Central Group sees bright outlook for second half of 2014
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Military takeover returns 'normalcy'; sales surge since July
CENTRAL GROUP believes sales in its shopping malls in the last four months of the year will outpace its first-half performance as the new government revives national stability, tourism and spending sentiment.
Chief executive officer Tos Chirathivat is seeing strong signs of economic growth after surges in the group’s sales since July along with rising tourist arrivals.
After the military’s National Council for Peace and Order restored a degree of normalcy to the country, genuine progress has been made on the development road map, Tos believes. Confidence has improved among tourists and the general public, buoying spending sentiment across the board.
Tos said that after the Cabinet was appointed, Central Group had strong confidence in this unelected government, both in terms of the talent of each person and the strong system of management. The list of ministers is full of experienced people, and some of them are soldiers, trained to systematically and quickly.
“We believe that this government will work in a stable manner, which will lead our country to grow and also give confidence to foreign investors and tourists. Moreover, we also believe that the government will support a rising Thai economy in the rest of 2014 and be more efficient in 2015.”
Additionally, having representatives who have direct experience from each industry in the Cabinet would harmonise the knowledge and current database more accurately for efficient political management, to enable Thailand to compete with other countries, he said.
“In Central Group, we have intense knowledge about the retail industry at the national, regional and global levels, and can provide all this knowledge to the government with pleasure,” Tos said.
Last month, Central’s business groups – department stores, hotels and resorts, restaurants and consumer products – registered growth of 10-15 per cent.
For the second half, sales should turn lively, especially in the final quarter, so marketing activities have been lined up to fertilise shopping in the rest of the year.
The recent inauguration of CentralPlaza Salaya met a warm response. Plans have been laid to expand into the Asean market with the debut of the first Central shopping mall in Jakarta next month.
A second Robins mall will be launched in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, following up on Hanoi.
Central Embassy has established itself as Bangkok’s latest iconic landmark and a major attraction for overseas visitors, Tos said.
