TOG moves forward with automation, international focus
The prescription lens business Thai Optical Group Public Co Ltd (TOG), is focused on international customers as it aims to increase manufacturing automation through a second phase of investment.
The company’s second-quarter revenue of Bt463 million from sales and services represented a 3-per-cent increase over the same period of last year. Net profit was Bt14 million, with a 3 per cent net profit margin, a decrease of 50 per cent from the previous year.
Major contributors to the net profit drop were increased employee benefits costs under the new labour law, a one-time expense for relocation of the sales office, and the strengthening baht which has resulted in both lower gross margin and loss on exchange.
The company’s business plan for the second half of 2019 is to focus on an expansion of the integrated prescription lens business, which offers a high gross margin, as well as a focus on major customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Orders from these new accounts will fulfill the manufacturing capacity under the “RX Automation” phase two investment, which will commercially commence operations in the first quarter of 2020.
The company receives the positive feedback from the “z design” series of new progressive lens products series, which was launched earlier this year. The company has plans to continuously launch new products, including a new premium lens coating in early 2020, said Torn Pracharktam, chief executive officer of Thai Optical Group Plc.
