Of the projected yearly figure, Bt1 billion was achieved in the first half.

The total revenue target is Bt56.5 billion, of which Bt25.3 billion will come from its own operations  with the remainder from business partners.

Currently, TOT has 1.4 million broadband internet subscribers.

TOT has also upgraded its digital infrastructure to provide digital solutions, including Cloud services and cybersecurity services.

Tesco Lotus will leverage Shopee’s extensive consumer base to serve millions of shoppers across Thailand. The partnership reflects the Tesco Lotus strategic priority to serve customers better through expanded online channels.

Yutana Jitcharoongphorn, head of the online grocery shopping business at Tesco Lotus, said: “As an omni-channel retailer, Tesco Lotus is committed to providing our customers great quality products at affordable prices and a seamless shopping experience wherever they shop with us, be it in our hypermarket, Express store, or online platforms.

“We were the first retailer in Thailand to launch our own online shopping channel – Tesco Lotus Shop Online – which now offers a wide range of fresh food and grocery products. With the urbanisation and digitalisation trends in Thailand, we see opportunities to serve customers better through expanded online platforms.”

The supermarket chain is “delighted” to launch the Tesco Lotus shop on Shopee Mall, said Yutana. Starting from August 8, Shopee customers will be able to buy more than 10,000 items, including electrical appliances, health and beauty products, and mother and baby products at “fantastic prices”, Yutana said.

“To celebrate the launch during August 8-10th, we will be running flash sales offering as much as 70-per-cent discounts throughout the day, with free deliveries available for selected items.” Clubcard members be able to collect their points as normal, similar to when they shop in the brick-and-mortar stores, Tesco Lotus Shop Online, and their shop on another online marketplace, to provide a seamless shopping experience.

Siwagorn Siriwongpanupong, the head of business development for Shopee Thailand, said, “With this partnership, Shopee users can enjoy a wide variety of Tesco Lotus products on Shopee and provide them greater convenience to purchase their daily essentials easily. On this momentous occasion of our partnership, Shopee is honoured to have Tesco Lotus as our official e-commerce partner and we are confident that this partnership will be a great success.”

TPSO’s director general Pimchanok Vonkorpon explained that the seminar was an offshoot of the successful CLMVT Forum 2019 and would provide an excellent opportunity not only for businesses to equip themselves with greater awareness and better understanding of how to apply e-commerce and digital trade tools to enhance their cross-border trade activities, but also allow the relevant government agencies to learn how to construct a digital cross-border trade database. More than 300 participants from CLMVT and Asean attended the seminar, which kicked off with a talk “Open the Door to Opportunities.

The Asia Pacific, including Asean and CLMVT, has the world’s highest share of B2C e-commerce to GDP which currently stands at 4.5 per cent and the value is projected to reach US$38.1 billion in 2019 with a 2014-2020 CAGR of 37 per cent, according to the UN-ESCAP and Asian Development Bank (ADB). The region’s share is higher than that of North America and Western Europe. Within CLMVT, Thailand ranks first in total e-commerce value at Bt2.24, Bt2.5, Bt2.7 and Bt3.1 trillion n 2015-2018, respectively. Thailand’s B2C e-commerce value also grew 14 per cent in 2018 and is expected to increase to 16 per cent in 2019. Moreover, the B2C E-commerce Index 2017 report that examines global e-commerce readiness by the UNCTAD ranks Thailand at the 49th place in the world and first in CLMVT.

Pimchanok said that e-commerce and digital trade have been and will continue to be a crucial tool to exponentially enhance CLMVT’s intra-regional trade both qualitatively and quantitatively. She also added that the seminar would serve as a significant stepping stone for realising the goal of CLMVT to become a new global value chain hub where entrepreneurs can fully utilise digital technologies and where new business collaborations are formed for the better and more sustainable growth and development of the CLMVT economy.

The innovative service is designed to accommodate the lifestyle of the new generation who prefer to use drive thru services for food and beverage purchases. Customers simply have to drive through the canopy of the KBank ATM to conduct financial transactions, including withdrawal, funds transfer, top-up and payment, via a large illumination-controlled touch screen without having to leave their car. The 24-hour service accommodates financial transactions via ATM card and cardless withdrawal via KPLUS.

KBank ATM Drive Thru is the latest collaboration between KBank and PTT Station in developing numerous services to offer convenience to PTT customers. Other initiatives include the setting up of the first K PARK, a community branch offering KBank financial and supplementary services. The two companies have also introduced the PTT Blue Credit Card and e-Wallet: Blue Connect.

“We will establish two new companies to cover nano financing with a registered capital of Bt50 million and pico financing with a registered capital of Bt20 million. Both these companies will wait for a licence from the Finance Ministry, which is expected this month. We will then test the market for six months and manage our operating system before its launched in the market,” he said.

He explained that nano and pico financing aim to meet loan demands from the lower-income group.

“We don’t know about the market size but we believe the market is large enough for us to do business,” he said.

Research by the Bank of Thailand and Kasikorn Research Centre show that loan-sharks had provided loans worth Bt640 billion by the end of 2018, covering nearly 5 per cent of the population’s total household debt, which stood at Bt12.83 trillion at the end of 2018, or 78.6 per cent of the gross domestic product.

Chutidej said that nano and pico financing were a means of helping lower-income people get low-interest loans compared to money borrowed from loan sharks.

“Once we get the licence, this side of the business will start generating profits within two years,” he added.

Since December 2017, the Finance Ministry has approved 33 licences for nano financing and 43 for pico financing nationwide.

As of March 31, 33 nano financiers have given out 1.91 million loans worth Bt30.66 billion.

Nano financiers provide loans for small businesses, and loans are not more than Bt100,000 at an effective interest rate of 36 per cent per year.

Pico financing, meanwhile, covers personal loans of no more than Bt100,000, while the interest rates are divided in two, 36 per cent for the first Bt50,000 and 28 per cent per year for the second Bt50,000.

As of March 31, 43 pico financiers nationwide approved loans for 76,787 individuals worth Bt599.56 million.

Upon successful completion of this transaction, SCB and SCB Life will enter into a long-term distribution agreement forming a business collaboration in the life-insurance business.

SCB will also offer life-insurance products of FWD to SCB customers in Thailand via SCB distribution channels for a period of 15 years according to the terms of distribution agreement.

“GrabFood is growing fast and remains Thailand’s number one on-demand food delivery platform,” said Grab Thailand chief Tarin Thaniyavarn. “We’re happy to offer consumers all their favourite foods at affordable prices and are grateful to our merchant partners in enabling this and making the GrabFood network better each day,” he added.

“Since the launch of GrabFood, we have been a platform that merchants trust. GrabFood has helped them increase their income approximately eight times throughout the year from July 2018 to July 2019 with our immense user network, and helped prepare them for the digital economy by adopting new technology, making them reach their goals faster. That’s the secret sauce of our merchant partners’ rapid expansion, which then generates more business revenue for them and helps more restaurants join us in this campaign of offering up to 80 per cent of discounts and more than 8,000 deals. GrabFood has a variety of fare that covers most of the cuisines available in this country,” Tarin said.

As part of the campaign, “flash deals” will be held from 2pm-5pm Friday to Sunday. There will also be a daily “afternoon happy hour” for those with a sweet tooth to enjoy their favourite bubble tea, desserts and ice cream.

The restaurants and outlets which have joined the GrabFood 8.8 Mega Sale are offering a variety of cuisines and include popular street-food vendors such as Baoxing Suki, Somtam Amorn, PadThai Ekkamai, Mootod 3 Kings and Empire Roasted Duck. Katsuya, Zen Japanese, Oishi Ramen, Bonchon, S&P, Zaap Classic, Hongkong Noodle and Tummour are selling popular Asian fare, while McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Texas Chicken are offering Western fast-food. Hit drinks and desserts are also on sale, courtesy of Auntie Anne’s, Koi The, Swensen’s, QQ Dessert and Potato Corner.

The campaign focuses on its consumer insight strategy that turns the needs of customers into innovations combined with development of communication activities to respond to the demands of targeted audiences. The campaign also highlights Philips’ four “greatest innovations” – AirFryer, its High-Speed Vacuum Blender, SpeedPro Max Aqua, and PerfectCare Elite Plus – which are expected to drive sales growth in the second half of the year.

“At present, we find that the trend of a healthy lifestyle is growing rapidly along with the expansion of urban society and the elderly society,” said Siriwan Nitkitjatorn, general manager, Personal Health, Philips (Thailand). “Therefore, Thai consumers have begun to pay more attention to living healthily. They are looking for innovation that will help them to take added care of their health and make life better. Philips Thailand, as a leader in health technology, would like to deliver the best experience to our customers. That is why we are launching the campaign ‘Experience the Best’ to offer four innovations which assist consumers to live healthily and for their well-being,” she added.

“Under the campaign, we will focus on two key strategies: 1) consumer insight – to develop innovation in response to consumers’ needs, while customising marketing communication; the content has to engage consumers, and should be something that they look for on online and offline media. 2) Shift from ‘pull’ to ‘push’ demand – that is, encouraging consumers to visit our store so they have a chance to get a hands-on experience with our products,” Siriwan said.

“We have to renovate our store displays and provide interactive screens. This will help our customers access information easily and conveniently. We also have a professional product adviser to serve our customers. In addition, we have rolled out a road show of activities to demonstrate our products in leading department stores. We believe our strong strategies will deliver the best experience to our customers, leading to good brand perception and increasing sales of our products,” Siriwan added.

The supermarket chain said it was responding to changes in customer habits, including a shift towards using the larger Metro stores for convenience shopping rather than large weekly food shops. It is also facing tough competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl, which are continuing to open new shops.

But labour groups said the cuts indicated that the government was not doing enough to alleviate the burden on traditional shops and prevent the high street being “hollowed out”. According to the British Retail Consortium the number of people employed in retail is down 72,000 on a year ago.

In a statement on its website, Tesco said the job cuts were part of an effort to “simplify and reduce processes and administrative tasks” across all of its Metro stores.

“The changes in our Metro stores will be focused on better tailoring them to how our customers shop,” it said.

“The Metro format was originally designed for larger, weekly shops, but today nearly 70 per cent of customers use them as convenience stores, buying food for that day.”

It said it could cut staff numbers because it had found simpler ways of stacking shelves that meant there was less need to store stock in backrooms, while it also wanted to simplify store management structures and introduce more flexible working hours.

Tesco will also reduce opening hours in 134 of its 1,750 smaller neighbourhood Express stores, where customer traffic is lower.

Jason Tarry, the supermarket’s UK and Ireland boss, said: “In a challenging, evolving retail environment, with increasing cost pressures, we have to continue to review the way we run our stores to ensure we reflect the way our customers are shopping and do so in the most efficient way.

“We do not take any decision which impacts colleagues lightly, but have to make sure we remain relevant for customers and operate a sustainable business now and in the future.”

The retailer, which has more than 300,000 UK employees and more than 3,400 stores, said earlier this year it could cut 9,000 jobs, although it hoped to redeploy up to half into other customer service roles. Fishmonger, butcher and baker jobs at the retailer were expected to be at risk, along with counter staff.

The cuts at Tesco are part of plans by the chief executive, Dave Lewis, to slash 1.5 billion pounds (Bt56.1 billion) from Tesco’s cost base.

A source at Tesco’s operations in Thailand revealed that the job cut is in line with the reshuffle at UK operations and does not have any impact on the Thai operations. The company declined to make any further comment.

With high net profit growth, the company’s board of directors meeting on Tuesday (August 6) approved to pay the interim dividend payment of Bt0.25 per share for the period January 1 to June 30, 2019 on September 3, 2019. Shareholders were entitled to receive a dividend on August 21, 2019.

Dividend payment of Bt0.25 per share is subject to a 10 per cent withholding tax, or Bt0.025 per share, as it is derived from profit under a non-BOI privilege. The net dividend paid will value Bt0.225 per share, according to the company report to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Tuesday.

The company announced total revenue of Bt32.21 billion in the second quarter of this year, a 4.6 per cent drop from the same period of last year after the Thai baht appreciated against the EUR and GBP between six and seven per cent, according to the company reports.

Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, sales would still decline (-2.2 per cent) along with a volume sales decrease.

Meanwhile, the company’s sales revenue in the first half of this year was down 2.4 per cent when compared with the same period of last year to Bt61.58 billion, driven partly by foreign exchange impact.

But the company reports gross profit of Bt5.36 billion in the second quarter of this year, up 13.1 per cent from the same period of last year.

In the first half of this year, the company also recorded gross profit of Bt9.74 billion, up 19.9 per cent from the same period of last year.

With the gross profit improvement, in the second quarter of this year normalised operating profit was at Bt1.57 billion, up 29.6 per cent in the same period of last year, despite booking labour retirement benefits of Bt205 million.

In the first half of this year, its normalised net profit was at Bt2.78 billion, up 24.6 per cent from the same period of last year.

“Profitability remains a key focus for us at Thai Union, and the overall performance in the second quarter was pleasing, particularly in a challenging operating environment,” the company’s chief executive officer Thiraphong Chansiri said at press release on Tuesday.

“As we look ahead, Thai Union will continue to see new innovative products developed and launched in the market, which will provide us with new revenue streams as we work to build a business with sustainable growth.”

During 2Q19, Thai Union subsidiary Chicken of the Sea reached a settlement with a majority of plaintiffs in an ongoing antitrust litigation in the US, resulting in an additional Bt1.4 billion after tax. Excluding the one-time accrual, the company recorded a net profit of Bt1.51 billion.

“We share this updated litigation status as Chicken of the Sea has now appropriately provided for any financial impact,” said Joerg Ayrle, group chief financial officer.

Thai Union continues to invest in innovation, and in June its new Global Innovation Centre in Bangkok was officially opened by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The facility has been expanded to over 5,000 square metres, and houses more than 160 scientists and researchers from around the world, Thiraphong said.