Briefs

Origin Property reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday that the company’s board of directors had approved calling an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on July 12 for approval of an asset-acquisition transaction, increasing capital, a change of directors, and appointment of an independent financial adviser.
The company reported to the SET that it would allocate 81,197.171 new common shares under private placement at a price of Bt12.3157 per share to three persons – Jaraspim Liptapanlop, Thongchai Busrapan and Nune Taweesri – who are major shareholders of Proud Real Estate Co. The subscription period will be from July 31 to October 3. 
Currently, Origin has paid-up capital of Bt771.37 million from its registered capital of Bt780.79 million. 
The company will today announce its business plan for its strategy to collaborate with Proud Real Estate, which is owned by the Liptapanlop family, and the development of the Park 24 condominium project on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok.

Home intelligence system planned

Magnolia Quality Development Corporation, the property-development arm of the Chearavanont family, has set aside a 2017-26 investment budget of Bt6 billion to develop residential projects under the health and well-being and security themes, chief executive officer Visit Malaisirirat told a news conference yesterday.
The first full-feature home-intelligence system of its kind in Thailand that addresses directly health and well-being, security and energy consumption will be a feature of the Whizdom Ratchada-Thapra property, which will open in the third quarter of next year, he said.

Tetra Pak innovation centre in Singapore

Tetra Pak, a global food-processing and packaging-solutions company, has launched its first Asia-based Customer Innovation Centre in Singapore, to address the evolving needs of the fast-growing Asian markets. 
The CIC will help the region’s food and beverage manufacturers uncover growth opportunities, accelerate and enhance product innovation to create winning solutions for their brands, Tetra Pak says.
The Singapore centre is the third in Tetra Pak’s expanding global network of CICs, after Denton in the US state of Texas and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. 

China invests $4 bn in Belt and Road countries in 4 months
China’s non-financial outbound direct investment in 45 countries related to the Belt and Road Initiative over the first four months of this year has reached US$3.98 billion (Bt137.3 billion), an official from the Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday.
The figure accounted for 15.1 per cent of the country’s total outbound investment from January-April, up from 8.2 per cent in the same period last year, the official said.
During this period, China invested more than $100 million in 12 countries along the Belt and Road such as Singapore, Laos and Indonesia.
Statistics from the ministry indicate that the direct investment in the Belt and Road countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos and Cambodia from January-April saw a year-on-year increase of 1,674.1 per cent, 809 per cent, 241.3 per cent and 62.7 per cent.
China has signed 1,862 foreign contracted projects and recorded about $18.95 billion turnover with a 5.6-per-cent year-on-year increase.
China has become the largest source of foreign capital in countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, according to the ministry. – China Daily

Summit Capital’s personal loan programme a big success
Summit Capital Leasing Co, a retail lender, has seen 24-per-cent growth in its personal loan business in fiscal 2016. 
The company attributed its success to its effective customer screening system and quick credit approval with the borrower receiving credit approval in one to two working days – the quickest within a day. 
The company aims to increase sales representatives to 200 persons and achieve a 114-per-cent growth in new loans by the end of fiscal 2017, said Wichit Phayuhanaveechai, chief executive officer.
The company has more than 50 sales staff. 

Technology crucial amid increased use of robotics: Moody’s
The accelerating adoption of robotics in manufacturing in some of the more advanced economies could pose challenges to emerging market exporters that have benefited from their comparative advantage of lower cost and high-skilled labour, says Moody’s Investors Service in a report.
The United States (Aaa stable), Germany (Aaa stable), Japan (A1 stable), South Korea (Aa2 stable) and China (Aa3 negative) account for about three-quarters of pending on global industrial robotics worldwide.
In these five countries, the use of robotics could even bring back some of the processes that have been offshored to lower labour cost destinations. 
Nonetheless, the number of jobs lost to automation is likely to be higher than those gained by onshoring.
Another impact of robotics is that it could offset labour market pressures in countries with ageing populations.
“In countries where ageing populations are reducing the growth in labour supply, robotics could support growth by lowering the need for labour while also increasing productivity,” said Samar Maziad, a senior analyst and vice president at Moody’s.
Robotics technology is most commonly used in the highly globalised automobile and electronics industries, and the five main nations that are adopting it are also key trade nodes in their regions. 
This implies that while the adoption of robotics is concentrated in only a few countries, it will have implications beyond their borders. 
In particular, the countries that are linked to them through trade and manufacturing supply chains will be impacted.
These include emerging market economies, such as Czech Republic (A1 stable), Hungary (Baa3 stable), and Slovenia (Baa3 positive) in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Malaysia (A3 stable) and Thailand (Baa1 stable) in Asia. 
These nations are deeply integrated into hi-tech production chains and export markets due to their comparative advantage of highly skilled, lower cost labour forces. 
As automation becomes more efficient and cost effective, it could negate the labour cost advantage of some of these emerging markets.

Tata Steel (Thailand) posts better results in fiscal 2017
Tata Steel (Thailand) yesterday reported 38-per-cent growth in revenue in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017.
Sales in the fourth quarter ended March 31 were 14 per cent higher by 344,000 tonnes on quarter and 9 per cent up on year. 
Sales at Bt5.84 billion were 26 per cent higher on quarter and 38 per cent on year. 
Sales for fiscal 2017 at 1.26 million tonnes was higher than fiscal 2016 by 10 per cent and net sales in fiscal 2017, at Bt19.7 billion, were 18 per cent higher on year.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, at Bt412 million in the fourth quarter, were almost at par with the previous quarter and higher by 22 per cent year on year.