RS holding roadshows in four countries to woo foreign investors
RS WILL HOLD roadshows in four key markets – the US, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia – starting from the end of this month, to attract more corporate investors, which will lead to the company’s sustainable growth in long term.
The roadshows are also in line with the company’s success in transforming the company with diversified businesses, including media, and health and beauty businesses.
Darm Nana, RS’ chief financial officer, said that the company had successfully transformed its business model.
“We [RS] are doing business with opportunities. Starting about three years ago, we diversified our business from media to health and beauty. By this year, we target overall sales to reach Bt3.5 billion of which 40 per cent will be from health and beauty, while 50 per cent will be from media, and 10 per cent from music and events. Next year, we expect half of overall revenue to come from our health and beauty business, while 40 per cent will from media, and 10 per cent from music and events,” said Darm. He said three years ago, media business accounted for 70 per cent of revenue and 30 per cent came from events.
“Our health and beauty business achieves a new high every month, pushing the company’s profit growth to 160 per cent in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same quarter last year. The company’s profit increased by 352 per cent in the first half of this year, compared to the same first-half period last year,” said Darm.
He added that the health and beauty business is expected to grow significantly, generating Bt1.2 billion revenue this year, a 600-per-cent increase year on year.
RS posted Bt1.6 billion in revenue in the first half of this year, down 15 per cent compared to the same period last year, of which Bt879.8 million came from the media business, Bt500.1 million from health and beauty, Bt131.7 million from music, and Bt98 million from the events business such as hosting concerts.
“Now, we have been invited by top Thai and foreign asset companies to meet investors and talk to foreign corporate investors at the ‘Frontier & Emerging Markets Conference’ on October 30 and 31 in New York; at the ‘Daiwa Investment Conference Hong Kong 2017’ on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong, and at the ‘Asean Stars of the Next Decade 2017’ event on November 21-22 in Singapore and Malaysia. The company is confident of getting good responses from foreign investors similar to what we have earned from previous roadshows held domestically to meet with local investment funds,” he said.
Darm said that currently 20 per cent of total shareholders at RS are corporate investors both Thai and foreigners.
“We expect the percentage of corporate investors should increase to a suitable level or 25 per cent of total shareholders which will ensure business stability as our share price will become more stable. This is a good sign, which affirms the company’s quality. Usually, these investors carefully analyse the company’s info before making a decision.”
Darm said that the main magnets, which will be presented to the investors at the roadshows are the company’s two fast-growing businesses.
The first is the health and beauty business, with Life Star health and beauty products being the company’s top earner. The company has also expanded the business to include Shop 1781 online and telemarketing channels, which have more than 500,000 customers on their database.
Meanwhile, Channel 8 is the company’s flagship digital TV business. There is a plan for a major makeover for Channel 8 this November to strengthen the brand. Currently, its prime-time rating is a million viewers per minute, a 40-per-cent rise from the same period last year, in which the rating was 700,000 viewers per minute during prime time. More business partners have decided to sign a long-term advertising contract.
