B Grimm Power president Preeyanart Soontornwata said the total investment for the plant – with a planned generating capacity of 420 megawatts – will be around US$430 million. The company would hold no more than 55 per cent of the joint venture, Preeyanart said.

To be built in Tay Ninh, in Vietnam’s southwest, the solar plant is scheduled to start operations in June next year and 100 per cent of the supply will be sold to Vietnam Electricity.

The company yesterday also announced a Bt600 million takeover deal that will give it full ownership of a company established as a joint venture that runs eight solar farms in Nakhon Pathom and Ayutthaya, with a combined capacity of 60 megawatts. Under the deal, B Grimm Power will acquire the 51 per cent stake held in B Grimm Yanhee Solar Power Co Ltd by Yanhee Solar Power. The deal will see B Grimm Power move from a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture to outright ownership.

B Grimm Yanhee Solar Power has a 25-year contract to supply electricity to the Provincial Electricity Authority. The company has been supplying electricity commercially since 2015 and achieved more than Bt500 million in annual sales, Bt400 million in annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, and more than Bt100 million in annual net profit.

“We aim to increase the proportion of revenue from our overseas power plants to 30 per cent by 2022, up from only 6 per cent today,” Preeyanart said.

“We also want to increase the proportion of revenue from alternative energy power plants to 30 per cent in the next five years, up from 12 per cent today.”

B Grimm Power and its subsidiaries posted Bt8.15 billion from sales and services in the first quarter of this year, up 6.6 per cent from the same quarter of last year. They achieved Bt512 million in net profit in the first quarter of this year, up 22 per cent compared with year-earlier quarter.

A key driver was the sales of electricity from its thermal power plant Amata B Grimm Power (Rayong) 3, which started commercial operations commercially on February 1. The facility has a capacity of 133 megawatts. Also boosting the bottom line was the increased demand for electricity of its industrial customers in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate, Laem Chabang, and Hemaraj.

The company also said it would spend Bt100 million on research and development into offerings based on innovations such as blockchain technology. The announcements came as the company said it is planning to join the bidding for government projects valued at more than Bt4 billion this year.

Saknarong Saengsangapong, first executive vice president of Loxley, said that the firm this year would focus on providing innovative services for the enterprise and government markets.

Its services cover e-payment solutions, Big Data, cyber security, a trade facilitation platform, payment gateway enabled e-commerce, cloud development, blockchain technology and data analytics project, Saknarong said. The company has also developed customisation solutions to support the enterprise and government markets.

He said that the company was awaiting the terms of reference (TOR) for a number of government projects under the national e-payments programme with a budget of around Bt5 billion.

Government agencies, such as the Revenue Department, will present the projects’ TOR and bidding schedule this year. The firm expects to enter the bidding for various government projects with a value of around Bt4 billion, such as the Government Data Archiving, Big Data and data integration management projects.

“The information technology market in the country is continuing to enjoy growth,” said Saknarong. “The Thailand 4.0 policy will encourage the development of the IT market in the country as a whole. We are also preparing to equip our workforce with the professional skills to support the demands of the market.”

He said the company had begun to focus its business on services that would support the needs of the market and these services will be the main revenue source of its business in the next three years.

The firm by the end of this year will invest around Bt100 million for research and development in new technology and innovations such as blockchain, the Internet of things (IoT), and cloud development. For the company’s 2018 revenue goal of Bt3.6 billion for the IT business, this would mark an increase of 11 per cent from last year’s result.

Hardware and solutions will account for around 60 per cent of this revenue, with the rest from information technology and innovation services. Around 80 per cent of total revenue will come from the government sector.

Over the next three years the company expects the revenue contribution from IT and innovation services to be around 60 per cent, with the rest from hardware and solutions.

“I think that in the next three years, our main revenue – at around 60 per cent of total revenue – will come from services, given our customers’ needs for IT usage and services and with the customisation services that will support this demand in the market,” said Saknarong.

The Mango Tree Café Kawasaki on the fourth floor of Lazona Kawasaki Plaza, a major shopping complex in the heart of the city of 1 million.

It specialises in traditional dishes like som tam gai Yangon, spicy papaya salad with grilled chicken with shredded papaya, green beans, tomatoes, garlic, peanuts, red chillies, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice to create a balance of spicy, sweet, salty and sour flavours. This light yet fiery salad is then served with grilled chicken.

Largely rural, the Isan region borders Laos, Cambodia and the Mekong River and is home to thousands of farms and ranches which grow much of Thailand’s fresh produce. With an abundance of fresh produce available, Isan has developed a rich culinary culture and is now considered to be the culinary heart of Thailand.

Mango Tree Japan has launched a book on Isan cookery in Japanese, supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Kijja Sripatthangkura, Ratch CEO, said that the company is pursuing an 850 MW goal for 2018 with Lao World Engineering and Construction Co, Ltd (LW) and B Grimm Power Public Company Limited. They completed the feasibility study together as well as the environmental and social impact assessment that had been approved by the Ministry of Energy and Mines and Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment in Vientiane.

“We will start the development of a combined 340-MW Xekong hydroelectric power project with two reservoirs: 4A Xekong in Lamam district and 4B Xekong in Kaluem district, Xekong province. The company plans to talk about power purchases with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), under a 9GW power cooperation deal between Thailand and Laos. It expects that electricity will serve demand in northeastern Thailand,” Kijja added.

StoreHub said it raised US$5.1 million and had received support from Vertex Ventures. The company said that businesses must adapt to IT changes, but SMEs in Thailand look promising.

Wai Hong Fong, managing director of StoreHub, said it offers cloud-based solutions, smart inventory management, business analysis and customer management.

Founded in 2014 in Malaysia, with four offices in Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Shanghai and Bangkok, StoreHub has made it cheaper and easier for retailers to use an iPad to manage businesses to increase opportunities without investing heavily. StoreHub said it had been used by 3,700 stores in 15 countries over the past four years. StoreHub said it has helped these businesses achieve over US$270 million in sales in the last 12 months.

For 2018, the company is targeting Thailand as a vibrant market with 1.1 million SME retailers, it said. The company said it expected its Thai team to triple with e-commerce products becoming available this year that will help retailers launch online stores in a hassle-free manner, even if the staff are not tech savvy.

Pong Sakuntanaga, vice president of Central FamilyMart Co, Ltd, said: “FamilyMart keeps moving forward to offer products and services to reach all customer groups in university areas. We believe that we can differentiate ourselves and attract the customers to repeat their visits. Recently, we have renovated the store at Rangsit University by adding a wide selection of imported products and services and adjusting design, mood and tone to respond to customers in the 4.0 era.

“The design is under the concept of ‘fresh, fun and friendly’ with an emphasis on the freshness of food, great shopping and friendly service. Furthermore, we would like this store to be the community hub for school and university students in the area.”

Pong added: “The special feature of this branch is not only to offer the domestic and imported goods and services. We also focus on a variety of food selections, such as a fresh bakery.

“In addition, there is the printing service from Double A Fast Print, health and beauty products and a dining area inside the store.”

Kwankhao Kritsanasopa, a student from Rangsit University, was quoted saying by FamilyMart: “Having a store in front of the university really responds to the lifestyle of students. The dining area can be a meeting point and learning centre 24 hours for the students.”

With the promotion “Cheer Sud-Jai with FamilyMart”, with every purchase of Bt40, customers receive a chance to win a 40” LCD TV or gaming devices.

In an awards ceremony in Las Vegas, Siam Discovery took the top spot from among hundreds of projects from around the world in the ICSC’s Viva Awards.

The awards are presented annually by a jury to “recognise the best-of-the-best in the world of retail development”.

Chadatip Chutrakul, Siam Piwat CEO, said: “Siam Piwat’s strategy for growth is to do things in retail and retail development that have never been done before in Thailand or even the world. We are committed to being a thought-leader on the global stage through co-creation with retailers and other partners in our developments. It’s Thailand 4.0 in action, and it proves that Thai creativity and collaboration can take our country’s flag to the top, even on the world stage.”

Siam Discovery opened in 1997. It underwent a Bt4 billion re-build and reopened in 2016 as Thailand’s “largest lifestyle speciality store”.

During the past two years, Siam Discovery said it had won six global awards from prestigious retail competitions.

Among them is the World Retail Awards part of the World Retail Congress Global Series for store design in 2017, for being world’s best-designed development.

The judges at ICSC praised Siam Discovery for being transformative. “Siam Discovery is a highly imaginative project that gets away from individual stores and walls and into an immersive open experience. It is the first mall development that makes retail an experience as well as the spaces in between being exciting and stimulating. Siam Discovery brings the latest digital technology offerings to create an interactive and experiential retail environment.”

Chadatip said: “Siam Discovery is a game-changing, hybrid retail destination where products, services and activities are brought together in a way that suits the lifestyle of millennials.

“Products are grouped without the constraints of a particular brand or school of design, in a way that puts the needs of the customer at the centre. Millennials want to discover their own style while exploring new experiences with other people. Here they can experiment and discover what they like and what expresses their identity best.”

Wisate Chungwatana, WHAUP CEO, revealed its continuous investment plan over the 498-hectare site. The demand for industrial and waste-water treatment is estimated at around 12,000 cubic metres per day and 9,600 cubic metres per day, respectively.

Wisate said that the company directors approved the establishment of a new subsidiary, the WHAUP Nghe An Joint Stock Company, to invest in and operate water business in Vietnam with its first project in Nghe An.

​It marks WHAUP’s first step to expand its business into the international market, especially in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.