“Within three years, this new business will be contributing at least 50 per cent of our total income, from an estimated 15 per cent by the end of this year,” RS chief operating officer Pornpan Techarungchaikul said yesterday.

She said the Thai beauty and personal-care segment was worth Bt56 billion and was growing by about 6-8 per cent a year on average.

“Despite the sluggish economy, consumers are continuing to spend on beauty and personal healthcare products to enhance their appearance as well as their health,” she said.

Pornpan said her marketing team had seen the tremendous opportunity in this segment after examining the lists of clients and advertisers on its flagship digital-TV station Channel 8 and satellite-based free-to-air Channel 2. About 40 per cent were in the business of beauty and personal-care products.

Late last year, Life Star, with initial registered capital of Bt100 million, began selling products via teleshopping on Channels 8 and 2.

Chakrit Pichyangkul, managing director of Life Star, said: “We have had satisfactory feedback from this channel [teleshopping]. So we need more distribution channels, particularly in retail stores such as Watsons and EveAndBoy.”

Life Star is planning to introduce four products targeting premium consumers who are looking for beauty products priced from Bt300 to Bt2,000. They are Magique anti-ageing cream, Gravitas facial-lifting cream, Revive hair-loss-control serum, and Noble White, a whitening product. With these four products, the company aims for total sales revenue of Bt600 million by the end of this year.

It also expects to earn additional revenue from other new products.

“The net margin from this business is quite high, about 25 per cent,” Chakrit said.

Life Star has earmarked about Bt200 million to advertise those brands this year.

Pornpan said this diversification aimed to spread risk while the digital-TV business is facing intense competition from strong rivals amid a sluggish economy.

Next month, RS, which is ranked No 5 in the TV broadcasting business, will undertake a major revamp at Channel 8 to stimulate audience attention and attract more revenue. RS targets Bt4.5 billion in revenue this year.

AAV reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday that its board of directors had given is approval for Tassapon and his family to sell 1.8915 billion shares for Bt4.20 each to Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, founder and CEO of King Power Duty Free, and four of his family members. AAV’s share price closed at Bt6 yesterday, up 10 satang or 1.69 per cent.

After the transaction was completed yesterday through big lot of purchases via the SET, Tassapon reduced his shareholding in AAV from 13 per cent to 5 per cent. He reduced his two family members’ shares from a combined 31 per cent stake to zero, while Vichai has 14 per cent and his four relatives take up the balance of 25.82 per cent.

Vichai will have to proceed with a mandatory tender offer to acquire all remaining securities of AAV from its other shareholders in accordance with stock-market regulations.

The AAV board also approved the appointment of three new directors with immediate effect, namely Sombat Dechapanichkul, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and Apichet Srivaddhanaprabha. They replace Pattra Boosarawongse, Tanapat Ngamplang and Prechaya Rasametanin.

Previous news reports suggested the Srivaddhanaprabha family would pay Bt3 billion for a 23-per-cent stake in Asia Aviation, as Vichai hoped that King Power’s expansion into the aviation industry would help it gain more business from air travel and increase sales at its duty-free shops.

The negotiation process took a month before it was reported that an agreement had been struck.

The website DealStreetAsia recently quoted a source close to King Power Group as saying that one major driver behind this deal could be the fact that the group’s duty-free contract with Airports of Thailand was going to end in five years.

If King Power fails to renew the contract, it can still provide its services on board flights, the source said. “Customers can go shopping at its main store at [Soi] Rangnam and receive the goods on their flight. But if the contract is renewed, this remains a win-win strategy for both.”

Vichai is a billionaire who bought Leicester City Football Club in 2010 through his company King Power International Group. The duty-free retail chain is based in Thailand.

Leicester City became the toast of Thailand when it conquered the English Premier League last season. Forbes estimated his worth at US$3.1 billion (Bt109 billion) in 2015.

The group will list its subsidiary B Grimm Power on the Stock Exchange of Thailand by the end of this year, aiming to mobilise funds for future investment, mainly in power-plant and alternative-energy businesses.

The investment plan was set up after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) recently decided to renew the small power producer (SPP) concessions for another 25 years.

B Grimm currently operates two power plants in Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate with 360 megawatts in combined capacity. The group also has a power plant in Laem Chabang Industrial Estate with capacity of 120-160MW.

They have been supplying power to the Electricity Generating Authority of

Thailand as well as factories in the industrial estates. However, their current concessions will run out from 2019 to 2022.

“We support the decision by the ERC to renew the SPP concessions located at local industrial estates,” said B Grimm chairman Harald Link. “Such a decision will facilitate possible investment into the industrial sector.

“Individual investors who plan to set up factories at local industrial estates need to be assured that they will have a stable supply of electricity. The move will [encourage] foreign investors to … open factories in Thailand.”

He said that in addition to the replacement of existing power plants at Amata Nakorn and Laem Chabang industrial estates, B Grimm planned to invest in various power-plant projects, including at Bo Win in Chon Buri, Amata City Rayong, and Champasak in Laos.

B Grimm targets 21-per-cent growth in revenue to Bt41.9 billion this year, up from Bt34.7 billion posted in 2015. The group’s total assets increased from Bt49.9 billion in 2014 to Bt76.5 billion last year, and Bt86.8 billion is anticipated for this year.

The group achieved strong performance in all of its business groups in 2015, comprising energy, air-conditioning, healthcare, and transport, both in Thailand and overseas.

In the 138 years since its inception in 1878, B Grimm says it has followed what has come to be known as sufficiency-economy philosophy, with the aim of creating success, prosperity and happiness for business partners, alliances, and society as a whole. Accordingly, B Grimm’s business approach focuses on health, infrastructure, industrial and city development, religion, education, sports, environment and culture.

B Grimm’s fastest-growing business is energy. Currently, the company operates 12 co-generation power plants fuelled by natural gas.

“Our combined-cycle power plants provide extensive benefits of high stability and quality electricity to industries in Thailand with a total combined capacity of 1,170MW,” Link said.

In the renewable-energy sector, B Grimm has completed 16 solar-power farms with total generating capacity of 114MW.

The commercial operation date of three wind farms is 2020.

B Grimm Power says it will continue its expansion of renewable-energy power plants with the construction of its first hydroelectric power project in Laos next year.

B Grimm is targeting total installed capacity in excess of 2,158MW by 2019 and has plans to acquire concessions towards a total generating capacity of 5,000MW by 2019 by expanding into a number of Asian countries.

Starting out as a satellite TV provider, Astro’s legacy has evolved with the times as it needs to adapt to the ever-changing consumer appetite.

Facing increasing content costs and greater competition from streaming platforms, Astro is not sitting pretty waiting for subscribers to continue paying for their traditional satellite TV content.

“You have to evolve, always and constantly because your consumers have also evolved. We look at all these technological disruptions as an opportunity and challenge for us,” says Astro chief executive officer Datuk Rohana Rozhan.

What has served Astro well has been its ability to reach every household in Malaysia and that is what it wants to continue doing and has set itself a very high target by 2020.

Astro is targeting to be in 90 per cent of Malaysian households in five years’ time. To execute its business plans, it needs reach and scale.

“Customer reach is extremely important for us to get scale because scale brings with it the ability to price and compete from a cost-effective basis,” she says.

From just offering direct-to-home (DTH) linear pay TV service, Astro over the years has diversified into a provider of four streams.

The diversification is done out of need. In mature markets, more than half the content watched is non-linear, meaning people watch when they want to. The remaining 40 per cent is watched as the broadcast is shown, often for live sports, or for the older generation who are not too fussy about on-demand programming.

The proliferation of over-the-top (OTT) in mature markets and its impact on traditional pay TV companies meant that Astro had to react to changes in the marketplace, and fast.

Realising it needs to do the same, Astro has its own non-linear stream, Astro On Demand, where people can watch content at their convenience and on mobile devices.

“We are in all the worlds. We even have the mobile avenue, where we deliver OTT content to wherever our customers are,” says Rohana.

Of Astro’s 3.5 million pay TV customers, 900,000 have Astro’s Personal Video Recorder (PVR) service and it wants those customers to connect their set-top boxes to the Internet.

To date, only 350,000 PVR users have connected their PVRs to the Internet. The reason behind that migration is to get those with PVRs to purchase content on Astro’s library of title collection.

Rohana says Astro intends to use its leverage to get the latest titles and a wider collection on par with what the leading pay TV operators are enjoying. Being first to market will improve the enticement of what it is offering its subscribers.

Apart from that, Astro has ventured into e-commerce, via its 24/7 online home shopping channel, Go Shop.

Customers can watch the Go Shop TV channel, or browse and order products on the Go Shop website.

Some of the products sold on the platform includes digital and electronics, home and kitchen appliances, household, kitchenware, fitness, cosmetics, and fashion accessories.

Go Shop is expected to contribute RM1bil in total sales in five years.

Last year, Go Shop contributed a revenue of 189 million ringgit .

Astro has also launched a content-based merchandise e-commerce site, iSooka, where products associated to content aired on Astro are sold.

Part of Astro’s fundamental strategy is to drive value for households by catering to individual preferences that focus on non-linear delivery channel.

The first aircraft is scheduled to arrive in August and is expected to replace an old plane on the Bangkok-Melbourne route.

The Airbus A350 XWB is a mid-size long-range commercial aircraft and billed as the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world as well as the most modern and efficient aircraft.

“The national airline will receive delivery of its first Airbus A350 XWB in August 2016, with the second aircraft to be delivered in September 2016, and the remainder to be delivered in 2017. Initially, the Airbus A350 will operate roundtrip on the Bangkok-Melbourne route,” the carrier said.

The delivery of the two Airbus A350 XWB aircraft this year will enable THAI to offer consistent, high-quality products to its passengers on various routes with increased efficiency.

As Australia is one of major markets for Thai tourism, passengers will be able to experience superior comfort and convenience on the A350 XWB, enjoying exceptional service that has received international awards and worldwide recognition.

THAI’s first Airbus A350 XWB has been painted and will be transferred from the Airbus aircraft paint factory in Toulouse, France onto the next production phase, engine installation and passenger cabin decor, before undergoing ground and flight testing.

Alan Pardoe, Airbus head of marketing communications, said that 70 per cent of the A350 XWB was made of weight-efficient airframe, consisting of advanced composite materials such as titanium and advanced aluminium as well as an all-new carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic fuselage, which resulted in lower fuel burns and less maintenance.

He added that the A350 XWB was powered by Rolls Royce Trent XWB engines that were the newest most fuel-efficient engines, with 25 per cent less carbon-dioxide emissions and a substantial reduction in maintenance costs.

The A350 XWB is wide and spacious, providing passengers with comfort and convenience in all classes of travel, with more headroom, wider panoramic windows, and larger overhead space.

THAI’s A350 XWB consists of 321 seats. For Royal Silk Class, there will be 32 seats designed |for maximum business-class comfort.

The seat width is 21 inches, with 180-degree recline, giving passengers easy access to and from their seats without disturbing other passengers.

Each seat is equipped with a 16-inch touchscreen that can connect to Wi-Fi, communication devices, and electrical plugs.

For economy class, there will be 289 seats, with a seat pitch of 32 inches and an 18-inch width. Each seat is equipped with an 11-inch touchscreen that can connect to Wi-Fi, communication devices, and electrical plugs.

In Thailand, Airbus planes are being operated in Asia and to Europe. Among the aircraft are the best-selling single-aisle A320 family, the popular wide-bodied A330 and the quietest cabin in the sky – the A380 “superjumbo”. Airbus’ relationship with Thailand dates back to April 1977 when THAI placed its first order for the original A300B4. In doing so, the airline became one of Airbus’ earliest customers. Over the years, the airline has ordered and operated a total of 33 A300s.

In May 1990, the carrier placed its first order for the twin-engine wide-body A330-300s, with the first aircraft entering service on regional routes in December 1994. Since then, the airline has ordered 27 such aircraft, of which 26 are currently being operated.

THAI took another major step in its long-term fleet expansion plan in December 2004, by placing an order for six A380s. The airline took delivery of its first flagship aircraft in September 2012. All six A380s have to date been delivered to the airline and are flying on routes from Bangkok to Paris, Tokyo, Osaka, Frankfurt and London.

In August 2011, THAI selected two new aircraft types from Airbus to meet its future requirements when it signed contracts for four A350-900s and five A320 aircraft. Thai Smile, THAI’s regional subsidiary currently operates 15 A320s on key domestic routes and to a destination in China.

In September 2004, Bangkok Airways became the second Airbus operator in Thailand when it began to operate the A320 Family aircraft. Today, the carrier’s Airbus fleet has grown to 20 aircraft – 12 A319s and eight A320s.

Thai AirAsia X currently operates six A330s. The airline received an additional A330 on March 7, 2015 and began operations between Seoul, Narita, Osaka and Shanghai, starting from October 21, 2015.

In October 2007, the A320 was delivered to Thai AirAsia. The Bangkok-based branch of the low-cost AirAsia Group is now operating 47 A320s on its domestic and regional network. In January 2015, Airbus opened a new Airbus Flight Operations Services Centre in Bangkok. The centre produces electronic versions of the standard flight operations manuals for all Airbus aircraft types, as well as data customisation services for individual airlines.

In September 2015, Airbus announced a new spare parts service agreement with Triumph Aviation Services Asia, based in Chon Buri province.

The contract covers the inspection, test, repair, overhaul and modification of proprietary airframe structures for A320, A330 and A340 aircraft operated by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the first media interview given since then, Chaiyut Tavipvoradech, president of MV Television (Thailand), reveals his new milestones now that the company’s stronghold line of business – satellite-TV channels – has become a sunset sector in the Kingdom, due to the media landscape changing dramatically with the arrival two years ago of digital terrestrial-TV broadcasting service.

“We are now putting more emphasis on overseas business, such as digital/analog terrestrial-TV business in Laos, while seeking a new opportunity in Myanmar,” he said.

Since 2006, MV Television (Thailand) has had a 30-year broadcasting concession contract from the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism to operate MV Lao – the national commercial free-to-air TV stations in the analogue and digital terrestrial systems.

In a collaboration between the Lao government and the Thai private company, MV Lao commenced its analog broadcasting service |in 2010 with initial registered capital of US$2.4 million (Bt84.5 million).

Early next year, MV Lao station will start broadcasting in the digital terrestrial-TV system, he added.

Chaiyut acknowledged that his satellite-TV business in Thailand had been affected by the major change in the media landscape, with the shifting of regulatory policy to promote digital terrestrial-TV broadcasting rather than satellite free-to-air TV business.

MV Television (Thailand) currently operates six satellite-TV stations in the Kingdom: MVTV Family, Modern India TV, Major Channel Mix, Five Channel, Esan TV and Major Channel Asian.

“Following such a series of changes at home, we have to focus more on business in neighbouring countries,” he stressed.

MV Television is witnessing a tremendous opportunity in landlocked Laos, particularly following the implementation of the Asean Economic Community at the start of the year, he said.

“There are many Thai companies that are expanding their footprint in Laos. MV Lao seems to be one of their top choices to raise brand awareness in this 6.77 million-strong population country,” the president said.

“Laos is not just a landlocked destination, as it is now becoming a key link in the Asean sub-continent,” he explained.

Asked about the strengths of MV Television, Chaiyut said his company had laid cornerstones with leading content providers in Asia – Taiwan-based TVB and Singapore’s Media Corp – enabling it to provide a number of top-rated TV programmes produced by these distributors.

In addition, his company has been awarded the rights to organise international beauty pageants like “Miss Grand Laos” and “Miss Chinese International”, which could help the TV station create related on-ground activities to build its own audiences, as well as to attract more sponsors and advertisers to participate in the events.

The president said the company was now also in discussion with several media business partners in Yangon, the commercial capital of Myanmar. While declining to comment on the details of these talks, he said it was possible that MV Television would get rights either to run its own TV station or to distribute the content it has obtained to local broadcasters in Myanmar.

Given these strategies, the company expects to see an increase in the revenue contribution from overseas business.

It targets 60 per cent of overall revenue coming from business in Laos and Myanmar by the end of this year, he said.

Before the arrival of digital-TV broadcasting in the country, 60 to 70 per cent of MV Television (Thailand)’s income was domestically generated, he added.

Sumitomo Construction Machinery is one of the world’s leading integrated manufacturers of industrial and construction machinery.

In Thailand, the company appointed Leadway Heavy Machinery as its exclusive distributor for Sumitomo construction machinery, including excavators and pavers, about four years ago.

Sasaki said that Thailand enjoys many strong competencies to emerge as the regional distribution and financial hub, especially for the CLMV market.

“Thailand has great potential to be a free zone distribution hub for logistics – both new and used construction machinery.

Banking and financial institutions have already started their penetration into the Myanmar market by using their forces in Thailand,” said Sasaki.

He said the company could benefit from the strength of its local partner Leadway Heavy Machinery with their long-term affiliation with the Myanmar market.

The contribution of Thailand’s distributor could act as the company’s benchmark for other distributors to follow.

Sasaki said Sumitomo Construction Machinery sees great potential for Southeast Asia and the CLMV markets, thanks to the region’s geographic positioning as a link between two giant economices – China and India.

The CLMV market also has a growing population exceeding 200 million. This will lead to great demand for infrastructure in this region.

He said the current contribution of Asean to total sales of global Sumitomo was 7.2 per cent, but it increased every year. Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar are the top four markets in Asean.

“The business potential for construction machinery in responding to the high growth in the India-China linkage and China’s economic recovery in the short term is the key driving factor,” said Sasaki.

“Thailand and Myanmar should be the highest priority as our focused market in terms of market size and demand together with the good contribution of our local distributor, Leadway Heavy Machinery,” he added.

Chakart Seanchan, managing director of Leadway Heavy Machinery, said the construction machinery business in Thailand at present is driven by the launching of mega-infrastructure and water management projects.

“However, based on our experience and record in the past in Thailand’s market, mid-term demand fluctuation must be monitored carefully,” he said.

Chakart said that Leadway achieved sales of 206 units of Sumitomo excavators last year. The target for this year is 300 units, which would be a 7-per-cent market share.

“We have seen remarkable growth of our asphalt paver business in Thailand with Leadway’s sales contribution of 12 units for 37 per cent assumed market share in 2015, and 35 units sales targeted for this year with 53 per cent estimated market share,” he said.

In 2014, Pakistan auctioned its first 4G broadband license to China’s Zong for $210 million, along with 3G licences to Zong, the UAE’s Ufone and domestic Mobilink.

The total raised in the auction was $1.2 billion.

In the first quarter of last year, smartphone shipments to the country soared by 123 per cent, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s annual report.

That was one of the fastest growth rates in the developing world.

Since then broadband use has exploded, with the number of users growing to 29 million from a mere 1.9 million – a higher percentage than India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

PTA had auctioned the licence to local and international telecom companies, with Telenor winning the bid.

“The licence for 850-megahertz band will be awarded on base price of $395 million in accordance with the schedule,” an internal statement from PTA said.

“The licence will be awarded to Telenor within 30 days of payment,” it added.

Telenor Pakistan is 100 per cent owned by Norway’s Telenor Group, one of the largest mobile operators in the world.

Currently, the group’s total sales revenue in Europe stands at Bt40 billion. But it expects to achieve Bt100 billion by 2020.

The investment budget of Bt10 billion will be spent on renovating its existing branches in Europe, especially in Germany. Another Bt2 billion would be spent opening a new branch of La Rianscente in Turin, Italy, he said.

At present, the Central Group owns three department stores in Europe, including the KaDeWe Group in Germany, in which it took a major stake in 2015; La Rianscente in Italy, which it bought in 2011, and Illum in Denmark, which was snapped up in 2013.

Tos said the group is focused on Europe and Asean for overseas investment, as the company sees potential to expand its business in both regions.

In Asean, the company is focusing on Vietnam after its success in acquiring a major stake in Big C Vietnam in April this year from France’s Casino Group for Bt36.6 billion.

“The Big C takeover got us not only the Big C hypermarkets, which comprise 33 branches in Vietnam, but 10 convenience stores and 30 shopping malls owned by Big C Vietnam’s subsidiaries. The challenge for us is to concentrate on the retail business in Vietnam at this time,” Tos said.

He added that the company also plans to change the name of Big C in Vietnam but said that would be finalised next year.

“Although we can use the Big C brand for 10 years after the takeover, we have decided to change the name next year instead of waiting for 10 years,” he said.

Central Group has expanded its business in Vietnam by establishing Central Group Vietnam in 2011 with its business partner Nguyen Kim.

Central Group Vietnam currently operates two Robins department stores in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as two Marks & Spencer stores, 27 Supersports stores, 21 Nguyen Kim stores selling electronic goods, and 13 branches of Lan Chi Mart retail and wholesale food stores in Vietnam early this year.

After the takeover of a majority stake in Big C Vietnam, the Central group recorded total sales revenue of Bt40 billion in Vietnam. The group expects revenue in Vietnam to show double-digit growth annually.

Tos said the reason it sold its 25-per-cent stake in Thailand-based Big C Supercenter Plc to the TCC Group was because of its success in taking over Big C Vietnam. Also, a 25-per-cent stake in Big C Supercenter Plc was not enough for the company to manage the business.

“In Thailand, we will focus on the premium food market under the Tops brand, as we also have more business categories in Thailand. This is enough for our business expansion in Thailand’s retail market although we sold our stake in Big C Supercenter Plc,” he said.