With the average sales growth of 20 per cent annually, Valvoline aims to be ranked in the top five leading brands in the premium lubricants market within three years.

Maitree Supanwattanachai, chief marketing officer, said that Valvoline is the world’s first lubricant brand and one of the leaders in innovation and technology. The company has been a market leader in premium branded automotive, commercial and industrial lubricants, and automotive chemicals for over 150 years with distribution in over 160 countries worldwide.

Valvoline Thailand achieved an average sales growth of 20 per cent annually over the course of 20 years. With the current growth rate, Valvoline Thailand aims to double the business by 2020.

Valvoline Thailand became a full subsidiary of Valvoline Inc in January this year.

​The company has a direct salesforce nationwide and a strong channel partners at over 2,000 retail outlets, covering every province. The management team will be led by Vikas Kapur, director, rest of Asia – Valvoline International.

It has been launched with the vision of “Growing for Good”.

Omer Malik, general manager of Suntory PepsiCo Beverage (Thailand), said: “Today’s grand opening of the joint venture has marked a new chapter for our Pepsi-Cola brand in Thailand and will create more excitement for Thailand’s Bt154-billion liquid refreshment beverage industry.

“The alliance is intended to combine the strengths of both global powerhouses, with an ultimate goal of achieving the No.1 leadership position in Thailand’s Bt50-billion valued carbonated soft drinks category, and creating new growth opportunities by expanding our beverage portfolio to meet consumer demands, ranging from hydration to sports drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, bottled water, and juices to a variety of innovations in the future.”

SPBT has registered capital of Bt19.68 billion. Since March 5, the company has served as the operator and distributor of PepsiCo beverage brands, namely Pepsi-Cola, Mirinda, 7UP soft drinks, ready-to-drink Lipton teas, Gatorade sports drink, and Aquafina hydration drinks. In the future, it will also develop and introduce beverage innovations and new offerings from Suntory to Thai consumers.

The company, which is under Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation, has a target to boost 2018 total operating income by 25 per cent from last year, said Wichit, the first Thai chief executive of the company.

In 2017, the company enjoyed growth of 40 per cent in its total outstanding balance and 33 per cent in the number of new contracts for motorcycle hire-purchases, even though Thailand’s motorcycle market grew by only about 4 per cent over the year.

“Our firm, which has been in the market for 24 years, expects to get 120,000 leasing contracts for new motorcycles this year, which will be an increase of 7 per cent from last year,” he said.

Although he stated the company’s ambition for it to be the market No 1, Wichit declined to name the incumbent leader in the leasing market for new motorcycles.

“The total sales of new motorbikes last year were 1.87 million. This year, it is expected that the number will increase by between 3 to 5 per cent, to about 1.95 million,” he said.

In Thailand, about 40 per cent of the total sales of new motorcycles – or 800,000 – are purchased through leasing firms.

“Therefore, if we can provide loans for 120,000 new motorcycles, or about 15 per cent of the total sales, we can be the No 1.”

The firm has seen positive signs year. In January, it added 10,200 contracts for new motorcycles, the most since the company began offering motorcycle leasing services 24 years ago.

“A key factor that will help us achieve the 2018 target includes the positive business environment, including development of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project and the projected GDP growth rate of 4 per cent,” he said.

“The government’s investment in the infrastructure – particularly in the EEC – will help increase the purchasing power of people at the grassroots level, as such people are the main base for our potential customers.

“Therefore, the volume of our customers is expected to expand in line with the improving economic situation.”

Wichit said most of the company’s customers are typically ordinary workers, such as in the agricultural sector and those working in hotels and factories and the like, with a salary of about Bt10,000 to Bt12,000 per month. A better economy means that more and more people will buy motorbikes, he said.

The biggest group of customers for the leasing market is in the eastern region of the country, he said.

Among the company’s strategies to help it achieve the 2018 targets are the planned expansion in the number of branches and dealers as well as increased training for its sales staff that are stationed in dealers’ offices and are responsible for dealing with potential customers.

Wichit said the company has 33 branches in 69 provinces and plans to increase the number to 41 branches across 73 provinces, excluding the three provinces in the far South and Mae Hong Son.

“As the motorcycle leasing market is highly competitive, we invested about Bt60 million last year on new technology that is used between our dealers in the provinces and the staff in our headquarters, so that for a new leasing contract can be finalised quickly, with a customer knowing within 30 minutes of his application whether it will be approved,” Wichit said.

The company has measures in place to ensure that, through the speedy approval of leasing contracts, it can acquire good customers who can pay their debts, Wichit said, adding the firm’s non-performing loan ratio is less than 1 per cent.

The revenue target of this year is expected to be not less than Bt1.6 billion, an increase of 10-12 per cent, maintaining the net profit at 5-6 per cent.

The company’s 2018 plan emphasises production-cost management to increase the furniture business’s profit, big investment in new warehouses and machinery development for more efficient production, and continuous profit realisation from the biomass and solar power plant business.

Managing director Arak Suksawad said the total revenue expectation in 2020 was Bt2 billion, comprising 35 per cent from the furniture business, 35 per cent from the energy business, and 30 per cent from Planet Board, a subsidiary in which the company holds 57 per cent of total shares.

The company said it would focus on the development of efficient distribution channels as well as guidelines for profit building and cost reduction.