The complete plan revision is pending completion of the increase of its shareholding in NH Hotel. MINT aims to acquire 51-55 per cent in NH Hotel, up from 45 per cent it acquired recently, MINT deputy corporate chief financial officer and strategic planning Chaiyapat Paitoon said yesterday.

The current business plan, from 2017-22, and endorsed by the board before the NH investment, had set capital expenditure at between Bt40 billion to Bt50 billion with annual net profit growth targeted at 15 to 20 per cent. The capex excluded its investment in the NH Hotel Group.

William E Heinecke, MINT’s founder and chairman, said that in the distant future MINT would continue to remain focused on the current three core businesses – restaurants, hospitality and lifestyle brands distribution.

It will continue to bank on its core values, which comprise customer focus, result-oriented, people development, strong partnership and innovation, to further drive its global growth, he said at a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of Minor Group yesterday.

“Looking back, we’ve come a long way,” he added. “From humble beginnings as an advertising agency and office cleaning company, to our entry into the hospitality business in 1978, we have risen to countless challenges, and each time emerged stronger than before.

“From a single hotel and one restaurant in Pattaya 40 years ago, Minor has flourished into a truly global business reaching 64 countries across five continents.

“The combined strength of our subsidiaries and affiliated companies gives Minor a present-day portfolio comprising 549 hotels, 2,130 restaurants and 429 retail outlets across multiple brands. From start-up capital of slightly over US$1,000 and a handful of employees in Thailand, Minor International is today capitalised at $5.4 billion and counts on the efforts of over 80,000 people around the world.”

Heinecke attributed the group’s success to several key factors. Firstly, Minor has always had a long-term strategic plan, which has led to business diversification in terms of brands, business models and geographies, positioning the group for consistent growth in a world of uncertainty.

He also believed the group owed its success to the drive and determination of its people. Exceptional management and staff have been and continue to be its key success factor, he said.

MINT is one of Asia’s largest restaurant companies with over 2,100 outlets operating system-wide in 27 countries under well-known names, such as The Pizza Company, Swensen’s, Sizzler, and BreadTalk (Thailand).

MINT is also a hotel owner, operator and investor with a global portfolio of 164 hotels and serviced suites under well-known names, such as the Anantara, AVANI, Oaks, Tivoli, Elewana, Marriott, Four Seasons, to St Regis and Radisson Blu.

In addition, MINT recently reinforced its strategic expansion into Europe and South America with a 45-per-cent stake in NH Hotel Group, a leading operator of city-centre hotels. NH Hotel Group provides MINT with a portfolio of 385 hotels and almost 60,000 rooms under the NH Collection, NH Hotel, nhow and Hesperia brands in 30 markets across Europe, the Americas and Africa.

MINT is one of Thailand’s largest distributors of lifestyle brands and contract manufacturers. Among its brands are Charles & Keith, Brooks Brothers, Anello, Esprit, Bossini and Minor Smart Kids.

Ratana Anantanupong, marketing director of Rangsit Plaza Co Ltd, explained that the Future City would cover 650 rai (104 hectares) and become a “Centre of Premium Lifestyle and Activity in northern Bangkok”.

The project includes a furniture mall, home decor centre, sports complex, a branch of Paolo Hospital and hotels. The Bt100-billion project is open for investment.

So far, a sports hub has been completed. It covers 20 rai and comprises a football-futsal field, badminton court and badminton academy, a clubhouse and restaurants as well as parking space for up to 300 cars.

The “city” would be perfect for tourists and businesspeople heading for the North or Southeast of Thailand. As Rangsit is close to Don Mueang Airport, Future Park is also planning to build two hotels, one of which will be a four-star property covering an area of 9 rai.

The four-star hotel will be 11 storeys tall, have 227 rooms, meeting and seminar rooms, swimming pool and 151 parking lots; while the economy two-star version will be 7 storeys high, have 79 rooms and parking for 35 vehicles. Both hotels are due to open at the end of 2020.

As for the other aspects of Future City, the company is currently in negotiations with several business allies.

Wanliss comes from MH Alshaya Co, a leading international franchise operator with over 3,900 stores across diverse sectors, where he has been vice president for Boots Middle East since May 2011. The new managing director has over 40 years experience in the retail industry and began his career with Arcadia Group as store manager, followed by leadership roles with Woolworths and Cooperative Pharmacy.

Dean Thompson, who has led Boots Retail Thailand since January 2015, will continue working with the company and focus on developing a partnership with the Chinese retail pharmacy chain GuoDa.

The Employer Roundtable was attended by industry partners, the media and Stamford representatives. During the session, Stamford’s leadership and career experts discussed the ways teaching and learning can be recalibrated for even stronger student outcomes, with the goal of preparing agile graduates who are able to seamlessly navigate the roles in Thailand and globally.

Tim Bulow, chief executive of Laureate International Universities Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, talked about the university’s priority of working with industry partners to enhance numerous aspects of the students’ experience.

“We have increased efforts to create the essential and necessary skills needed in workplaces today and in the future through joint activities such as co-developing courses based on market insights and trends, internship programmes and industry projects. We have also established Industry Advisory Boards to help drive these efforts,” he said.

At Stamford, with students from more than 100 countries, an international community learns together. The use of English communication in the exchange of culture, the use of innovative technology in teaching and learning, the experience of faculty members from more than 34 countries and the collaboration with industry partners, cultivate the skills of graduates, so they are job-ready in both Thai and international environments. Their graduates’ starting salary is consistently higher than the market average. What usually comes with good employment is the power of earning that can transform lives. When students succeed, countries prosper and societies benefit because the graduates are prepared and motivated to make a positive sustainable impact in the community.

“Every year we assess our graduate employability outcomes. The latest results show that 74 per cent of our graduates have a higher starting salary than the market average. We also monitor how quickly our graduates can get a job and we are proud that 35 per cent of our graduates were offered jobs even before they graduated. Many of the students received job offers because of their good performance during the internship process. This demonstrates that our programme offerings and the way we teach has equipped the students with the necessary knowledge and skills to graduate job-ready,” said Bulow.

“What we have heard from employers is that our graduates have the critical soft skills modern employers seek, including communication, leadership, problem solving, critical thinking and project management. We are pleased with the results because it clearly shows that our ways of teaching and learning, the collaboration with industry, the result-based learning from real experience and the international environment at Stamford, give the outcomes we seek,” he added.

For the last 23 years, Stamford has continuously improved its curriculum and student quality to be consistent with the needs of the labour market. In particular, over the past two years, the university has expanded its network base with more than 300 industry partners such as BMW Group Thailand, Unilever Thai Trading Limited, Thai – Italian Chamber of Commerce, Cartoon Club Media, ECCO Thailand, Foodpanda, G-able, Holiday Inn, Hubvisor, Index Creative Village, Maybank Kim Eng, MCOT, Srithai Superware, SANET (Thailand), Impact Exhibition Management, L’Oreal Thailand and many more leading companies.

“Logistics costs in Myanmar are among the highest in Southeast Asia, accounting for nearly 25 per cent of our GDP [gross domestic product]. So, if we are able to reduce logistics costs to a large extent, our products will be cheaper than ever, which will benefit end users,” he said in an interview.

“Unlike big transport companies, it is really hard for individual fleet owners and small freight forwarders to find customers. In the low season, they often have no customers at all. We want to get them connected with the supply chain so they always have a job at all times.”

The company has partnered more than 300 fleet operators to regularly serve some 30 businesses for their logistics convenience. Most of its regular customers are up and coming brands including Genius coffee, Maw Shan green tea, and Organic Farm pickled tea leaves, said Soe Pyae Aung.

The company usually handles nearly 400 transactions every month, with the main focus on logistics services in the Yangon region. It also provides city-to-city delivery services to serve customer demand. It now has seven team members and aims to open another office in Mandalay to cater to customers in Upper Myanmar.

“We are now enjoying a gradual growth of 30 per cent every month. But it is well below our target. We foresee a much bigger growth after we build a stronger network in Yangon soon,” he said.

Established in September last year, KoneSi optimises logistics by implementing a load-shared concept, connecting small and medium enterprises with individual truck drivers and owners if they need a whole truck or want to deliver their goods on carton-size basis. Its service includes picking up goods at clients’ places.

“We charge the client depending on volume and weight of goods and pick-up location. We also provide express pick-up service, which we can deliver within 24 hours. The price will vary, depending on how fast they want us to deliver,” said Soe Pyae Aung.

He said KoneSi also offers cash collection for its clients. The collected cash can be transferred to client’s preferred channels: cash handover, mobile money, mobile banking, etc. Its service includes management of returned goods from retailers to the businesses upon request.

“We have an impressive 100 per cent delivery fulfilment capability since we started load-shared logistics – we managed to deliver all the orders on time. For express service, we can deliver within 24 hours to where the clients want us to deliver,” he said.

“If the client wants to hire the whole vehicle to transport outside Yangon, we can connect any truck from the light duty trucks to 22 wheelers through our diversified network of truck drivers in Myanmar’s major economic corridors.”

The company has handled goods worth more than 1.1 billion kyats (Bt23.2 million) so far. The executive believes they have handled a much higher value of cargo from city-to-city transportation, though the value is not usually expressed in the clients’ packing list. Soe Pyae Aung was explicit about the challenges they are facing.

“Firstly, funding is our biggest challenge. We need more working capital because it usually takes a few days to get payment [for logistics services] from some businesses while fleet operators need to be paid once we hire their vehicle. Secondly, we need to educate the drivers and businesses so they can effectively use our technology platform.

Thirdly, limited use of digital payments poses challenges to us, because Myanmar is still a cash-dominated society. Last, but not least, finding skilled personnel with a start-up mindset is really challenging. As a start-up, we are less attractive to skilled personnel than big companies,” he explained.

He said it took a couple of months for the company to study about the supply chain and customers’ behaviour before they started delivery services to supermarkets, hypermarkets, restaurants and hotels. Now, it mainly focuses on delivering goods to warehouses, events, retail points and restaurants.

“We will ensure cost effectiveness and timely delivery. Businesses will not need to invest a lot in buying vehicles and hiring more staff for delivering their goods to buyers, while for fleet owners, there will be no empty runs by working together with us,” he said.

Soe Pyae Aung takes pride in the company’s achievement so far, though he is fully aware that they have a long way to go.

Kone Si clinched the Judges’ Choice at Top100 Myanmar Qualifiers held at Phandeeyar office in April this year, and represented Myanmar at Echelon Asia Summit 2018 held in Singapore in late June. Co-founder Zar Phyu Tint Lwin was among the finalists of WISE Women Innovation Challenge 2018, which recently kicked off in the Mekong region with the final round to be held in Vietnam next month.

Akujuo said the company’s success in the development of premium outlets stemmed from its strong relationship with top global brands.

He said that Simon now operated about 100 premium outlets of which 29 are outside the US.

Thailand is the second Southeast Asian market the company will be entering after Malaysia. Its first premium outlets will officially open in Bangkok by the end of next year in a joint venture with Siam Piwat, the Kingdom’s leading property developer and retailer.

In partnership with Genting Plantations, the company has already opened two premium outlets in Malaysia – in Johor in 2011, and in Genting Highland in 2017.

“We are bringing to Thailand and Bangkok high-quality brands and a shopping experience. We understand the needs of customers and tenants.

We are able to leverage different customers all over the world whether in Asia, North America or Europe,” said Akujuo.

“We continue to expand overseas both on existing and new properties, such as in Canada and Mexico in North America, and in Spain in Europe. Asia and Southeast Asia, however, are a strategic focus for us,” said Akujuo, adding the company has a strong pipeline for future growth.

Akujuo said the company has partnered with local operators in particular markets where they have strong experience in the business. Their partners include Genting Plantations in Malaysia, Mitsubishi Estate in Japan, Shinsegae Group in South Korea, and McArthurGlen in the European market.

In Thailand, the company recently formed a joint venture with Siam Piwat to develop three locations for premium outlets in the Kingdom within the next five years. The first one will be to the east of Bangkok, while the other two will be in the North and South of Thailand.

Chollachat Meksupha, first executive vice president, business development and investment division of Siam Piwat, said the company will invest approximately Bt4 billion in the development of the first premium outlets in the eastern part of Bangkok in partnership with Simon Property Group.

He said Simon Property Group had posted US$5.5 billion in total revenue last year. International portfolio accounted for about 10 per cent of its net earnings.

Woodbury Common is Simon’s largest premium outlet mall in the world, occupying total retail space of 910,000 square feet with 240 stores selling international fashion brands.

Located 16 kilometres to the north of New York, the premium outlets were built in 1985 with only 85,000 square feet of retail space in the beginning.

Between 13 million and 14 million shoppers on average every year visit Woodbury Common of which 15 per cent are local people from New York state and 85 per cent are international travellers.

Coca-Cola (Thailand) Ltd has announced the appointment of Carlos Diaz-Rigby as general manager of Coca-Cola Thailand, succeeding Sedef Salingan Sahin with effect from October 1.

Carlos will be responsible for setting sales, marketing and commercial strategy for Coca-Cola Thailand and Laos, replacing Sahin who is moving to the company’s Atlanta headquarters in the US. He has garnered a great deal of multicultural experiences through a spectrum of roles across many regions, including Latin America, the Caribbean and Oceania throughout his 22 years with the company. During his two-decade-long stint with the Coca-Cola System, he navigated across functions including market research, brand management and franchise and commercial leadership.

He started his journey with Coca-Cola in Uruguay, his native land, in 1996 as a trainee in knowledge and insights before moving into marketing as a brand manager for Sprite. He occupied roles of increasing responsibility as franchise leader for El Salvador, Honduras, South Caribbean, Venezuela, Colombia to his current role as franchise operations director for Coca-Cola South Pacific, based in Australia.

ETDA tasked with running Asean-Japan centre

The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) has inaugurated the Asean-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre (AJCCBC) for cybersecurity personnel development, and expects to run three training programmes to deal with cyber-threats.

Asean has entrusted Thailand to host the AJCCBC. ETDA is leading the project, with three training sessions to strengthen cybercrew.

Pichet Durongkaveroj, the Minister for Digital Economy and Society, revealed after chairing the inauguration of the AJCCBC that the ministry had been designated as a constituent of the AJCCBC during the assembly of the Asean-Japan Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers Meeting held in Cambodia last year.

The ministry nominated the ETDA, as ETDA has experience in training cybersecurity personnel. The AJCCBC is sponsored by Japan, both technically and monetarily, ensuring efficient training for Asean member states.

Dailymotion, GMM take Thai music to worldwide audiences

Dailymotion, a leading video player technology and content discovery platform, has announced a partnership with GMM Grammy, one of Thailand’s most established media entertainment companies and content publishers. The agreement brings fresh music and a catalogue of over 5,000 songs to an audience of 300 million people worldwide.

Following the global relaunch of the platform, Dailymotion is reinforcing its mission to become a premium destination for video content by focusing efforts with partners in key markets such as Thailand. Per data from Dailymotion, audiences in Asia Pacific across mobile, desktop, and OTT have grown 70 per cent in the past year alone along with a 50 per cent increase in views on premium content locally.

“We are delighted to have an opportunity to partner with Dailymotion, which we consider to be a top platform globally. Not only are we able to expand our reach given that a majority of Dailymotion’s audience in Asia Pacific consumes entertainment content but more importantly, this is in line with our online strategy to open another channel for distribution. To get started, we have released 5,000 songs of over 100 popular artists such as Bodyslam, Endorphine, Peck Palitchoke, Potato, Getsunova, and many more in order to draw in and increase viewership for our content.” Fahmai Damrongchaitham, chief sales officer of GMM Music, said.

Antoine Nazaret, vice president of content in Asia Pacific for Dailymotion, said the company was excited to welcome this partnership as it signalled an important step for growth in the Thai market.

Over the past few years, several digital streaming platforms have expanded in Thailand, which demonstrates the high quality and popularity of video content here. Dailymotion is primed to become a major player to help increase both local and overseas audiences around Thai content.

“From our years in business, we’ve learned about the need for premium and local content. GMM Grammy is one of the most influential entertainment companies in Thailand, so it makes sense strategically for us. It’s not about the number of partners, but quality as we seek to strengthen our positioning worldwide,” he said.

Aon, Sasin name 12 Best Employers in Thailand

Aon Plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement, and health solutions, and Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, have named 12 organisations as Best Employers in Thailand for 2018.

Aon Best Employers Thailand achieved engagement scores of 86 per cent, compared to a market average of 62 per cent.

In a dynamic economic environment, Best Employers inspire their employees with a compelling vision. About 89 per cent of employees in Best Employer organisations agree that their senior leadership provides them a clear direction for the future (24 points higher than market average).

In addition, Best Employers have a total rewards strategy in place that focuses not just on pay but learning and career development opportunities as well.

About 79 per cent of Best Employers’ employees feel that they receive appropriate recognition for their contributions (25 points higher than market average).

The Aon Best Employers in Thailand for 2018 are: Food Passion Co Ltd, American Express (Thai) Co Ltd, Chiangmai Beverage Co Ltd, CPRAM Co Ltd, DHL Express Thailand, Fitness First (Thailand) Ltd, Major Cineplex Group, Mitr Phol Group, Phyathai Group, Data Processing (Thailand) Ltd, Tesco Lotus, and Toyota Motor Thailand Co Ltd.

American Express (Thai) Co Ltd and DHL Express Thailand, were also recognised as Aon Best Employer Asia Pacific for 2018, after being named Aon Best Employer 2018 in Malaysia and Singapore earlier. InterContinental Hotels Group Marriott International Thailand, and Marriott Vacation Club were named Aon Best Employer 2018 through the Global programme.

Tesco Lotus offers QR code payment service nationwide

Tesco Lotus has launched QR code payment system at all cashiers across stores nationwide, accelerating the move to a cashless society.

With its commitment to serving shoppers a little better every day, Tesco Lotus has activated QR code payment system at its 10,000-plus cashiers across stores nationwide. The initiative covers all cashiers at all types of Tesco Lotus stores in every part of the country, including tenants leasing space in the shopping mall area. In collaboration with Bangkok Bank, customers paying with QR code from today until December 31 will receive exclusive promotions including cashback and cash coupons worth up to Bt450 per person, as well as extra Clubcard points.

Salinla Seehaphan, corporate affairs director, said that Tesco is committed to serving its customers a little better every day by offering high-quality products at affordable prices along with a great shopping experience at all of our channels.

The company’s customer research continues to show that convenience is still a very important factor for customers when it comes to their shopping experience. However, 4.0 era customers have come to define convenience differently. For them, convenience means speed and ease of usage.

“With this insight in mind, coupled with the rapid growth of mobile banking and online payments in Thailand, we have partnered with Bangkok Bank to install new EDC machines at all 10,000-plus cashiers in Tesco Lotus stores nationwide to facilitate QR code payments from all compatible mobile banking applications. In addition, we are also supporting 11,000-plus tenants leasing space in our shopping malls to offer QR code payments to customers, further enhancing their shopping experience as Thailand moves towards becoming a cashless society.” she said.

Despite the strong rebound in global equity markets late last week, the outlook towards the end of the year remains gloomy. A DBS Bank research said the US-China trade war remained an overhanging issue .

The US Fed is expected to hike rates by 25 basis points to 2.25 per cent at its meeting on September 26. However, more important is the dot-plot or the Federal Open Market Committee forecasts for the path of the policy rates as well as the US economic outlook given the impact of the tariffs. The Fed may consider moderating the pace of interest rate hikes going forward if the US rapidly enforces the tariffs on China imports within the next 12 months.

The market will be volatile and hence we recommend investors to take this as the opportunity to hunt for bargains.

Thanawat Patchimkul,

Head of  Research,

DBS Vickers Securities (Thailand)