Things are looking up for optical group
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Thai Optical Group Plc has doubled its business growth target for this year to 17 per cent from 9 per cent after first-half sales zoomed nearly 20 per cent to Bt948.5 million.
Wirach Pracharktam, managing director of the country’s only independent optical lens manufacturer, told the Stock Exchange of Thailand’s Opportunity Day event yesterday that TOG expects to add 15 per cent to sales next year.
That would be the fourth straight year of double-digit results for the firm, after its Nonthaburi plant was severely damaged by the massive floods of 2011.
In the first half, TOG also doubled its operating profit to Bt121.34 million from the same half last year.
TOG now expects its sales to reach Bt1.9 billion this year and to break the Bt2 billion milestone in the following year. Assuming “no new business”, the company is looking to ramp up sales by 6 per cent per year over the next five years to Bt2.5 billion.
The company aims to maintain its gross profit margin at 25 per cent next year. Thanks to an ongoing productivity improvement programme, it could expand production without investing in new machinery.
TOG has bounced back strongly from the 2011 flood crisis and recorded sales growth of 26 per cent in 2012 and 14 per cent last year.
TOG, which is a “midstream” producer in the optical lens supply chain, would focus on efficiency improvement, supply chain management and product diversification to balance cost efficiency and long-term growth.
This is because the eyewear industry has continued to evolve and innovate throughout its 50-year history.
The company gets about 95 per cent of its sales from exports. It is largely an original equipment manufacturer with its own brands, such as Excelite, Trivex and Tribid, accounting for just 7 per cent.
TOG aims to increase its sales in Southeast Asian markets including Thailand from 15 per cent this year to 20 per cent in 2019.
