Profit in the first three months of 2018 soared more than 70 percent from a year ago to $9.4 billion, Alphabet said in an earnings report that was well above forecasts.

Revenue at the California-based internet giant during the first three months of this year was $31.1 billion, up 26 percent from the same period last year.

Alphabet shares slipped slightly in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings report, evidently on investor concerns about growing costs.

“The all-important advertising revenues came in ahead of Street expectations although the bulls were hoping for a bigger beat,” GBH Insights head of technology research Daniel Ives said in an analyst note.

“While fundamental worries coupled by regulatory black clouds continue to be overhangs on the name, we believe 1Q advertising and ‘bread and butter’ search revenues were healthy and a good barometer of potential strength heading into the rest of 2018.”

The first-quarter profit included one-time gains of $3 billion on its equity investments, believed to have come mainly from a rise in the value of its stake in leading smartphone-summoned ride service Uber.

Raising ‘other bets’

Revenues from its “other bets,” which include the self-driving car unit Waymo and life sciences firm Verily, amounted to $150 million from $132 million.

“We have a clear set of exciting opportunities ahead, and our strong growth enables us to invest in them with confidence,” said Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat.

She noted that high-speed cable internet unit Fiber and Verily were mostly responsible for the money taken in by “big bets.”

Alphabet plans to keep up investment in new areas its core search service, as well as keep pumping money into undersea data cables, artificial intelligence, data centers and its line of consumer electronics devices including Pixel smartphones.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said that he will share what the company is “up to next” at its annual developers conference in Silicon Valley next month.

Bright spots at Alphabet included YouTube, where executives are focusing on original video content and live streaming to mobile devices in the competitive market.

Early this month, an Iran-born animal rights activist with a vendetta against the company shot three people before killing herself at YouTube’s California headquarters.

“It’s been a particularly tough few weeks for the Google family, especially at YouTube,” Pichai said.

“I’m so proud of the resilience that our employees shown and I’m so grateful for the support we’ve got across our industry and from the community.”

During the past year, the number of YouTube channels making more than $100,000 has grown by 40 percent, according to Pichai.

While investing in content such as a hit live stream of Beyonce at Coachella music festival, Google is also working to filter out content that violates its policies, he added.

“We also changed our monetization requirements to better identify creators who contribute positively to the community and drive more ad revenue to them,” Pichai said.

EU data privacy rules

Google said it is collaborating with regulators in Europe to comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which becomes effective May 25.

“We started working on GDPR compliance over 18 months ago and have been very, very engaged on it,” Pichai said.

“It’s really important and we care about getting it right.”

Google is also working with publishers and advertisers to get in tune with the EU privacy law.

Alphabet is the first major Silicon Valley firm to report first-quarter earnings, and the report comes amid heightened concerns over how private user data is protected in light of the hijacking of data on millions of Facebook users.

With their platforms allowing targeted ads, Google and Facebook dominate the online advertising ecosystem although there have been signs the “duopoly” is weakening slightly.

According to the research firm eMarketer, the two companies will capture a combined 56.8 percent of US digital ad investment in 2018, down from 58.5 percent last year, as smaller players such as Amazon and Snapchat are experiencing faster-than-expected growth.

Monday’s report showed the Google segment still accounting for the overwhelming majority of revenues with $30.99 billion, up from $24.6 billion last year.

However, the company’s chief executive Sompong Rungnirattisai denied to disclose the investment budget, saying that it would be no less than last year’s.

A large portion of the total investment would be allocated towards the opening of stores as well as increasing the efficiency and capabilities of Tesco Lotus’s online business.

The company also plans to refurbish around 120 stores this year to enhance the shopping experiences for customers. This would include upgrades to the look and feel of the outlets, as improved services in the fresh food departments and the reallocation of space to fit with customers’ lifestyles, Sompong said. In 2017, the company purchased more than 200,000 tonnes of fresh food directly from farmers, an increase of more than 30 per cent over the previous year.

“We are looking to add around 596,000 square feet of sales floor space, which is a 44 per cent increase on last year’s new space. Last year, we opened 67 new stores,” Sompong said.

“Our approach is no longer to look at stores by format, but as omni-channel retailing offering a seamless experience for our shoppers wherever and whenever they shop at Tesco Lotus.

“Today, around 40 per cent of our customer base are cross-channel shoppers, and we expect that this number will continue to increase.”

Sompong said that rather than the company focusing on the multi-format offering of bricks-and-mortar outlets, Tesco Lotus is looking towards omni-channel retailing. “This approach means that customers are able to shop with Tesco Lotus anywhere, anytime, be it in our hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, or online,” he said.

“They’re also able to do so in a seamless experience and can expect to have the same great quality products at affordable prices through all of Tesco Lotus’s retail channels.

“The key challenge for many industries, including retail, is the speed at which customer behaviour is changing. Our task is to continue to fulfil their needs and serve them better, and we have to be able to do this at a much faster pace than ever before.”

One of agreements is for the lease of telecommunication equipment, and the other for a domestic roaming service.

The deal is a major breakthrough for Thailand’s digital infrastructure to materialise the “Thailand 4.0” vision endorsed by Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha to reduce inequalities and promote universal access as per the 20-year national economic and social development plan.

The new collaboration will also serve the rapid growth of the country’s mobile users and stimulate a long-term business opportunity for state enterprise TOT.

Under the collaborative framework, which lasts through 2025, TOT will lease telecommunication equipment from TeleAssets – a subsidiary of dtac TriNet – to build a network for broadband wireless access, including fixed wireless broadband and mobile broadband.

TOT will use a portion of the network capacity to provide its services to customers and to drive the government’s digitisation policy.

The remaining network capacity will be used by dtac TriNet through the roaming agreement, under which TOT will receive an annual revenue stream of Bt4.51 billion, said TOT president Montchai Noosong.

In a related matter, Total Access Communication (DTAC) – the parent of dtac TriNet – on Monday reported strong net-profit growth of 474 per cent in the first quarter, posting earnings of Bt1.3 billion.

The company’s share price surged 2.07 per cent to close at Bt49.25 on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

At the end of the first quarter, DTAC’s subscriber base stood at 21.8 million.

DTAC has maintained its financial guidance for 2018, comprising service revenues (excluding network interconnection revenue) of around the same level as last year.

Chief executive officer Lars Norling said that as DTAC was approaching the end of its concession from CAT Telecom in mid-September, it had greatly reduced business uncertainty by already securing additional spectrum through a partnership agreement with TOT on 2300MHz wireless services.

“Furthermore, we are also in discussion with CAT on a long-term lease agreement for access to concession assets and expect to conclude the agreement before the end of the concession.

Despite the uncertainty on the timeline of the auction for concession spectrums, we are confident that we will be able to provide uninterrupted mobile services to our customers during the transition period,” he added.

In regard to the Bongkok gas field, the listed company will jointly bid for a larger stake with its current partner in the field, Total E&P Thailand SAS, chief executive officer Somporn Vongvuthipornchai said on Monday

As for the Erawan gas field, PTTEP is negotiating with the current operator, Chevron, for a share in the field, he said.

However, if it cannot conclude a deal with Chevron, the company will bid for an operational stake in the field on its own, the CEO said.

Net income fell in the first three months to 94 million euros ($115 million) compared to 128 million euros over the same period in 2017, the company reported in a statement.

Best known for the manufacture of light bulbs, electrical appliances and television sets, the Amsterdam-based company has gradually pulled out of these activities in face of fierce competition from Asia.

It focuses now more on high-end medical and health technology, such as computer tomography and molecular imaging, as well as household appliances.

Sales in the first quarter stood at 3.9 billion euros, 2.0 percent down on 4.03 million euros in 2017.

But the company stressed that was a comparable growth of 5.0 percent taking into account such issues as currency fluctuations, and the shedding of the Philips Lighting arm.

“While there is more work to be done, 2018 started well,” said chief executive office Frans van Houten.

Restructuring and acquisition charges came to a hefty 64 million euros in the first quarter of 2018, compared to just 24 million in the same period last year. The 2017 first quarter profits also got a boost from a 59 million euros gain from selling some real estate.

Focus on innovation

The group, which sold its first light bulb a few years after it was founded in 1891, moved to list its Philips Lighting division in mid-2016 which joined the Amsterdam stock exchange, the top-tier AEX, in March.

Philips is a global multinational with more than 74,000 employees and income streams in over 150 countries.

Van Houten hailed sales growth in early 2018 particularly in the diagnostics and treatment area, up in comparable figures some 9.0 percent on last year.

“Across our markets, we continue to see strong customer interest in our innovations,” said Van Houten.

The company had also “signed eight long-term strategic partnership agreements across the US, Europe and the Middle East,” he said, citing an 11-year deal with Britain’s Wye Valley NHS Trust to provide the latest diagnostic imaging equipment.

Philips remained on target for the 2017-2020 period of 4.0 percent to 6.0 percent comparable sales growth, he added.

Van Houten, whose second term at the head of the company is due to end in a year, told reporters on a conference call he would be ready to stay on for another term, if shareholders wished.

Fitch has also affirmed BTSC’s senior unsecured ratings at “A-”.

The bank is now expediting expansion of its K Plus customer base, targeting students and payroll customers.

Partnership with large business conglomerates is also emphasised.

KBank aims to have 10.8 million K Plus users by this yearend, president Patchara Samalapa said.

Since fees were cancelled for funds transfer, bill payment and top-ups, he said, K Plus has become the most-used app for financial transactions.

In early April, the number of K Plus users surged 37 per cent year on year to 8.1 million.

The number of all types of transactions via K Plus has reached a record high of 20 items per day, up 2.5 times the number in April 2017.

It said the rating reflects TREIT’s predictable income stream from rental contracts, the largest portfolio of industrial property for rent, geographical diversification, and diverse tenant base.

The strengths are partially offset by the occupancy rate of industrial properties, which is sensitive to economic conditions.

The rating also incorporates rising leverage given its financial policy and investment plans.

The company is also bidding on more than Bt1 billion worth of government infrastructure projects this year, chief executive Tanin Sajjaboribun said on Monday.

At the end of last year, the company announced total revenue of Bt846.8 million down 0.47 per cent from 2016, and net profit of Bt44.3 million, down 25.44 per cent.

Prayut said he was well aware of the concerns but urged the public to open their minds to accept good benefits from the collaboration, Government spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Saturday.

Alibaba Group has committed to invest a total of Bt11 billion in Thailand in a move that Prayut said could benefit the country’s small farmers and rural enterprises due to the firm’s expertise in diverse technology.

“The PM had ordered the economic team to balance economic competition. While carefully considering the appropriation of benefits for foreign investors, we have to protect Thai investors and SMEs as well,” Sansern said.

The premier also suggested that Thai business owners adapt themselves to cope with the competition, viewing it as a challenge rather than an obstacle, Sansern said.