and chief executive officer Shinichiro Kawabata said his company’s key tool was an affiliate marketing service. “Affiliate marketing” is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought in by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. Before entering the Kingdom, Interspace invested in Indonesia last year.
GMM reports Q3 loss
GMM Grammy, the country’s largest music and entertainment company, posted a loss of Bt286 million in the third quarter, saying it was a result of heavily investment in a satellite TV platform.
The company reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday that in the third quarter, the company generated income of Bt2.63 billion. Of that, Bt670 million was from music business; Bt851 million from media; Bt174 million from home shopping; and Bt419 million from satellite TV business. Chief executive officer Busaba Daoruang said the third-quarter loss was acceptable and not beyond previous projections as the company had been heavily investing on media platforms since last year.
Hemaraj ratings affirmed
TRIS Rating has affirmed the company and senior debenture ratings of Hemaraj Land and Development at “A-” and has revised HEMRAJ’s rating outlook to “positive” from “stable”.
The “positive” outlook reflects the company’s improved competitive position in the industrial-estate industry and a growing base of predictable income from power and utilities businesses. The “A-” ratings continue to reflect the company’s proven record in industrial-estate development and healthy level of profitability.
These strengths are offset in part by the volatile nature of the industrial-property market. The “positive” outlook reflects an improvement in HEMRAJ’s business profile and growing proportion of recurring income. The ratings could be upgraded if the company can maintain its debt to capitalisation ratio in the range of 50 per cent despite the huge investments it has in the pipeline. Deterioration in the company’s financial profile could cause its ratings or outlook to be revised downward.
TT&T cuts debts
Telecom operator TT&T has completely paid off the loan principal for creditor Groups 1 and 9 for a total amount of Bt877,162.15, according to a progress report on its rehabilitation plan.
It also paid the loan principal for creditor Group 3 amounting to Bt237,432,202.11 and converted debt to equity amounting to Bt2,179,666,087.02. Moreover, it paid the principal allocated by quarterly instalments for creditor groups 2, 6, 7 and 8 since December 2010 in the total amount of Bt1,892,446,837.90 and converted debt to equity amounting to Bt491,537,334.81.
Govt revenue collection rises 21% last month
The Finance Ministry has reported that revenue collection in October reached Bt178.4 billion, up 6.7 per cent from the targeted level, and 21.4 per cent higher than in the same month last year.
Somchai Sujjapongse, director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office, who is also a spokesperson of the ministry, said combined revenue collection by the Revenue Department, Excise Department and Customs Department came in at is Bt5.84 billion, or 3.8 per cent higher than the target, due to above-estimate collection of value-added tax, excise duty on liquor products, and personal income tax.
The figure reflects the strength of the economy, and especially an increase in domestic consumption during the month, he said. The revision of excise structure in September also resulted in higher government revenue collection.
Meanwhile, revenue collection last month by other government units and those delivered by state enterprises were Bt1.48 billion and Bt1.29 billion or 32.5 per cent and 3.7 per cent higher than targeted, respectively.
“Despite the signs of an economic slowdown, the economic-stimulus policy through the government’s investment programme will benefit the economy next year. We then believe that in the 2014 fiscal year, we will be able to achieve our revenue-collection target of Bt2.275 trillion,” said Somchai.
Businesses to pay average bonus of 2.48 months: survey
Business operators nationwide are expected to pay an average 2013 bonus of 2.48 months, higher than the average of 2.29 months last year, according to the fifth joint annual survey on salary and welfare by the Human Capacity Building Institute of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) and Sripatum University.
The recent survey was conducted on 210 businesses across the country in 21 sectors. Of the total, 158 are members of the FTI and 125 are Thai-owned.
The top three bonus payers this year are expected to be the auto sector at 4.95 months, ceramics at four months, and auto parts at 3.43 months.
This year, the 210 business operators surveyed are also expected to raise salaries by an average of 6.1 per cent, versus 7.82 per cent last year.
Fifty Japanese firms on investment visit next week
About 50 Japanese companies, most of them small and medium-sized enterprises, from five major cities will visit Thailand this month to explore business opportunities.
This reflects the continued confidence of Japanese investors in the Kingdom, said Udom Wongwiwatchai, secretary-general of the Board of Investment (BoI).
They will also attend the “Metalex 2013” fair at Bitec Bang Na during November 20 to 23.
Udom said a greater number of Japanese SMEs were now interested in overseas investment, especially in Thailand.
From January to October, the number of Japanese SME applications for investment support from the BoI reached 351 projects, together worth more than Bt19 billion.
Myanmar joins IMF’s data dissemination system
Myanmar late this week began participating in the International Monetary Fund’s General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), marking a major step forward in the development of its statistical system.
Comprehensive information on Myanmar’s statistical production and dissemination practices now appears on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/gdds/gddscountrylist/).
Myanmar is the 110th GDDS participant, and the sixth country to join the system in the last 12 months.
Kan Zaw, the minister of national planning and economic development, said Myanmar was committed to using the IMF’s system as a general framework to continue developing the national statistical system consistent with the best international practices.
Louis Marc Ducharme, director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, said: “I am pleased to welcome Myanmar’s participation in the GDDS. Its participation is an important milestone and marks a crucial step for Myanmar’s statistical development.”
The GDDS was established by the IMF in 1997. It provides a framework to help countries to develop their statistical systems to produce comprehensive and accurate statistics for policy-making and analysis.
