At A Glance

LG Electronics Inc (LG) has announced a record fully-ear revenues for 2017 of 61.4 trillion won (US$ 55.4 billion), an increase of 10.9 per cent from the previous year, the highest in the company’s history. 
The full year profit of 2.47 trillion won ($2.23 billion) is the highest since 2009, increasing 85 per cent from 2016 due in large part to |strong sales of premium home appliances and TVs. 
In the fourth quarter 2017, revenues grew 15 per cent from the same period last year to 16.96 trillion won($15.3 billion), generating a strong operating profit of 366.8 billion won ($330.9 million).

First Pattaya flight lands at U-Tapao 

Qatar Airways’ first direct non-stop flight to the holiday destination of Pattaya touched down at U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport yesterday, inaugurating the award-winning airline’s newest Thai destination. 
The flight marks Qatar Airways’ fifth route to the Southeast Asian country, and is the first new route launch for the carrier in 2018, as it continues a rapid expansion of its global route network.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to be the first Middle East airline to offer direct flights to Pattaya. Having also launched flights to Chiang Mai in Thailand just last month and soon to launch our sixth-daily flight to Bangkok, this new route reinforces and deepens the strong ties that exist between Qatar and the Kingdom of Thailand.
 “Thailand is continuing to grow in popularity among our passengers. We launched this new route in direct response to increasing demand from our passengers, and we are proud to be able to fly them on our aircraft to experience our unrivalled five-star service. We are excited to offer our travellers more destinations to choose from in the Far East, and to connect the people in Pattaya to Qatar Airways’ extensive global network of more than 150 destinations around the world.”

Phnom Penh SEZ to list in Thailand

Cambodian special economic zone firm, Phnom Penh SEZ Plc, will appoint Thai’s financial firm Asset Pro Managment Co as its financial advisor to apply for a secondary listing in Thailand on Wednesday, January 31.
The company will raise capital from the Thai capital market for its business expansion, according to an announcement on Monday.
This is the first time a Cambodia firm has done so. At the event, the company’s chairwoman, Lok Chumteav Oknha Lim Chhiv Ho, will sign the contract.
Phnom Penh SEZ Plc (publicly listed in Cambodia under “PPSP”) manages Phnom Penh SEZ, which is over 357 hectares in size and has investment from more than 80 international companies from 15 nations.
The company received approval to develop a multi-product SEZ from the government of Cambodia on April 19, 2006.
At the end of 2016, the company reported total revenue of US$9.46 million (Bt297 million) and net profit US$1.44 million, according to a report on its website.

Early school-leaving hurts Asian economies

DHL, the logistics company, recently commissioned a report looking into out-of-school children in Asia, and the effect this has had on their nation’s economies. 
A Way Back to School shows Asia could be losing nearly US$34 billion per year in GDP due to children dropping out of school. The report supports the company's GoTeach program, which delivers a range of educational and vocational opportunities to young people in disadvantaged communities in seven Asia Pacific countries.
According to the report, some of Asia’s fastest-growing economies may struggle to reach their full potential due to high rates of out-of-school children, with some countries deprived of up to 2 percent of their GDP as a result. Out-of-school rates in all seven countries studied – Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam – rose exponentially as children grew older, with at least one in every three children dropping out of school by upper secondary-age.
“While everyone recognises the social importance of keeping children in school, the economic costs of failing to do so may come as a shock to many,” said Christof Ehrhart, executive vice president of corporate communications and responsibility, Deutsche Post DHL Group.
“The Asia Pacific region cannot rely on its rapid economic growth to automatically improve social outcomes like school |retention. Although India’s economy is |growing at around 7 per cent per annum, |nearly 20 per cent of its children exit school before secondary level, while Indonesia – where economic growth has helped halve poverty levels since 1999 – still sees 1 in 5 |students drop out of school by lower secondary age.

Real-time payments for corporate clients

HSBC Thailand has announced the launch of “Corporate PromptPay” – a real-time payment scheme enabling its corporate customers to receive real-time fund transfers and bill payments, helping them improve account receivables management and working capital.
The company’s head of global liquidity and cash management, Ai Chen Lim, said that the system would allow corporate customers to link their corporate tax ID with a current or savings account in Thai baht at HSBC to receive domestic real-time fund transfers in baht.
The bill-payment PromptPay facility offers corporates a more flexible solution to manage their receivables by providing them with the opportunity to create 100 Biller IDs which can be used for different collection purposes, while still being able to use the accounts for normal operational purposes, the bank said.

Appointment of Co-Chief People Officer

Charoen Pokphand Group Co Ltd (CP Group) has announced the appointment of Kulshaan Singh as Co-Chief People Officer (Co-CPO). Singh, who joined the group at the end of 2017, will be responsible for building and managing CP Group’s global employer brand as well as developing a strategy to build a world-class human resources (HR) functions across the group. Singh will work closely with Naris Thamkuekool, the other Co-CPO at CP Group, to oversee execution of strategies to attract, motivate and retain talents at CP Group. 
He will report directly to Suphachai Chearavanont, Chief Executive Officer of CP Group and will work closely with Dhanin Chearavanont, the group’s senior chairman on identifying, attracting and developing the future leaders of CP Group from a global talent pool.
Singh has had 20 years of global experience in the professional services and management consulting industry with expertise in talent and leadership development, organisation change & HR Transformation, employee engagement and performance and talent management. 
He has had experiences working with people across the globe and has lived in Thailand, Malaysia, India and Singapore. He was most recently chief executive officer of Mercer Singapore, and before that, managing director of Aon Hewitt Southeast Asia. Singh obtained an MBA in Human Resources from XLRI School of Management Jamshedpur, India. He is a Singapore national and will be based in the CP Group headquarter in Bangkok. He has been closely associated with Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University since 2002.
Regarding the appointment, Suphachai Chearavanont, Chief Executive Officer at CP Group, commented, “People are our most valuable asset and we are delighted to have found a global leader like Kulshaan who has the passion and experience to drive our people strategy. Kulshaan brings a tremendous track record in leading large-scale organisation transformations and this will be invaluable in our quest to build a world-class HR function and enable us to recruit and develop the very best talent to support our strategic growth ambitions. Kulshaan possesses the unique capability of understanding Thai conglomerates and has true global experience to guide us to what is best for CP Group as we embark on our CP 4.0 journey.”