The site is equipped with new features for better navigation to quickly and easily connect buyers and sellers. BaanKaidee aims to be the leading real estate marketplace in the country, the company said.

Tiwa York, CEO at Kaidee, said: “In 2017, property ownership transfers in Thailand totalled 524,000 homes. This was split into 52 per cent residential and 48 per cent other property types. The total value of transfers was nearly Bt1.2 trillion.

“The majority of trade is still happening through traditional channels. We expect this to change rapidly.”

Property has been the third most popular category on Kaidee since 2016. In the first half of 2018, over 10 million Thais visited BaanKaidee with over 150 million pages viewed.

During this period, 4,307 properties were sold worth more than Bt8.6 billion. The variety of properties successfully sold include a school valued at Bt50 million in Chiang Mai province and land in Ubon Ratchathani province worth Bt28 million.

York added: “We’ve seen a shift in behaviour over the past two years from people only looking for condos and houses to searching for all kinds of property online.

“Most people think that people are only searching for central Bangkok online. However, from our data, we can see that interest extends well beyond,” York said.

This good results were achieved principally due to the introduction of a new presenter for the “Doomm Doomm” collection and a new advertising spot designed to motivate purchases. The firm also posted 161-per-cent growth for online sales, which reduced its expenses by allowing for promotion campaigns tailored for a more focused target audience with real purchasing power.

Bunchai Punturaumporn, chief executive of Sabina, revealed the company’s nine-month results, noting a total revenue figure of Bt2.32 billion, a 16.14 per cent year-on-year and a net profit figure of Bt286.12 million. He added that revenue and net profit growths were driven by the impressive growth in online sales and by the introduction of Pimchanok “Baifern” Leuwisetpaiboon as Sabina’s new presenter for the “Doomm Doomm” collection of lingerie.

“It is normal for purchase volume to pick up during the introduction of a new presenter or a new advertising spot. What we also have this year is better-than-expected growth in online sales. Online selling has proved more cost-effective in terms of promotion campaigns,” he said.

The CEO added that Sabina’s other three platforms also generated revenue growth: 7.6 per cent for retailing (the company’s main marketing platform), 29 per cent for Sabina exports and 44.5 per cent for OEM.

Sabina executed its export strategy for CLMV markets (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) very efficiently, closely monitoring the sales structures of its local partners, including in the areas of product selection and selling points, and ensuring punctual delivery. The sales growth rates for the CLMV markets were therefore satisfactorily high and contributed greatly to Sabina’s achievement of the stated growth targets.

 “We plan to invest Bt77 billion by 2022, and aim to double the ‘earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation’ (EBITDA),” says Chaiwat Kovavisarach, president and CEO of Bangchak Corporation Plc.

In 2012, Bangchak gained an EBITDA at Bt7 billion. This increased significantly to Bt14 billion in 2017, and it has now set its EBITDA target at Bt30 billion by 2023, he says.

The Bt77 billion investment will be directed to expanding its gas refineries, biofuel production, hydropower and marketing, according to Chaiwat.

 “We are working to address the problem of climate change and will be investing in technology that is environmentally friendly. This year, up to 40 per cent of our revenue is generated from green energy, and we aim to push this figure to at least 50 per cent in the next four years,” he says.

To demonstrate its commitment to providing green energy, Bangchak has launched the “Bangchak Greenovative Experience” (GEM) project, an avenue that is entirely self-sustained by solar energy, which came into full operation at the end of September this year, Chaiwat added.

The GEM project has various solar panel locations, sending electricity to lithium-ion batteries that store it at a capacity of 1 megawatt per hour. The battery then provides energy to all the restaurants, cafes and other retail services that have been established in the avenue.

This fully self-sustaining solar power avenue is the first of its kind in Thailand, says Chaiwat. Their lithium-ion battery is also currently the largest such battery in the country, and the company’s hope is that the project serves as a model for future development of avenues by Bangchak and other companies all over the country.

Bangchak is fully prepared to embrace new technologies that have been disrupting the Thai market, he says.

Energy regulation within the GEM project utilises Artificial Intelligence (AI) that predicts the weather and informs the entire system when it calculates that insufficient energy is being harnessed from solar panels to meet needs, so that Bangchak can purchase electricity from outside the GEM system and prevent electricity outages.

When asked whether he is concerned about the falling oil prices, Chaiwat firmly stated that he believes it is only as a result of changes within the business cycle and that prices will soon stabilise.

Meanwhile, the company has reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand total revenue of Bt143.24 billion for the first nine months of this year, up 14 per cent from the same period of last year.

Net profit was Bt4 billion, a 3.14 per cent drop from the same period of last year.

Its total revenue now accounts for around 11 per cent of AIS’ total, Yongsit Rojsrikul, AIS chief enterprise business officer, said yesterday.

The AIS arm targets total revenue of between Bt14 billion to Bt15 billion this year.

AIS Business provides a full range of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services and solutions to corporate customers.

He added that the businesses of AIS Business, such as Cloud computing and Internet of Things services and solutions are experiencing fast growth.

Yesterday this AIS arm announced its vision and policy to become the leading and most-trusted ICT service provider.

AIS chief executive officer Somchai Lertsutiwong said that the AIS Business has capitalised on the strength of AIS group’s wireless and wired line networks and the digital service platforms, including AIS global technology partners, to help all types of businesses go through a full digital transformation.

Somchai adds that over the past five years, digital disruption has dramatically affected the way people live their lives and do business.

As for the enterprises, it is a great new opportunity to transform into innovation organisations with sustainable growth, he says.

AIS has commanded around a 70 per cent share of Thailand’s total large enterprise market and around 40 per cent share of the SME market, according to its head of the enterprise marketing management unit, Navachai Kiartkorkuaa.

AIS operates its cellular service on the biggest mobile spectrum bandwidth, totalling 2×60 MHz.

Yesterday AIS also organised the Digital Future 2019 seminar and digital technology showcase, bringing experts and high-ranking executives from leading local and international organisations together to share their visions.

Under the partnership agreement, CPN will hold 51 per cent in the joint venture, while the remaining 29 per cent and 20 per cent will be owned respectively by Common Ground Works and MSB Asia. The joint venture will have Bt400 million in registered capital, with the set-up totally completed within this month.

It will open its first co-working space branch at the beginning of next year and target to invest Bt800 million to open 20 branches within five years.

The expansion of co-working spaces in Thailand will help create a new generations of innovative entrepreneurs and nurture a start-up community, and build on CPN’s vision of being the “Centre of Life”. The co-working spaces will meet the needs of modern working life with its “holistic lifestyle integration” concept, and will support Thailand as a hub of SMEs and start-ups in Southeast Asia as well as supporting sustainable growth for Thailand’s economy.

Juhn Teo, co-founder and CEO of Common Ground Works, says the company sees great potential for the co-working space business in Thailand, driven by a healthy economy and strong GDP growth. The demand for flexible office space will continue to grow in Thailand, in line with other countries in the region, where they are expected to make up from 2 per cent to 30 per cent of Grade A office space by 2030.

“Also, the Thai culture is very open to lifestyle offerings at the workplace,” he said.

Teo said the key driving factors for the growth of the co-working marketplace in Thailand are the growth of local start-ups and SMEs, as well as individual firms that are looking for more lifestyle features and benefits for their staff workplace.

“The emergence of new digital technology also enables more people to work remotely from outside,” he said.

“For Thailand, we expect the volume of co-working spaces to increase by seven times over the next five years,” said Teo.

“We also feel that more Thai people and companies want to be out of their workplace today and for that trend to get even stronger in the future. To attract and retain top talent, companies need to offer not only a beautiful and innovative working environment, but also to provide great benefits to their staff in terms of fitness, education, self improvement, F&B offerings – all on the top of an attractive culture to work in. That is what Common Ground can provide with our expertise and technology,” he added.

“In the next five years, we plan to triple the number of branches across Southeast Asia with the aim to have 20 branches in Thailand alone. Ten of these branches will be in prime locations in Bangkok, such as in office building connected to CPN’s shopping centres and other Grade A office buildings, while the rest of the branches will be in major cities such as Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pattaya. The goal is to have our customers use our services in these various locations. Entrepreneurs can use our services in all locations,” said Teo.

Common Ground is the fastest-growing co-working company in Southeast Asia.

The company prides itself on not just being a communal working space, but also for building a sustainable and integrated co-working community. It plans to open triple the number of branches across the region by the end of 2023, located in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand.

Nattakit Tangpoonsinthana, CPN executive vice president of marketing, said the company aims to continue its vision of encouraging all entrepreneurs to become the mainspring in supporting the economy following their concept of being the “Centre of Life”.

The facility increases the company’s capacity to offer high-quality insulation materials and solutions with reliable, energy-efficient performance that customers and the society can benefit from.

“This announcement demonstrates Dow’s commitment to our ongoing investment in Polyurethanes in order to bring to our customers a reliable supply of innovative solutions aligned to global trends such as population growth and energy efficiency,” said Jane Palmieri, business president, Dow Polyurethanes.

“The Rayong facility is an important addition to Dow’s global polyurethanes manufacturing network, further enabling us to deliver industry-leading products that help customers minimize their environmental footprint, while creating lasting social, environmental and economic benefits throughout the entire product life cycle.”

From keeping food fresher more efficiently to preventing home energy loss, polyol is a key raw material for rigid polyurethane foam solutions to improve energy efficiency in a wide variety of construction, professional cold chain and appliance applications. Dow’s high-performing polyols enable novel energy efficiency solutions, which help customers to meet stringent, country-specific regulations and embrace global sustainability trends.

The new polyol plant has a designed annual capacity of 79,000 tons and is located at the Asia Industrial Estate (AIE) site in Rayong province. Home to six Dow manufacturing plants, the AIE site covers 515 hectares and adheres to the most advanced environmental, health and safety standards in its operations and management, utilizing bleeding-edge technologies to minimise its overall environmental footprint.