“Our target is that by 2023, our power generation capacity will reach 10,000 MW,” chief executive Kijja Sripatthangkura said at a press conference yesterday.

To do so, Kijja said, Ratch Group aims to increase its capacity by 700 megawatts a year in the next five years, each year investing between Bt10 billion and Bt20 billion in new projects.

Ratch Group expects two investments in Thailand, in a large plant and a smaller one.

Six overseas deals are under negotiation for projects in Australia, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia.

“In addition to our two domestic deals, this year, we expect to secure at least two more international deals with the aim of finalising five to six overseas deals,” Kijja said.

Currently, Ratch Group’s power plants have a power generation capacity of 6,860.34 MW.

In 2019, the company will open an additional three power plants for commercial operation; among them, the Collinsville Solar Farm in Australia opened on March 26.

The Berkprai Cogeneration Power Plant in Thailand will be opened on June 1 and the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Hydroelectric Power Plant in Laos will follow towards the end of this year. The three power plants have a combined capacity of 179.73 MW.

Meanwhile, four projects under construction will add a combined power generation capacity of 486.79 MW.

With all these plants combined, Ratch Group will have total power generation capacity of 7,526.86 MW, leaving the company 2,473.14 MW short of its 2023 target.

The company also announced its plans to diversify its business by investing more in infrastructure projects, aiming to direct 20 per cent of its total investment to infrastructure by 2023.

“Particularly, we are currently looking to invest in the mass transit system’s Orange Line, which is extensive in length and has a |high potential for ridership. Furthermore, we are also looking to invest in the Bang Pa-In to Nakhon Ratchasima Intercity Motorway (M6),” said Kijja, declining to reveal the likely scale of these potential investments.

In the first quarter of this year, the company made a net profit of Bt1.74 billion with total revenue of Bt11.26 billion, it reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

While no specific revenue targets are set for the next five years, the company expects total revenue to continue to increase at a consistent pace, given its investment and power generation capacity expansion plans.

The seamless online shopping experience will offer the same journey and impression customers get when they visit a physical IKEA store, promised the company executives.

“We see the potential – it is a potential in Thailand for IKEA. We have only been accessible within Bangkok so far, and now we will be accessible for people from across the country,” Lacia Sherlock, the deputy retail manager for Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, said.

“So we think it has potential. The delivery prices need to be affordable and all the services need to be accessible for consumers living outside of Bangkok, so that they are able to get the assembly or whatever they need.”

Over the past decades, IKEA has revolutionised the furniture and home decor industry through differentiated and unique ideas such as flat-packs, the iconic IKEA blue box store, showrooms offering practical in-store experiences and home decorating inspirations for everyone. As well there is their do-it-yourself (DIY) “We do our part, you do your part” concept, and bulk production to offer quality, affordable, functional and well-designed furniture and decorating items for people around the world.

IKEA is committed to developing products and services to create a better everyday life for the masses, and is now attempting to meet the changing lifestyles of modern shoppers who spend a considerable amount of time online. To respond to that change, IKEA developed an e-commerce platform for modern shoppers providing a convenient channel to access it products and inspirations, 24 hours a day and from anywhere in Thailand.

Sherlock said it took IKEA about two years to study the market demand, develop the infrastructure, and prepare everything before launching their e-commerce service in Southeast Asia.

“We aim to provide an impressive online shopping experience similar to the shopping experience customers get when visiting our physical stores,” she said. The online store has been available in Singapore and Malaysia within Southeast Asia. “We are pleased to now be able to provide this access to Thais. We have been wanting to do this for a long time, along with providing them with a superior experience and inspiration through both of our two Bangkok stores,” said Sherlock.

IEA soft-launched its e-commerce service in Thailand on March 26 in order to test the system and procedures and ensure they were fully functional before today’s official launch.

“Based on the soft launch I’m going to say [customer growth] was faster than Malaysia, and probably at the same pace as Singapore. So Malaysia had 5 per cent after six months and we had 5 per cent after eight weeks. So definitely faster than Malaysia, which is a surprise actually. And Singapore started out at about 7 per cent and are now on 10 per cent, so I think Thailand is probably more on Singapore’s pace,” said Sherlock.

The company also has a plan to roll out the e-commerce business in other emerging countries, in which it has a physical presence.

“We will always have physical presence together with the e-commerce platform. And the next store in the market for us is Manila, the Philippines, in November 2020,” she added. Tom Suter, the store manager for IKEA Bang Yai said, “We are grateful to IKEA’s fans who have welcomed IKEA Online Store and provided us with valuable feedback so that we could further improve our services.”

The online store chalked up 1,344,700 visits and 4,900 orders at IKEA.co.th during the two-month test run, Suter noted.

“We are looking at achieving 17,000 online orders this year. We believe that the IKEA Online Store will help strengthen IKEA Thailand and drive sustainable growth, as our popular in-store shopping experience is complemented by our new online offering.”

The airlines reinforce its world class aviation standards and excellent service aiming to accommodate the hi-end target groups that require convenience from full service. Flights from Jaipur to Bangkok is operated four flights a week; Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday while those from Bangkok to Jaipur are available on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Flights are available for two classes (Premium Economy) Smile Plus and (Economy) Smile Class. Passengers are able to book and fly on June 1st onwards. Price starts at 15,626 IDR/Person/Round Trip (all inclusive). For more information, please visit http://www.thaismileair.com, or Smile Travel Agents nationwide. Terms and Conditions apply.

Yongyut Wongteerasoot, the executive director, said early this week in Yangon that his company plans to install 20,000 mobile phone credit vending machines in Myanmar in the next few years.

Customers of Telenor, Ooredo, Mytel, MPT and 2C2P could use the machines to pay for their mobile bills, he added.

He said the company has 2C2P, a mobile phone operator, as its business partner and will work with several government agencies in Myanmar. The vending machine services include utility bill payments, he said.

Myanmar consumers preferred prepaid system as they spend on average Bt150 per month compared with Thai consumers Bt240.

With 54 million population and GDP growth around 6-7 per cent, the mobile phone market in Myanmar has increased rapidly, he said. The company plans to install 100 vending machines in the first month.

With over three decades of experience in the commercial banking industry, Akita’s achievements at MUFG Bank have been “outstanding”, Krungsri said.

Prior to joining Krungsri, Akita served as the MUFG Bank chief in New York and in management roles while holding MUFG’s key positions in the US and Japan, with responsibilities for corporate customer relations, mergers and acquisitions finance, corporate planning and global strategies of MUFG.

“With his vision, experience and leadership, Akita will take Krungsri to the next level towards sustainable growth, delivering on the Krungsri’s medium-term business plan and navigating Krungsri to achieve its aspiration to become a top-tier financial group in Thailand,” the bank said.

Akita graduated in law from Keio University, Tokyo and a took a masters in management from Arthur Little School of Management in Boston.

Krungsri said it was the fifth largest financial group in Thailand in terms of assets, loans and deposits, and one of Thailand’s five “Domestic Systemically Important Banks” (D-SIBs).

With the phenomenon of thin crispy, delicious, healthy, accessible to the full flavor of Thai rice, “Rise Buddy”, rice snack for health with a delicious, slim-style rice snack from 100 per cent Thai rice, without gluten-free rice, use baking methods instead of frying, making it crunchy and delicious without cholesterol and trans fats, mixed with fine seasoning from various raw materials selected from nature.

There are four flavors; Korean seaweed, lime and chili flavor, pizza flavor and teriyaki flavor.

It is available now at Gourmet Market, foodland, Tang Hua Seng, Tsuruha and other leading supermarkets nationwide.