Highlighting the company’s commitment to support the local community, the upscale deluxe hotel within the 14 Riverside complex in the city’s exclusive Westlands neighbourhood, is now fully operational following the tragic incident in January this year.

Enhanced security measures have been implemented to bolster the internationally certified systems and procedures the complex already in place.

Hoping to stake its claim as the Best Luxury Business Hotel in Nairobi (World Luxury Hotel Awards) for the fourth consecutive year, dusitD2 Nairobi enhanced its business offering by adding a new range of meeting rooms equipped with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment.

The hotel’s signature all-day dining restaurant, SOKO, has been redesigned to include an open kitchen and live cooking stations, while DFit fitness centre has been fully refitted with new top-of-the-range gym equipment. Enticing new menus will be offered at all outlets in the premises.

“Over the past five years, dusitD2 Nairobi welcomed leisure and business travellers from all corners of the globe and established itself as one of the leading international hotels in the city,” said Michael Metaxas, General Manager, dusitD2 Nairobi.

“We now look forward to reaffirm that position through our unwavering commitment to service excellence, our new range of impressive dining and meetings experiences, plus the fresh new look and feel throughout the property.”

To mark its grand reopening, dusitD2 Nairobi hotel is offering a special reopening package offering 20 per cent of the Dusit Best Available Rate, daily breakfast for two persons, and complimentary room upgrade.

The offer is available for booking from August 1 to 30 and valid for stays between August 1 until December 31. Rates start from $160 per night.

It will also raise capital to repay debts to its parent company, Thai Airways International (THAI). Thai Smile is currently burdened with Bt8 billion in accumulated losses as well as Bt6 billion in capital losses.

“We need to repay our debts, otherwise THAI’s loans will go down to zero under the new accounting standard. So, we need to raise about Bt5 billion in capital by the end of this year. With this amount, our capital losses will also fall,” she said.

Charita added that the plan of raising new capital will be submitted to Thai Smile’s board for approval before it is reviewed by THAI’s board. The airline is currently working on its five-year business plan, she said, adding that Thai Smile was also waiting for clarity on THAI’s plan to improve its flying routes in compliance with Thai Smile’s plans.

“Under our five-year plan, Thai Smile will have to start making profits in 2020. For the first six months of this year, we made a small profit thanks to support from THAI, which has been helping sell our tickets. Though our profit has not exceeded Bt100 million over the first half, our cabin factor has risen to 80-85 per cent, from 60 to 70 per cent previously. The number of passengers has also risen to about 360,000 per month and should reach over 4 million by yearend,” she said.

The company operates five core business units, namely ship ownership, ship operations, ship management, value-added logistics services and port operation both in Bangkok and Laem Chabang. The company is also collaborating with its subsidiaries to provide a broad range of services such as container freight stations, trucking, warehouse and distribution centres, container yard and inland container depots to name a few.

Twinchok Tanthuwanit, RCL’s SVP for the region and business development, said his company is currently the only Thai shipping service operator that has its own vessels and containers, and provides fully integrated logistics services. The company currently has 48 vessels in its fleet with two new vessels recently added.

“Today [Thursday], the third vessel has been delivered and one more will come later in the year, all of which will carry the Thai flag,” he said.

“RCL’s shipping business covers all of Asia, including the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East. We have more than 40 regular shipping routes and can deliver cargo to more than 60 major destinations. We are considered one of the only Thai companies to have achieved international standards on par with major shipping lines from China, Japan, South Korea and Europe, who are also covering these regions.”

Twinchok added that RCL is expected to generate around Bt17 billion in revenue this year and that it has already achieved approximately Bt4.2 billion in the first quarter, representing an 11-per-cent growth versus last year. He said the company is confident its revenue in the second half of this year will continue to grow and meet the 8 to 10 per cent target by year end.

Apart from expanding its fleet, RCL has also brought in modern innovations and technologies, such as a robotic system, machine learning, business intelligence and a Big Data system to boost customer satisfaction, reduce errors as well as improve cost efficiency.

“We realise that the world is changing very rapidly as is market competition. Every company has to continue improving, so we can’t stand still. Over the past two or three years, global cargo growth has been fluctuating due to hard-to-predict economic conditions and geopolitical situations worldwide. We can say our business has continued to grow despite such turbulence. The company is also preparing for digital disruption by bringing in new technology to improve our efficiency,” he added.

He added that positive growth is projected in the shipping business, particularly within Asia, for the next five years.

Flights to destinations such as London, Zurich, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Milan, Copenhagen and Porto start from Bt20,965 in economy class and from Bt91,875 in business class. Fares are valid for outbound travel until March 31, 2020.

“Emirates’ promotional fares make it the perfect time for travellers in Thailand to plan and embark on a journey of never-ending wonders – from a vast array of cultural delights, to striking architectures and mouth-watering cuisines – across both Eastern and Northern Europe,” the airline said.

Emirates provides five daily flights from Bangkok and one daily flight from Phuket to the hub of Emirates at Dubai International Airport.

“For even greater connectivity, Emirates offers customers superior reach to a wide range of cities around the world, including 43 destinations in Europe. Additionally, through its codeshare partnership with flydubai, Emirates passengers can have access to other European destinations including Catania, Krakow, Dubrovnik, and Helsinki,” the company said.

In particular, with this partnership, the company highlighted sectors covering banking and insurance, loans and hire purchase, service industries and a broad range of other industries.

The company is Thailand’s first official enterprise reseller for the secure deployment method, which allows businesses to pre-configure settings, management and applications for their employees so that their devices are up and running immediately.

By partnering with Google and offering Android zero-touch enrolment, DTAC will deliver an end-user experience for enterprise customers, as this automated deployment method reduces the dependency on IT support and simplifies the delivery and activation process.

“The current business trends are moving towards digital transformation with the emergence of e-commerce and online shopping on both websites and social media. This leads to the collection and analysis of large amounts of data or Big Data, which helps businesses analyse customer needs and behaviours in order to provide the right products and services to them,” the company said. “Therefore, mobile devices and smartphones have become essential tools in businesses as they enable customers and employees to order and deliver products and services conveniently and quickly needed.”

Rajiv Bawa, head of business group at DTAC, said: “DTAC collaborates with strategic partners to create products and services for consumers and corporate clients who need solutions for digital transformation. Google and DTAC have together continuously developed new services and pioneered new initiatives in the industry.”

The codeshare agreement covers 16 domestic and international roundtrip routes, currently operated by Bangkok Airways : Bangkok-Chiang Mai, Bangkok-Chiang Rai, Bangkok-Lampang, Bangkok-Sukhothai, Bangkok-Trat, Bangkok-Samui, Bangkok-Phuket, Bangkok-Krabi, Samui-Phuket, Bangkok-Danang, Bangkok-Phu Quoc, Bangkok-Yangon, Bangkok-Mandalay, Bangkok-Nay Pyi Taw, Bangkok-Vientiane and Bangkok – Luang Prabang. In addition, two new roundtrip routes ( Bangkok-Phnom Penh and Bangkok-Siem Reap), pending government approval, will be included under the agreement.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, president of Bangkok Airways,  said: “the collaboration with Turkish Airlines will  strengthen our respective route networks, offering  business and leisure travellers enhanced connectivity and seamless access while in Thailand and neighbouring countries. Moreover, Turkish Airlines’ passengers travelling on Bangkok Airways will enjoy the boutique airline’s services such as lounge access and in-flight meal”.

Bilal Eksi, Turkish Airlines’ general manager said:  “the codeshare agreement enhances our cooperation with  Bangkok Airways.  With Thailand being the gateway to Asia Pacific, our passengers will  enjoy greater convenience when connecting to popular destinations in the country as well  as others in neighbouring countries via Bangkok”.

The company said Halo provides independent, substantive evidence of the “private key and public address pairing”, which is one of the pieces of information needed to establish ownership of a cryptocurrency. It also “interrogates the blockchain to independently and reliably gather corroborating information about blockchain transactions and balances”, the company said.

“We are also working with companies, for whom we are not the auditor, to help them address the new opportunities and challenges of blockchain and cryptocurrency, including helping them to implement the processes and controls they will require in order to obtain assurance reports from their auditors,” the company said.

“Our ability to audit an entity engaged in cryptocurrency activities is very much influenced by our client’s control environment, and at this stage, by the breadth of tokens supported by our Halo software. These considerations will be key when determining whether we are comfortable to accept an audit engagement.”

PwC can use this tool to provide assurance services to clients transacting in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Diamond, LiteCoin, ethereum, ERC20 – OAX token, and ripple (XRP).

James Chalmers, global assurance leader, said: “It is important as companies continue to digitise we, as auditors, keep up with technology changes in the market, continue to develop audit tools that meet the needs of emerging technologies and serve the changing and developing demands of our stakeholders.”

Chanchai Chaiprasit, assurance leader and partner for PwC Thailand, said:  “Although PwC Thailand is yet to provide this audit tool for clients seeking to engage in cryptocurrency transactions due to regulatory uncertainty, we have linked up clients to our team of experts across the network who can help them out with the process and manage potential risks. In spite of the uncertainty related to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, more Thai companies are likely to raise money in the future through an initial coin offering. And when that time comes, we’ll be ready to provide those services to our clients.”

The summit, under the theme “IoT, the Engine of Thailand 4.0 to Drive the Digital Economy”, will bring together government officials, international organisations and industry experts to share IoT innovations, and explore their contributions to the Thailand 4.0 initiative and the digital economy.

The summit, hosted by Huawei with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Digital Economy Promotion Agency and the Global System for Mobile Communications, will highlight global Internet of Things trends, its value to the economy and people’s lives, as well as shed light on IoT practices from around the world and at home.

During the event, the Thailand IoT Industry Whitepaper will be officially released, with the aim of guiding the development of the IoT startups and stimulating various industries in the country. Innovative IoT devices and services across smart city, smart industry, and smart liife from global and local vendors will be exhibited.

According to GSMA Intelligence, 114 Mobile IoT commercial networks have been launched globally as of May, and total global IoT connections may rise to 25 billion by 2025. GSMA Intelligence estimates that the Asia Pacific region will be the largest region in terms of revenues hitting approximately US$386 billion while global IoT revenue will quadruple to $1.1 trillion in 2025, driven by government promotions and strong industrial IoT connection growth.

“The Internet of Things is becoming the solid foundation for Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI), and indispensable part of the future 5G. Over the past years, IoT has played a more important role in Thailand’s digital transformation. Industry players from around the world and Thailand have been engaged in IoT development and application,” said Deng Feng, Huawei Thailand’s spokesperson.

In Thailand, IoT has become as an important engine for digital transformation and produced good social and economic values. Internet service providers have started to roll out their NB-IoT across the country. Use cases such as motor tracking, caring for children and smart parking are already at a commercial stage. Innovations such as smart meter have also entered a trial stage in Thailand.

During the summit, representatives of Huawei will interpret Huawei’s IoT cloud service strategy and IoT platform solutions, with which partners can easily manage IoT products and monetise business opportunities.

Veni Shone, president of HiSilicon (Shanghai), will introduce the global developments and prospects of NB-IoT, and reveal the new opportunities that IoT will bring to Thailand.

Jean-Paul Agon, chairman and chief executive officer of L’Oreal, said on Thursday that L’Oreal had delivered its strongest first half, like-for-like growth in more than a decade, “outperforming a dynamic market which has, for the second year running, posted one of its highest-ever growth rates”.

“All the divisions are growing, and notably the L’Oreal Luxe and active cosmetics divisions which posted double-digit growth,” Agon said. “The progression of L’Oreal Luxe is being driven by its four big brands: Lancome, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani and Kiehl’s. The active cosmetics division continues to benefit from the growing appetite for healthy beauty and is posting geographically balanced growth. The performance of the consumer products division is improving semester by semester, thanks especially to the success of L’Oreal Paris, the world’s number No 1 beauty brand. Meanwhile, the transformation of the professional products division is ongoing.

“Across the geographic zones, the new markets are growing very strongly, particularly the Asia Pacific zone, which is now the group’s No 1 zone. China is maintaining its pace of growth, and India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam are all posting double-digit growth. North America is still being held back by the slowdown in makeup. Sales are increasing in Western Europe, in a market which remains difficult.

“Digital continues to boost growth and reinforces our relationship with our consumers. At the same time, e-commerce is up by 48.5 per cent, and represents 13.2 per cent of total sales. Travel retail, another of the group’s growth drivers, has grown by 21.2 per cent.”

The company’s operating profit rose 12.1 per cent, setting a record in operating margins of 19.5 per cent. Net earnings per share rose 7.2 per cent to 4.38 euros. After allowing for 139 million euros of non-recurring items, net profit comes in at 2.32 billion euros. Operating cash flow is up 23.2 per cent.

The Centre, which is housed in a six-storey building spread over more than 3,000 square metres, is a joint-venture between the Sato family, the founders of Hanno Geriatric Centre, which was one of the first geriatric hospitals specialising in dementia diseases in Japan, and Vejpong Pharmacy Company, which has more than A 100 years of experience in Thai and Chinese medicines.

“Thailand is now an ageing society and is also seeing an increase in the number of elderly with dementia. It is therefore urgent that Thais understand dementia and how to look after the elderly with the disease,” noted Junichiro Sato, chief executive of Hanno-Vejpong Geriatric Centre.

It offers Japanese dementia care expertise in customising care for the elderly by understanding their symptoms, background, personality and so on. The elderly who stay at HVGC are treated with respect by the staff, and the staff are trained to put themselves in the shoes of the elderly to understand causes of behaviour.

HVGC also encourages elderly people with dementia to do Activities of Daily Living (ADL) so that they can still function alone as much as possible, as the greater the number of ADL, the better their self-esteem and quality of life. HVGC also focuses on recreational activities which stimulate the brain and provides an opportunity for the elderly to socialise with others as they used to do when they were younger.

HVGC is operated under the standard requirements and supervision of Japan’s Hanno Geriatric Centre with regular staff training programmes.

The Centre is located in the Lat Phrao area close to hospitals, shopping centres and the Ekkamai-Ramintra Expressway. The centre has 42 rooms that can accommodate up to 54 residents, with three types of rooms: premium rooms equipped with special electric adjustable beds with close proximity to the nurse stations private rooms and twin-bed rooms,

The elderly will be cared for around the clock by professional nurses and guided through rehabilitation activities by physical therapists. Their meals will be supervised by a certified dietician.

Hanno-Vejpong Geriatric Centre is Thailand’s first geriatric centre with an onsen facility. The warm bathing helps with both relaxation and blood circulation, facilitating blood flow to the brain. The centre pays attention to materials and equipment used in residential areas, walkways and other facilities. It is specifically designed for the elderly with the same standard as Japan’s Hanno Geriatric Centre and based on the principles of accident prevention and risk reduction.

A special flooring material five millimetres thick is used to help cushion the impact from a fall. Electric adjustable beds are up to the standard for elderly care. The building is designed to be doughnut-shaped to allow the elderly to walk around without feeling confused or anxious, which could affect their nervous system. Various safety systems are readily available, including a nurse call system, a bed monitoring system, CCTVs and 24-hour security.

This year, the Centre targets full occupation with 54 residents and expects to provide day-care for about additional 30 elderly people per day. The centre aims to generate about Bt10 million in income in its first year of operation.

The centre’s day-care, which offers recreational activities to stimulate the brain and help the elderly socialise, is available from 9am to 5pm from Monday to Saturday at a fee of Bt1,900.

A points programme is available to participants who will get one free day after completing 10 days of daycare activities. Onsen bathing is included (terms and conditions apply). The programme is available until September 30, 2019.