Briefs

The Energy Policy and Planning Office has completed its revision of the feed-in-tariff (FIT) to replace the adder rate of biomass plants, which will be submitted to the National Energy Policy Council next month, Eppo director-general Samerjai Suksumek said.
He said the revision reflected the cost base of |power-plant operation. It focused on biomass power plants of four generation capacities: not over 300 |kilowatts, 300kW-1,000kW, 1 megawatt to 3MW, and 3MW-10MW.
The FIT rate for biomass plants is Bt3.78-Bt5.41 per unit. The rate for power plants using waste is Bt4.69-Bt6.32 per unit.
The rate for power plants using Napier grass has been raised to Bt4.90 per unit from the previous Bt4.50 to encourage cultivation of the grass.

General Engineering ups revenue forecast
General Engineering, a manufacturer of concrete products, has raised this year’s revenue forecast to Bt1.3 billion from Bt1.1 billion after healthy financial results in the first nine months.
Revenue in the period was Bt849.44 million, up 22.8 per cent year on year, and net profit was Bt199.32 million, up 376.61 per cent, managing director Tawat Anantanavanich said.
The company also aims to wins projects worth at least Bt500 million in the current quarter.

Henkel, DKSH partner for Myanmar operations
Henkel and DKSH yesterday announced a long-term strategic partnership under which they have launched Henkel’s laundry-detergent brands Dixan and XTRA in Myanmar, making Henkel the first international detergent company to establish manufacturing operations in Myanmar.
Under this partnership, the two companies agreed |to invest jointly in the development, marketing, sales |and distribution of Henkel’s laundry products in the country.
The partnership entails equal investments from Henkel and DKSH. The latter, which specialises in market-expansion services, has been operating in Myanmar for more than 15 years and now employs more than 1,300 specialists in the nation, mainly providing services to the fast-moving-consumer-goods and healthcare industries.
Henkel and DKSH have appointed Jens Knoke of the former’s laundry and home-care unit to lead their partnership in Myanmar. He will be based in Yangon.
Emerging markets have become an important part of Henkel’s business. The German company already generates 45 per cent of its sales in emerging markets and 55 per cent of its employees are based in these countries.

LH Financial to buy up
CIMB Securities shares
LH Financial Group yesterday signed an agreement to purchase the entire issued shares of CIMB Securities International (Thailand) from CIMB Securities International and other shareholders in the group.
The 635.90 million shares equal 99.79 per cent of paid-up capital.
This makes it the major shareholder of CIMB Securities International (Thailand) and expands its financial transactions in securities trading and financial advisory services.
The purchase will need the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bank of Thailand. The company expects to close the deal early next year with the aim to provide brokerage services in the second quarter.

Public hearing on revising SEC reports
The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking public comment on revising rules governing asset-management companies’ reporting requirements.
The proposed revision focuses more on reporting objectives and providing up-to-date information sufficient for risk analysis. The reporting requirements for those unused for supervising purposes will be eliminated, while the frequency of report submissions will be reduced.
The consultation paper is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.or.th. Stakeholders and interested parties are welcome to submit comments through the website, by facsimile at (02) 263 6301 or by e-mail at [email protected] until December 9.

‘Stable outlook’ for 2014: Moody’s
Moody’s Investors Service has summed up its forecast for next year in the title of its new report, “2014 Outlook – Global Sovereigns: Credit Quality Stabilising after Several Tumultuous Years”.
As of Monday, nearly three-quarters (85) of the 124 sovereigns rated by Moody’s carried “stable” rating outlooks, compared with fewer than two-thirds (77 out of 120) at the beginning of the year. This stabilisation in rating outlooks over the course of 2013 reflects divergent trends between advanced and emerging economies, it says.
Among advanced economies, many rating outlooks have moved to “stable” from “negative”, as in the case of the United States and several euro-area countries. Among emerging economies, some outlooks moved to “stable” from “positive”, as in the case of China and Brazil. Moody’s expects these divergent trends to continue in 2014.