He added that the company is negotiating with local hospitals in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia to hold at least a 25-per-cent stake in local hospitals in the three countries. It sees that as a way to expand its foreign customers and widen its network in the region.

“Our business strategy will reduce investments to build new hospitals as that takes time to generate income. But we will expand by investing in existing hospitals at home and overseas,” he said.

Currently, Vibhavadi Medical Centre Plc holds a 13-per-cent stake in Sikarin Plc, the operator of Sikarin Hospital. The company also hold a 13.07-per-cent stake in Ramkhamhaeng Hospital Plc.

This investment policy will generate quicker returns to the group rather than invest in developing new hospitals on its own as the cost of building new hospitals is higher than investing in existing hospitals, he said.

In the first nine months of last year, Vibhavadi Medical Center Plc recorded total revenue Bt5.07 billion and net profit of Bt611.39 million; Sikarin Plc recorded total revenue Bt3.47 billion and net profit Bt242.42 million in the first nine months of 2018 while Ramkhamhaeng Hospital Plc recorded total revenue of Bt3.93 billion and net profit of Bt1.32 billion in the first nine months of 2018.

 Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn, the chief executive officer of Tisco Securities, said that brokerage business would likely see higher competition due partly to thinner trading volumes. Daily trading turnover on the Thai bourse is expected to average Bt45 billion to Bt50 billion this year.

Last year’s daily figure was Bt56 billion.

He believes that this year, brokerage companies will compete more in services, while price competition still exists. But everyone must understand that the price competition does not lead to any gain. There is no profit, but only volume.

Tisco Securities banks on its research, he said, adding that no matter how efficient an application is, customers will not use the services if the investment recommendation is not helpful.

The company will focus on developing its application to make stock trading easier to use, with new services like management of investment portfolios for its customers with a minimum trading amount of Bt1 million.

Kongkiat Opaswongkarn, the chief executive officer of Asia Plus Group Holdings, said that brokerage houses faced competition in innovation and various products every year.

The company’s strength is the variety of its products with innovation and, thus, its income base comes from several sources ranging from commission fees, investment banking, wealth management to proprietary trading, he said.

He said that brokerage firms that focus on providing useful advice for investment would succeed in the long run.

Kampol Jantavibool, the chief executive officer at SCB Securities, said that to cope with higher competition, the company plans to sell fund units of five more asset management firms. Presently, it sells fund units for 13 fund management companies.

The company’s strength lies in the variety of its products with an emphasis on wealth management. It expects 50,000 new trading accounts of customers this year. Currently, it has 130,000 trading accounts, about 30 per cent of which are active.

Chaipatr Srivisarvacha, the chief executive officer at KT Zmico Securities, said the average commission fee has been lower than about 0.1 percentage points consistently for the past 5-6 years, while the company strengthens itself through both local and overseas products, good service quality and the development of marketing officers for good services.

This year, the company has joined forces with Krungthai Bank to enlarge its customer base, expecting 20,000 new trading accounts of customers this year. So far, it has 100,000 trading accounts.

Prachaya Kulvanichpisit, the chief executive officer of Phillip Securities (Thailand), believed that price competition will not become fiercer, while the variety of its products in the country and overseas and group network in 14-15 countries across the world continue to be its strength.

So far, the brokerage firm has about 90,000 trading accounts, of whom about 20 per cent of customers remain active.

This year, Phillip Securities (Thailand) plans to train its marketing staff for more knowledge in various products so that they can give proper investment advice to customers.

Meanwhile, the company has recorded sales revenue of Bt515.449 billion, growing by 18 per cent from the previous year. Operating profit, excluding non-recurring items, was Bt42.608 billion, a 13 per cent jump from the previous year. The main contributors to the bump were higher product prices, along with a sales volume increase, a continuing high price for polyethylene in the first nine months, and recovery of the phenol chain.

Also, there was an increase in the share of profits from investments in petrochemical businesses, especially the Acrylonitrile business, Asset Injection, and benefits from enhancing the organisation’s efficiency through the MAX project. However, there was an effect on stock loss as a result of declining crude oil price during the year-end, and a Bt1,355-million gain from acquisitions. The company’s net profit was Bt40.069 billion, or Bt8.89 per share, increasing by 1.9 per cent from the previous year.

The company’s net profit dropped after it recorded a foreign exchange loss of Bt865.02 million, due mainly to loans to related parties in the Australian dollar, the company said.

Causes include high palm oil production and crude palm oil inventory in 2018 in both domestic and international markets, which lowered the price of crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil compared with the previous year, the company said.

The offshore firms hold 24.5 per cent each, with Chememan holding 51 per cent in the joint venture.

The new company has a registered capital of Bt60 million. The firm will manufacture and sell construction materials in Thailand and export them to other countries in Southeast Asia, according to the company’s reports.

In 2018, consolidated sales revenues amounted to Bt53.067 billion, a 7.8-per-cent increase from 2017, and 13.2 per cent over 2016. The bump was mainly due to an increase in sales by its power electronics business group, especially sales of power supplies for the automotive (Electric Vehicle solutions) sector, which rose 26.2 per cent over the previous year. Also, power supplies for industrial tools rose 15.5 per cent. This was caused by the increasing demand in Asian and European markets following the recovery in the EU economy. Computer and networking power supplies and custom design power supplies also had steady growth at 7.6 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. In 2018, sales revenues in the Asian market represented the highest proportion, 46 per cent of total sales, an increase from 2017’s 41 per cent, while European markets were maintained at 27 to 28 per cent, with no change. However, North America markets decreased from 29 per cent to 26 per cent of total sales

This partnership will launch in 2019 with the purpose of extending JCB’s presence in Europe and the East Mediterranean. In particular, more than 800,000 Russian tourists per year will enjoy comprehensive JCB acceptance in Cyprus.

JCC’s 29 years of providing high-quality payment systems in Cyprus and Greece will enable JCB to become increasingly useful to its customers travelling to and around Europe. After activation, JCB card members will be able to use their card at most hotels, restaurants, petrol stations and many more retailers during their stay, Tsuyoshi Notani, managing director of JCB International (Europe) Ltd, said yesterday.