He said the project would boost not only the national tourism sector but also rural economies. The multiplier economic effect was expected to be at least Bt16.5 billion, creating jobs valued at Bt1.8 billion a year, according to a study by the company.

The project was originally proposed by the civilian government of prime minister YingluckShinawatra in 2012. It was revived last year by the junta’s transport minister, Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong, now a deputy prime minister.

Siam Eastern Logistics Terminal Co, one of the SEP Group’s companies, was proposed as a private developer of the project. In the middle of last year, Prajin instructed the Marine Department to speed up a feasibility study on the project, and complete it in 12-13 months instead of the normal time frame of 18 months. He argued that the study should not take long, as one had already been conducted in 2012.

According to Peerapong, the SEP Group led by Anantachai Kunanantakul, a real-estate tycoon in Samut Prakan province, has revised the ferry project’s investment plan, putting the estimate at around Bt15 billion. Of that, about Bt9 billion would be for building of three ports in Bang Pu,Pattaya and Pran Buri, and the remainder for four mid-sized catamaran-style ferries.

The Pattaya-Pran Buri ferry service would shorten the distance between those two locations to 109 kilometres from 380km and cut the travel time to 1.5 hours from 4.5 hours, he said.

Under the revised proposal, Peerapong said the group had focused more on safety and convenience, using mid-sized catamaran ferries of 120 deadweight tons. Each would have capacity to carry up to 400 passengers, 30 cars, 12 motorcycles, and shipments not exceeding 40 tonnes. At full load, the ferry would have a 2.1-metre draft.

He said there would be 16 daily trips for the Pattaya-Pran Buri route and 20 for the Pran Buri-Bang Pu-Pattaya route.

“The ferry fare would be about Bt1,000 each per trip for passengers and Bt3,000 for a car for thePattaya-Pran Buri route,” said Peerapong, adding that the group expected a total of 2.8 million passengers a year.

He said the ferry service would be operated by a newly established firm, Siam Eastern Logistics Co, while the three ports would be run by Siam Eastern Logistics Terminal Co.

The port to be constructed in Bang Pu, Samut Prakan, would be located in the group’s K-City complex, he said. The Pattaya port would be located in Ban Amphur, and Pran Buri’s in Pak Nam.

The group proposed that it operate the ferry service for 30 years, after which all three ports would be transferred to the state.

The company is negotiating with a potential partner in Malaysia to set up manufacturing and distribution facilities for halal products in the country. In Thailand, PFP operates two food-processing plants in the southern province of Songkhla. One is for fish tofu, fish tofu slide, chikuwa fish cakes, fish and shrimp chips. Its capacity is 16 tonnes per day.

The other plant is for many products including imitation crab sticks, snow crab, fish tofu, Thai fish cakes, imitation crab claw, and imitation shrimp. Its capacity is 81 tonnes per day.

The group will also gear up for more exports, with the aim of 10-per-cent growth annually. The main markets abroad will be China and Muslim countries, especially Central East and Indonesia.

Chairman Thawee Piyapatana said global demand for seafood was still increasing, based on consumer preference for healthy foods.

PFP products are in line with the trend in product quality and freshness. They are also guaranteed halal.

PFP has a research and development department to create more products that suit the needs and preferred tastes of consumers.

PFP has been shipping processed seafood products to many countries worldwide for more than 30 years. It now covers 21 overseas markets.

Thawatchai said that last year, PFP’s international sales passed Bt1.3 billion, of which 72 per cent was to the Asian market, 12 per cent to Europe, 8 per cent to North America and 8 per cent to Oceania (Australia and New Zealand).

This year, PFP plans to continue expanding distribution channels to European and North American markets.

These markets comprise consumers with high purchasing power who opt for healthy foods.

The markets are directly relevant to the positioning of PFP products, whose target group is the middle class.

In Asia, the focus is on China, which is the biggest market for imitation crab sticks.

For the CLMV market (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam), PFP will focus on expansion to supermarkets and the large-scale modern trade in cities.

PFP is exploring new markets such as Muslims in Indonesia in line with the government’s policy to make Thailand one of the world’s top |five halal food exporters within five years.

The company’s strategy for expansion to overseas markets this year is to develop products to serve changing consumer behaviour, increase the quantity purchased by existing customers by 5-10 per cent by offering special promotions and campaigns, and seek new customers via various exhibitions and trade shows in new markets, especially in the Muslim countries to increase halal market share, Thawatchai said.

The single-storey, 10,000-square-metre complex with 4,000m2 of sales space aims to attract about 10,000 shoppers a day, of whom 60-70 per cent will be Myanmar people, both merchants and migrant workers living in the province.

Traffic will increase 30 per cent on weekends.

Located about one-and-a-half kilometres from the heart of the city, Big C Ranong also houses a three-screen Major Cineplex cinema, which is the first cineplex in the province. The total investment of Big C Ranong is Bt400 million-Bt600 million.

Songsak Wijaithammarit, assistant vice president for operations, said yesterday that under the plan presented to the annual shareholders meeting two weeks ago, Big C will open six hypermarkets this year, mainly in “blue ocean” locations in the Northeast and South.

Three Big C Market stores will be opened upcountry, including in the Northeast. About 75 Mini Big C stores will be also opened this year, of which 50 will be through franchising.

“Our shareholders were impressed by the new major shareholder of Big C, which is Thai.

“BJC will help strengthen Big C via its diversified products and in the area of logistics. It may help the company to speed up its expansion in the future,” he said.

The investment plan continues to be set year after year, but the current speed of expansion is highly satisfactory.

Big C’s new board is chaired by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, while Aswin Techajareonvikul, president and CEO of BJC, is chairman of the company’s executive board.

Big C Supercenter operates 125 large format stores (Big C Supercenter, Extra and Jumbo), |55 Big C Market stores, 397 Mini |Big C stores (including 164 in Bangchak service stations and |three franchised stores) and 147 Pure drugstores.

The company reported its first-quarter results.

Sales, rental and service income, and other income declined slightly by 1.1 per cent to Bt32.8 billion from the same quarter last year, driven by a decline in retail sales of 1.1 per cent, as same-store sales dropped by 2.9 per cent.

Expenses decreased 1.3 per cent to Bt30.8 billion due to lower cost of sales and services.

Net income improved 4.6 per cent to Bt1.5 billion, driven by margin improvements across the board, continued resilient rental and service income growth, and the lower expenses.

Operating profit rose 1.2 per cent to Bt2.01 billion.

Lazada and Alibaba also entered a transaction that includes Alibaba’s investment of $500 million in Lazada, which will make Alibaba the controlling shareholder of Lazada.

The transaction values Lazada at $1.5 billion.

Rocket Internet’s remaining stake after the transaction, taking into account Alibaba’s new investment, is 8.8 per cent.

The valuation of Rocket Internet’s stake represents a 15-times multiple of Rocket Internet’s total invested capital of 18 million euros (Bt720 million).

Shareholders, including Rocket Internet, have also given Alibaba the right to purchase, and the shareholders the right to sell collectively, their remaining stakes at fair market value within a 12-to-18-month period after the closing of the transaction.

Oliver Samwer, chief executive of Rocket Internet, said yesterday that this transaction was a key milestone for Lazada, as it underlined its position as the leading online platform in Southeast Asia.

“Alibaba as the new major shareholder is further strengthening this position and provides the basis for significant future growth given Alibaba’s strong strategic position in the region.

“We are looking forward to working with Alibaba and the existing Lazada shareholders to support Lazada in building the leading e-commerce franchise in Southeast Asia.”

Maximilian Bittner, CEO of Lazada, said the company was very excited about joining forces with Alibaba and saw significant synergies that would bring great benefits to its customers, sellers, brands and the broader e-commerce ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

“The transaction will help us accelerate our goal to provide the 550 million consumers in the region access to the broadest and most unique assortment range.”

It should help compensate for the current raw-material shortfall in Thailand. India’s shrimp-farming sector has not been affected by serious disease outbreaks such as early mortality syndrome (EMS). Despite recovery in 2015, Thai shrimp output is still less than half of the level seen before 2013, said Thiraphong Chansiri, president and chief executive officer of Thai Union Group.

AFFPL was set up last year by Avanti Feeds to focus on shrimp processing in India for the export and domestic markets. In November, AFFPL acquired the existing shrimp-processing operations of its parent.

AFFPL is in the process of building a new facility at Yerravaram in East Godavari district, Andra Pradesh, about 80 kilometres from the existing shrimp-processing plant at Gopalapuram in the same Indian state. With existing capacity of about 25 tonnes per day, the new one will add another 50 tonnes, for a total to 75 tonnes per day.

Because of its existing profitable operations and customer base, AFFPL is expected to be immediately profitable in its first year. The existing factory has a workforce of 750. The new plant, once completed and up and running, will raise this figure to 2,250.

For now, the shrimp-processing business is mainly for export markets, such as the United States, major European markets, and Japan. The company’s main customers will be major seafood importers in these markets.

However, China is also becoming a net seafood importer and a market with strong potential in the near future. Moreover, with India’s growing economy and sizeable population, this joint venture is ready to tap into the growing shrimp consumption in its domestic market.

The completion of this joint venture will be subject to the satisfaction of all regulatory requirements and customary closing conditions.

The valuation of this investment is based on a combination of an independent market assessment of the existing shrimp-processing business of AFFPL that was carved out from Avanti Feeds and the investment cost of a new plant that is under construction, due for opening in the second half of 2016.