“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.

A leading integrated energy solution company in Asia-Pacific, Banpu saw $310 million in EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), an increase of 18 per cent compared to the same period last year

It reported net profit of $76 million. The operating profit, excluding foreign-exchange loss, was $100 million, a 15-per-cent bump from the previous quarter. This is due to consistent demand for coal in the market given the tight supply in the last quarter, which resulted in a significant increase in the company’s average selling price of coal.

Banpu is also moving forward, applying a “greener and smarter” strategy and diversifying the company portfolio to ensure that it will be able to provide an integrated energy solution for all.

Somruedee Chaimongkol, chief executive officer of Banpu Public Co Ltd, said: “Banpu has reported a strong operating result for the third quarter. We have seen growth in all key business units. The coal business delivered higher sales volume, which enabled the business unit to capitalise on the robust coal prices. The power business demonstrated high power-plant efficiency at Hongsa and BLCP. Lastly the gas business reported a strong rise in earnings due to higher gas prices in the US market.”

He said Banpu would continue its mission to be a leading integrated energy solutions company in the region by showcasing its presence in Vietnam and the company’s integration covering upstream, midstream and downstream.

That approach will create maximum benefits for the company throughout the value chain, so as to respond to the continuous increase in energy demands in Vietnam, said Somruedee.

Banpu was recently awarded a contract with Vietnam Electricity (EVN), to supply 1.3 million tonnes of coal. It also established the first crossed-BU office in Ho Chi Minh City to help in future business development.

The company is able to meet various types of demand in Vietnam’s market, said Somruedee, due to its strengths in providing and transporting high quality and customised coal to customers via strong business partnerships and network.

Banpu’s power business is moving its 200MW wind-power plant project forward in Soc Trang, Vietnam. The project is targeted to begin commercial operations by 2021. Banpu’s power business is also exploring further opportunities in conventional power plant and renewable businesses in Vietnam, following the company’s “greener and smarter” core strategy.

“As a leading energy company in the Asia-Pacific, Banpu is committed to sustainable energy management by balancing conventional and renewable energy businesses,” he said.

That balance “will empower Banpu to deliver energy that is affordable, reliable and environmentally friendly to continuously meet the energy demands of consumers, communities and societies, while also creating sustainable value to all stakeholders. This is in line with our brand promise ‘Our Way in Energy’,” Somruedee said.