Thitikorn sees Bt10-bn in hire-purchase loans
HIRE PURCHASE firm Thitikorn Plc expects its loan total reaching Bt10 billion this year, the company’s director Prapol Phornprapha said yesterday.
Of the Bt10-billion target, up to Bt9 billion are expected to come from the domestic market, with the rest form overseas markets such as Laos and Cambodia.
This will drive up the company’s total revenue by 10 per cent this year, from the total of Bt3.65 billion and Bt466.94 million in net profit last year.
In 2017, total revenue and net profit increased by 8.3 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively from the previous year.
Meanwhile, the company expects to receive a licence for operating micro finance business in Myanmar in the first half of this year.
The company also plans to enter the Vietnamese market through new investment or acquisition of local hire purchase business in the country.
“We plan to open ten new branches this year, five of them will located in Thailand, three in Cambodia, and the last two in Laos,” he said.
He said the company will expand its investment overseas, especially in Asean countries, when demand for hire purchase grows.
Overseas income
Currently, up to 95 per cent of its total revenue come from the domestic market, with overseas operations accounting for a mere five per cent.
However, the company expects its revenue from overseas to account for 50 per cent of its total revenue in the year 2020, following the expansion of its investments in Asean, mainly in CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam).
After aggressive investments this year and 2019, the company’s investment budget will come from its initial cash flow and loans from commercial banks. The company currently has a credit line of Bt4 billion.
It also plans to issue Bt1 billion in debentures in the second half of this year. The company issued debentures worth Bt600 million in the first quarter of this year.
Prapol said the demand for hire purchase for motorcycles in the first quarter of this year grew by one per cent from the same period last year when most customers delayed their purchases.
However, he is confident the market will improve in the second quarter of this year.
