Japan's leading electronic-commerce firm, Rakuten, is taking a 67-per-cent stake in Thailand's largest e-commerce company - Tarad.com.
"Thailand is a strong market that we expect to use as a springboard to jump into Asean countries in the future. Rakuten is an e-commerce consulting company. We will help Thai SMEs benefit from our technology, platform and services," Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman and CEO of Rakuten, said yesterday.
The deal was two years in the making. The value of the joint venture has not been disclosed yet.
The move is Rakuten's second step into the overseas market, following Taiwan last year. Rakuten ranks as the eighth-largest global Internet company by market value.
"Thailand has huge potential in e-commerce business in terms of growth and Tarad.com is a good local partner in helping the company to expand its business to the Thai market and to extend to the Asean market," Mikitani said.
Rakuten was committed to making the huge investment needed to increase the efficiency of Tarad.com's business capability, he said, but declined to unveil the actual budget.
Rakuten will send three executives to oversee Tarad.com's business direction. The first is Toshiya Matsuo, who will become the CEO, followed by two managers.
Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, Tarad.com's founder, will stay on as managing director.
Matsuo said the Japanese company would bring know-how and technology as well as capital to lift Tarad.com's business capability and competitiveness, as e-commerce is playing an important role in boosting the country's economic growth.
"Thailand is the fastest growing in Asean in terms of e-commerce business, but the total e-commerce business is eight to nine times smaller than Japan. We see the huge potential to increase e-commerce in Thailand to be bigger by eight to nine times in the future," he said.
There are a couple things that the company needs to improve in Tarad.com, such as the payment platform and technology facilities and support, in order to turn it into a regional and global player, he said.
Pawoot said the joint venture would combine the strength of the two partners to help leverage Thailand's e-commerce business to take a big leap forward in expanding to the world market place with the stronger resources.
"This joint venture will make a difference in e-commerce development in Thailand. By next year, we will launch a new e-commerce business model in Thailand. Huge benefits will be returned to Thai SMEs and the country's economy as the whole," he said.
Tarad.com hosts 160,000 online merchants carrying 1.6 million items. It expects to increase its merchant accounts to 183,400 by the end of the year. Tarad.com next year is conservatively expected to grow at 40 per cent, he added.
Rakuten has about 30,000 online shops and 40 million product items.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
They've got the power
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) firmly announced plans to build two nuclear plants, with construction of the first to begin in 11 years; deputy governor and spokesman Wirat Kanchanaphaibul said studies were still under way, but two 1,000KW plants will replace or supplement some of the gas-fired plants,in order to decrease dependence on foreign oil sources; getting permission to build the plants will be child's play compared with the coming fight over where they will (not) be sited.
Top countries in Global Information Technology as ranked over the past year by the World Economic Forum were Denmark, Sweden and the United States, with Singapore in fourth place as the only Asian country to make the top 10; the annual report, which trashed this country, is sponsored for the first time by Cisco Systems, and by a huge coincidence adopted the theme "Mobility in a Networked World," not that a huge company would bias the report in any manner to show up countries using its technology, perish the thought;actually, Thailand's rank of Number 47 in the world with a score of 4.14 came even though Thailand is a major customer of Cisco's spiffy and extremely profitable censorship hardware; indeed,as the report put it so very diplomatically:"Pursuing its downward slide in the ranking, Thailand plunges a further seven positions to 47th. Behind this negative trend is the continuous worsening of the country's performance in all the government-related indicators;"how heartening, then, that the new government has taken such a strong interest in IT, even convincing the incredible Ranongruk Suwanchawee to serve selflessly as information and communications technology minister, a step certain to be reflected in next year's rankings.
The National Telecommunications Commission continued its frantic twoyear-old project to get ready to prepare to start to consider how to begin setting up Asia's last third-generation mobile phone system; chairman Gen Choochart Promprasit said regulations governing the auction of bandwidth should be published by next month - or so; the auction should take place Real Soon Now, comparatively speaking; before any 3G service actually begin, there may be lawsuits challenging the NTC power-grab to regulate 3G at all.
Peter Borjesson, president of vice of network services for Ericsson Thailand ,said his company would exist to serve 3G operators, in case there ever are any; the optimistic Mr Borjesson figures there might be an opportunity in the 3G market in 2010; Ericsson has had lots of time to get lots of experience in 3G, since service has already started in Cambodia, Laos, etc. New CEO Wichien Mektrakarn of No 1 yuppiephone network Advanced Info Service said he was thrilled to death to be able to work with your TOT on 3G services - assuming TOT ever manages to get that ball rolling; in the meantime, however,AIS is working on hiving off its service to its subsidiary Advance Wireless Network , and that could - repeat, could - take concession business from TOT.
Your CAT Telecom said it will try to talk state-run broadcaster MCOT ("Emcot") into donating its 2.6GHz spectrum for a WiMax service for yuppiephones;your brand new spiffy CEO Jirayuth Rungsrithong of Cattelecom said he also wants to finish the hookup between Hutchison-CAT and the up-country 20001-x networks, to created one flawless, CDMA phone network which would remain as the fourth-largest service.
Web pirates figured out that the Thai foreign ministry bought and maintained (14thAseanSummit.org) for last February's Asean summit; so they went out and bought the domain name (15thAseanSummit.org); you can currently "find Thai girls" and "date gorgeous Filipinas" from the site; there is no official word yet on the actual website to be used for the 15th Summit in Hua Hin and Cha-Am in October.
Information and Communication Technology Minister Ranongruk Suwunchwee told the company formerly known as Shinawatra Satellite to go pound sand when the firm asked to rent a satellite instead of build a new one;Mrs Ranongruk took a few moments from her frantic ministerial schedule to tell Thaicom , now based in Shingapore, that it could not amend the 1997 contract with her ministry; back in the last century, Shinsat and the government agreed that when the Thaicom 1 satellite fell out of the sky - which it soon will - Thaksin's firm would build a replacement; now, Thaicom wants to rent a foreign satellite to carry the phone calls and TV signals, and then build two satellites later;"The concession contract cannot be amended because it was signed more than 12 years ago,"said the minister.
The aggressive electronics services sub-contractor Stars Microelectronics said it was budgeting for corporate growth of between 25 and 30 percent in the second half of this year, because the recovery is that good; by coincidence,the company is also launching an initial public offering this month, and CEO Polsak Lertputipinyo said he expects somewhere around 4.75, maybe 4.95 baht for each of the 92 million shares on offer.
Virtual computing specialists NComputing of America and Thailand said it was upbeat about the Thai operations;Manish Sharma, president for vice sales in the Pacific area, said the sales targets of the virtual machines - including hardware and software - were 25,000 in Thailand this year, and 50,000 next year; the company already has major customers including Coca Cola, Tesco Lotus and Big C.
Top countries in Global Information Technology as ranked over the past year by the World Economic Forum were Denmark, Sweden and the United States, with Singapore in fourth place as the only Asian country to make the top 10; the annual report, which trashed this country, is sponsored for the first time by Cisco Systems, and by a huge coincidence adopted the theme "Mobility in a Networked World," not that a huge company would bias the report in any manner to show up countries using its technology, perish the thought;actually, Thailand's rank of Number 47 in the world with a score of 4.14 came even though Thailand is a major customer of Cisco's spiffy and extremely profitable censorship hardware; indeed,as the report put it so very diplomatically:"Pursuing its downward slide in the ranking, Thailand plunges a further seven positions to 47th. Behind this negative trend is the continuous worsening of the country's performance in all the government-related indicators;"how heartening, then, that the new government has taken such a strong interest in IT, even convincing the incredible Ranongruk Suwanchawee to serve selflessly as information and communications technology minister, a step certain to be reflected in next year's rankings.
The National Telecommunications Commission continued its frantic twoyear-old project to get ready to prepare to start to consider how to begin setting up Asia's last third-generation mobile phone system; chairman Gen Choochart Promprasit said regulations governing the auction of bandwidth should be published by next month - or so; the auction should take place Real Soon Now, comparatively speaking; before any 3G service actually begin, there may be lawsuits challenging the NTC power-grab to regulate 3G at all.
Peter Borjesson, president of vice of network services for Ericsson Thailand ,said his company would exist to serve 3G operators, in case there ever are any; the optimistic Mr Borjesson figures there might be an opportunity in the 3G market in 2010; Ericsson has had lots of time to get lots of experience in 3G, since service has already started in Cambodia, Laos, etc. New CEO Wichien Mektrakarn of No 1 yuppiephone network Advanced Info Service said he was thrilled to death to be able to work with your TOT on 3G services - assuming TOT ever manages to get that ball rolling; in the meantime, however,AIS is working on hiving off its service to its subsidiary Advance Wireless Network , and that could - repeat, could - take concession business from TOT.
Your CAT Telecom said it will try to talk state-run broadcaster MCOT ("Emcot") into donating its 2.6GHz spectrum for a WiMax service for yuppiephones;your brand new spiffy CEO Jirayuth Rungsrithong of Cattelecom said he also wants to finish the hookup between Hutchison-CAT and the up-country 20001-x networks, to created one flawless, CDMA phone network which would remain as the fourth-largest service.
Web pirates figured out that the Thai foreign ministry bought and maintained (14thAseanSummit.org) for last February's Asean summit; so they went out and bought the domain name (15thAseanSummit.org); you can currently "find Thai girls" and "date gorgeous Filipinas" from the site; there is no official word yet on the actual website to be used for the 15th Summit in Hua Hin and Cha-Am in October.
Information and Communication Technology Minister Ranongruk Suwunchwee told the company formerly known as Shinawatra Satellite to go pound sand when the firm asked to rent a satellite instead of build a new one;Mrs Ranongruk took a few moments from her frantic ministerial schedule to tell Thaicom , now based in Shingapore, that it could not amend the 1997 contract with her ministry; back in the last century, Shinsat and the government agreed that when the Thaicom 1 satellite fell out of the sky - which it soon will - Thaksin's firm would build a replacement; now, Thaicom wants to rent a foreign satellite to carry the phone calls and TV signals, and then build two satellites later;"The concession contract cannot be amended because it was signed more than 12 years ago,"said the minister.
The aggressive electronics services sub-contractor Stars Microelectronics said it was budgeting for corporate growth of between 25 and 30 percent in the second half of this year, because the recovery is that good; by coincidence,the company is also launching an initial public offering this month, and CEO Polsak Lertputipinyo said he expects somewhere around 4.75, maybe 4.95 baht for each of the 92 million shares on offer.
Virtual computing specialists NComputing of America and Thailand said it was upbeat about the Thai operations;Manish Sharma, president for vice sales in the Pacific area, said the sales targets of the virtual machines - including hardware and software - were 25,000 in Thailand this year, and 50,000 next year; the company already has major customers including Coca Cola, Tesco Lotus and Big C.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Stars makes impressive debut on SET
Stars Microelectronics (SMT) expects revenue to grow 25% this year from 12.12 billion last year, according to chief executive Polsak Lertputipinyo.
He said the growth would come from the strong pickup in global demand in the IT and electronics sector, with demand expected to remain strong through 2010.
SMT, an electronics manufacturing service subcontractor, projects revenue growth of 10% to 15% in 2010, with the company expected to sign up 5-6 new companies for its microelectronic module assembly and integrated circuit services.
SMT operates two main business lines -microelectronic module assembly (MMA) and integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing. Its products include touchscreens for smart phones, harddisk control boards used in laptop computers and sensors for the automotive and medical industries.
MMA accounts for 70% of revenue,with a profit margin of 30-40%. However,he expected that within the next two years, revenue contributions by the two business lines will be split evenly.
Shares of SMT began trading yesterday on the SET as the fifth new listing on the main board this year.
The stock opened at 5.25 baht and rose to a high of 5.95 before falling to close at 5.75 baht in trade worth 674 million baht, a 20% gain from its initial public offering price of 4.95 baht per share.
Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn, chief executive of the financial adviser Tisco Securities, said investors are paying more attention to export-related companies due to the signs of global recovery.
The sentiment is in contrast to that prevailing at the beginning of the year,when investors focused on domestic markets, he said.
SMT reported total first-half revenues of 4.589 billion baht with net profits of 115 million baht.
He said the growth would come from the strong pickup in global demand in the IT and electronics sector, with demand expected to remain strong through 2010.
SMT, an electronics manufacturing service subcontractor, projects revenue growth of 10% to 15% in 2010, with the company expected to sign up 5-6 new companies for its microelectronic module assembly and integrated circuit services.
SMT operates two main business lines -microelectronic module assembly (MMA) and integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing. Its products include touchscreens for smart phones, harddisk control boards used in laptop computers and sensors for the automotive and medical industries.
MMA accounts for 70% of revenue,with a profit margin of 30-40%. However,he expected that within the next two years, revenue contributions by the two business lines will be split evenly.
Shares of SMT began trading yesterday on the SET as the fifth new listing on the main board this year.
The stock opened at 5.25 baht and rose to a high of 5.95 before falling to close at 5.75 baht in trade worth 674 million baht, a 20% gain from its initial public offering price of 4.95 baht per share.
Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn, chief executive of the financial adviser Tisco Securities, said investors are paying more attention to export-related companies due to the signs of global recovery.
The sentiment is in contrast to that prevailing at the beginning of the year,when investors focused on domestic markets, he said.
SMT reported total first-half revenues of 4.589 billion baht with net profits of 115 million baht.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Researchers tap into RFID to cut costs
New technologies for real-time vehicle tracking will play a big role in lowering expensive logistics costs, improving transport management and the country's competitiveness, according to the National Innovation Agency (NIA).
Logistics costs as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in Thailand are as high as 19%, compared with 9.4% in the United States and single digits or low double digits in many other developed countries.
Given that Thailand relies on exports for more than 60% of its GDP, logistics costs are far too high, industry leaders have said for years.
The NIA has supported researchers pursuing innovations to reduce costs, a notable example being B-Move, which was a co-developed by Southeast Asia Technology Co and Burapha University's Logistics Department.
The system, is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) for tracking vehicles to monitor transport.
"The technology can not only be adapted to use in transport management in order to raise the efficiency of transport but also to lower transport costs and save time," said Supachai Lorlowhakarn,the NIA director.
It can also be used in public transport for managing bus schedules and routes.
A tag installed on each vehicle sends signals to RFID readers placed in telephone booths, which act as receivers.The information is then transferred to a control centre through an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL, which sends data over copper telephone lines faster than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.
The NIA underwrote half of the project's cost of 3.12 million baht.
The agency has also supported the use of RFID in the shrimp industry to create a 3D barcode on packaging. It identifies the origin, quality and safety of the product from the duration of transport from the farm to the factory, to what kind of food is fed to the shrimp.This prevents farmers from using harmful substances, said Dr Supachai.
The project worth 5.96 million baht in total includes another technology called C-Move, a tracking system, developed by DX Innovation Co and partially funded by the NIA. It uses a global positioning system or GPS device to track vehicles that run across the country.
Unlike B-Move which targets product transport within the city, C-Move looks after larger networks, such as transport to and from different provinces. Although B-Move's RFID technology has a higher quality, it can be used in a limited space whereas GPS uses a satellite system that allows a wider scale of usage.
The two projects were commercialised two months ago.
On the distribution side, a bidding website acts as a matchmaking service by allowing customers to see the avail-ability of vehicles that can transport products from one place to another.
The current transport management system, which is not integrated into a network, means shippers cannot use the same vehicles for different products.
Continuous trips can lower energy costs by reducing the number of empty trips, which account for up to 46% of all trips for land transport of products.
Eighty-nine percent of all product transport in Thailand is by land, resulting in a total of 71.74 million trips per year.
Logistics costs as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in Thailand are as high as 19%, compared with 9.4% in the United States and single digits or low double digits in many other developed countries.
Given that Thailand relies on exports for more than 60% of its GDP, logistics costs are far too high, industry leaders have said for years.
The NIA has supported researchers pursuing innovations to reduce costs, a notable example being B-Move, which was a co-developed by Southeast Asia Technology Co and Burapha University's Logistics Department.
The system, is based on radio frequency identification (RFID) for tracking vehicles to monitor transport.
"The technology can not only be adapted to use in transport management in order to raise the efficiency of transport but also to lower transport costs and save time," said Supachai Lorlowhakarn,the NIA director.
It can also be used in public transport for managing bus schedules and routes.
A tag installed on each vehicle sends signals to RFID readers placed in telephone booths, which act as receivers.The information is then transferred to a control centre through an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL, which sends data over copper telephone lines faster than a conventional voiceband modem can provide.
The NIA underwrote half of the project's cost of 3.12 million baht.
The agency has also supported the use of RFID in the shrimp industry to create a 3D barcode on packaging. It identifies the origin, quality and safety of the product from the duration of transport from the farm to the factory, to what kind of food is fed to the shrimp.This prevents farmers from using harmful substances, said Dr Supachai.
The project worth 5.96 million baht in total includes another technology called C-Move, a tracking system, developed by DX Innovation Co and partially funded by the NIA. It uses a global positioning system or GPS device to track vehicles that run across the country.
Unlike B-Move which targets product transport within the city, C-Move looks after larger networks, such as transport to and from different provinces. Although B-Move's RFID technology has a higher quality, it can be used in a limited space whereas GPS uses a satellite system that allows a wider scale of usage.
The two projects were commercialised two months ago.
On the distribution side, a bidding website acts as a matchmaking service by allowing customers to see the avail-ability of vehicles that can transport products from one place to another.
The current transport management system, which is not integrated into a network, means shippers cannot use the same vehicles for different products.
Continuous trips can lower energy costs by reducing the number of empty trips, which account for up to 46% of all trips for land transport of products.
Eighty-nine percent of all product transport in Thailand is by land, resulting in a total of 71.74 million trips per year.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Capital offence
The big story in 2005 was that eBay had purchased the Internet's biggest telephone company Skype for $2.6 billion; the big question in 2007 was whether eBay would ever figure out what to do with Skype, which was clearly nothing more than an expensive toy for the auction firm, incapable of making big money and with no place to fit into the e-commerce giant; the big answer of 2009 is that eBay is going to pretty much admit it was wrong, and dump 65 percent of Skype on a little-known investor group and recover just over $2 billion of its 2005 purchase price; the only prominent new owner of Skype is Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, who has rounded up several investment types, including,weirdly, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, although you have to wonder how thrilled Canadian taxpayers are; eBay will retain 35 percent of Skype,which despite its size and global reach still has no public business plan to make much money.
High technology trade researchers Mobile Entertainment Forum said in a special report that Asia lags well behind the West in regulating and stimulating the mobile entertainment business; Suhail Bhat, MEF policy and initiatives director, told the ZDNet Asia group that Asian regulators have not been able to keep up with the explosive growth of the mobile entertainment industry;while the European Union is drafting policies for mobile services in 2015,Asia is still trying to figure out what rules to apply today.
In a huge, unbelievable shock surprise, the European Commission, which has not collected much in big-money hush payments for months, is going to "investigate" the pending purchase of Sun Microsystems by the database giant Oracle ; the EC says that the deal is a potential monopoly that could hinder competition in the database market;translation: If Oracle fails to budget a lot of money for the EC in its merger with Sun, the EC will make life intolerable for Larry Ellison's firm. In another shocking development, the very same European Commission said it will just have to oppose the proposed settlement designed to let Google sell digital books over the Internet because, whoops, possible monopoly trouble; strangely, the current near-monopoly on digital book sales over the Internet by amazon.com and its Kindle book readers hasn't bothered the EC at all.
So, the Associated Press reports that Siebel Systems ' billionaire owner Tom Siebel was attacked by an elephant while he was on safari in the Serengeti last month; it could have been worse for the software mogul; after all, a lot of super-rich software makers are currently being mauled by a Snow Leopard.
Advanced Technology Investment
Co of Abu Dhabi paid $1.8 billion to buy the Singapore chip foundry Chartered Semiconductor . In 2002,Samsung of Korea passed Sony of Japan in market value; last week, it neared the valuation of Intel Corp of America,and is expected to get to $110 billion and pass the US company within months.
The high profile head of Google in China quit the search engine company to start up a venture fund to finance high-technology start-ups in China; Lee Kai-fu became Google's global president for vice, stationed in Beijing, in 2005;while he revelled in the spotlight of his job, his accomplishments are another matter; under his supervision, Google came under huge fire worldwide for kow-towing to the Beijing authorities on Internet censorship, while in the meantime, Number 2 Google actually lost market share to Baidu , the runaway search leader in China; his new company,Innovation Works , will start looking for investments with $115 million in funding.
It's not those darned kids, its you;according to technology analysts comScore , just 11 percent of Twitter users are between 12 and 17; your embrace of this weird communication system shatters the belief that it's always the young people who lead the way to pop innovations.
Britain's worst polluter: Well, the contest isn't over, but the current top candidate is the $50 million supercomputer at the Meteorological Department; according to press reports, the computer takes 1.2 Megawatts of energy to run 15 million MB of RAM and 1 trillion calculations a second for 400 scientists;all of that produces some weather forecasting material and 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Vicki Walker of NEW ZEALAND was fired FROM HER JOB for annoying coworkers by sending them her imperious email IN ALL CAPS DEMANDING THEY "FOLLOW THE BELOW CHECKLIST";unfortunately, the touchy-feelie New Zealand Employment Relations Au-thority fell for her heart-breaking story of how she had gone into debt, and they ordered that she be re-hired and paid $17,000 in lost wages and unspecified "harm"; her co-workers got nothing for having to put up with her back then and now again.
High technology trade researchers Mobile Entertainment Forum said in a special report that Asia lags well behind the West in regulating and stimulating the mobile entertainment business; Suhail Bhat, MEF policy and initiatives director, told the ZDNet Asia group that Asian regulators have not been able to keep up with the explosive growth of the mobile entertainment industry;while the European Union is drafting policies for mobile services in 2015,Asia is still trying to figure out what rules to apply today.
In a huge, unbelievable shock surprise, the European Commission, which has not collected much in big-money hush payments for months, is going to "investigate" the pending purchase of Sun Microsystems by the database giant Oracle ; the EC says that the deal is a potential monopoly that could hinder competition in the database market;translation: If Oracle fails to budget a lot of money for the EC in its merger with Sun, the EC will make life intolerable for Larry Ellison's firm. In another shocking development, the very same European Commission said it will just have to oppose the proposed settlement designed to let Google sell digital books over the Internet because, whoops, possible monopoly trouble; strangely, the current near-monopoly on digital book sales over the Internet by amazon.com and its Kindle book readers hasn't bothered the EC at all.
So, the Associated Press reports that Siebel Systems ' billionaire owner Tom Siebel was attacked by an elephant while he was on safari in the Serengeti last month; it could have been worse for the software mogul; after all, a lot of super-rich software makers are currently being mauled by a Snow Leopard.
Advanced Technology Investment
Co of Abu Dhabi paid $1.8 billion to buy the Singapore chip foundry Chartered Semiconductor . In 2002,Samsung of Korea passed Sony of Japan in market value; last week, it neared the valuation of Intel Corp of America,and is expected to get to $110 billion and pass the US company within months.
The high profile head of Google in China quit the search engine company to start up a venture fund to finance high-technology start-ups in China; Lee Kai-fu became Google's global president for vice, stationed in Beijing, in 2005;while he revelled in the spotlight of his job, his accomplishments are another matter; under his supervision, Google came under huge fire worldwide for kow-towing to the Beijing authorities on Internet censorship, while in the meantime, Number 2 Google actually lost market share to Baidu , the runaway search leader in China; his new company,Innovation Works , will start looking for investments with $115 million in funding.
It's not those darned kids, its you;according to technology analysts comScore , just 11 percent of Twitter users are between 12 and 17; your embrace of this weird communication system shatters the belief that it's always the young people who lead the way to pop innovations.
Britain's worst polluter: Well, the contest isn't over, but the current top candidate is the $50 million supercomputer at the Meteorological Department; according to press reports, the computer takes 1.2 Megawatts of energy to run 15 million MB of RAM and 1 trillion calculations a second for 400 scientists;all of that produces some weather forecasting material and 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Vicki Walker of NEW ZEALAND was fired FROM HER JOB for annoying coworkers by sending them her imperious email IN ALL CAPS DEMANDING THEY "FOLLOW THE BELOW CHECKLIST";unfortunately, the touchy-feelie New Zealand Employment Relations Au-thority fell for her heart-breaking story of how she had gone into debt, and they ordered that she be re-hired and paid $17,000 in lost wages and unspecified "harm"; her co-workers got nothing for having to put up with her back then and now again.
Monday, September 14, 2009
STARS CUTS IPO PRICE AHEAD OF SET DEBUT
Star Microelectronics yesterday set its IPO price at Bt4.95 per share, for a 25-30-per-cent discount from the prospective price.
"The share price should stay above the subscription price when the company starts trading on September 24, due mainly to signs of recovery in the electronics parts industry," SMT chairman Somnuk Chaikul said yesterday.
SMT also promised to pay an interim dividend of Bt0.14 to all investors subscribing to the 92 million initial public offering shares from tomorrow to Friday.
The IPO should receive a warm welcome, following satisfactory results in book building, he said.
Prospective investors were impressed with the company's average 65-per-cent growth in net profit in the past four years, he said.
To maintain that pace, SMT plans to expand its integrated circuit manufacturing capacity with an investment of Bt150 million for this and next year.
The project would be financed out of internal cashflow, as the proceeds from the IPO will be used to refinance its debts, which would bring the company's debt-to-equity ratio down from 1.1 to 0.5.
SMT expects profits to rise 20 per cent this year, from Bt201 million last year, due to orders returning particularly for ICs, which carry a 40-per-cent profit margin.
Though the margin for the microelectronics module assembly business is declining to about 10 per cent, the company still expects annual revenue to stay at last year's level of Bt12 billion.
"The net profit margin this year should increase to 6-7 per cent, from 5-6 per cent last year, as the company focuses on high-margin products and cost management," Somnuk said.
Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn, CEO of Tisco Securities, the deal's underwriter, also expects the growth story to continue for the company, when new high-margin products hit the market later this year.
The IPO price represents a price-to-earnings ratio of 7, compared to 8-10 of companies listed in the same sector of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, he said.
"The share price should stay above the subscription price when the company starts trading on September 24, due mainly to signs of recovery in the electronics parts industry," SMT chairman Somnuk Chaikul said yesterday.
SMT also promised to pay an interim dividend of Bt0.14 to all investors subscribing to the 92 million initial public offering shares from tomorrow to Friday.
The IPO should receive a warm welcome, following satisfactory results in book building, he said.
Prospective investors were impressed with the company's average 65-per-cent growth in net profit in the past four years, he said.
To maintain that pace, SMT plans to expand its integrated circuit manufacturing capacity with an investment of Bt150 million for this and next year.
The project would be financed out of internal cashflow, as the proceeds from the IPO will be used to refinance its debts, which would bring the company's debt-to-equity ratio down from 1.1 to 0.5.
SMT expects profits to rise 20 per cent this year, from Bt201 million last year, due to orders returning particularly for ICs, which carry a 40-per-cent profit margin.
Though the margin for the microelectronics module assembly business is declining to about 10 per cent, the company still expects annual revenue to stay at last year's level of Bt12 billion.
"The net profit margin this year should increase to 6-7 per cent, from 5-6 per cent last year, as the company focuses on high-margin products and cost management," Somnuk said.
Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn, CEO of Tisco Securities, the deal's underwriter, also expects the growth story to continue for the company, when new high-margin products hit the market later this year.
The IPO price represents a price-to-earnings ratio of 7, compared to 8-10 of companies listed in the same sector of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, he said.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Stars targets 30% growth in second half
Stars Microelectronics Plc, an electronics manufacturing services subcontractor,expects second-half growth of 25% to 30% as global IT demand rebounds with the economic recovery.
The company has also received a positive reception from investors ahead of its initial public offering later this month,said CEO Polsak Lertputipinyo.
The company has set indicative pricing for its IPO at 4.75 to 4.95 baht per share,representing a valuation of seven times earnings compared with a sector average of eight to 12 times.
SMT will float 92 million shares in its IPO with a two baht par value. Funds raised from the offering will be used to repay debt. Tisco Securities is the financial adviser and lead underwriter for the offering, to be held from Sept 16-18.
The company posted first-half profit of 115 million baht on sales revenue of 4.59 billion baht, said Mr Polsak.
Over the past four years, cumulative net profit growth has been a strong 65%,he said. Earnings per share for the first half were 0.42 baht, with a return on equity of 23.1%, ranking among the highest of listed electronic component manufacturers.
Prasert Tantayawit, head of investment banking at Tisco Securities, said the in-dicative pricing for the offering represented a 25% to 30% discount from the target price of most analysts.
SMT, founded in 1995, operates two main business lines - microelectronic module assembly (MMA) and integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing. Products include touchscreens for smart phones, hard-disk control boards used in laptop computers and sensors for the automotive and medical industries.
MMA accounts for 70% of revenue,with a profit margin of 30-40%. IC units offer a profit margin of about 50%.
The company operates a 2.7-billionbaht facility in Ayutthaya - with annual capacity of 80 million MMA units and 700 million IC chips - and has a US sales office in San Jose', California.
Mr Polsak said he was confident of a pickup in sales toward year-end.
"Usually in this business, the second half is better [than the first], due to the high season. The third quarter is shaping to be better than we expected. Profits and revenues in the second half should grow by around 25-30% from the first half," he said.
New IC orders were actual orders rather than inventory restocking, he added.
Production utilisation at SMT in the second half is projected to rise to between 80% and 90% for MMA products and to full capacity for IC, said Mr Polsak. Utilisation in the first half of the year was about 60%.
"We have already passed our breakeven point. If our capacity utilisation is over 50%, the rest is profit. We expect continuous growth," said Mr Polsak.
SMT is also developing new microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology for use in the auto industry in products such as side-airbag pressure sensors. The company claims to be the sole manufacturer of MEMS technology in Thailand.
SMT posted first-half revenue of 4.63 billion baht, down from 6.09 billion in the same period last year. First-half net profit increased to 115.28 million baht from 103.34 million a year earlier.
Second-quarter revenue slid to 2.46 billion baht, down from 3.08 billion in the same period last year. Second-quarter profit increased to 95.74 million, up from 14.87 million year-on-year.
The company has also received a positive reception from investors ahead of its initial public offering later this month,said CEO Polsak Lertputipinyo.
The company has set indicative pricing for its IPO at 4.75 to 4.95 baht per share,representing a valuation of seven times earnings compared with a sector average of eight to 12 times.
SMT will float 92 million shares in its IPO with a two baht par value. Funds raised from the offering will be used to repay debt. Tisco Securities is the financial adviser and lead underwriter for the offering, to be held from Sept 16-18.
The company posted first-half profit of 115 million baht on sales revenue of 4.59 billion baht, said Mr Polsak.
Over the past four years, cumulative net profit growth has been a strong 65%,he said. Earnings per share for the first half were 0.42 baht, with a return on equity of 23.1%, ranking among the highest of listed electronic component manufacturers.
Prasert Tantayawit, head of investment banking at Tisco Securities, said the in-dicative pricing for the offering represented a 25% to 30% discount from the target price of most analysts.
SMT, founded in 1995, operates two main business lines - microelectronic module assembly (MMA) and integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing. Products include touchscreens for smart phones, hard-disk control boards used in laptop computers and sensors for the automotive and medical industries.
MMA accounts for 70% of revenue,with a profit margin of 30-40%. IC units offer a profit margin of about 50%.
The company operates a 2.7-billionbaht facility in Ayutthaya - with annual capacity of 80 million MMA units and 700 million IC chips - and has a US sales office in San Jose', California.
Mr Polsak said he was confident of a pickup in sales toward year-end.
"Usually in this business, the second half is better [than the first], due to the high season. The third quarter is shaping to be better than we expected. Profits and revenues in the second half should grow by around 25-30% from the first half," he said.
New IC orders were actual orders rather than inventory restocking, he added.
Production utilisation at SMT in the second half is projected to rise to between 80% and 90% for MMA products and to full capacity for IC, said Mr Polsak. Utilisation in the first half of the year was about 60%.
"We have already passed our breakeven point. If our capacity utilisation is over 50%, the rest is profit. We expect continuous growth," said Mr Polsak.
SMT is also developing new microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology for use in the auto industry in products such as side-airbag pressure sensors. The company claims to be the sole manufacturer of MEMS technology in Thailand.
SMT posted first-half revenue of 4.63 billion baht, down from 6.09 billion in the same period last year. First-half net profit increased to 115.28 million baht from 103.34 million a year earlier.
Second-quarter revenue slid to 2.46 billion baht, down from 3.08 billion in the same period last year. Second-quarter profit increased to 95.74 million, up from 14.87 million year-on-year.
Monday, September 7, 2009
ATIC offers to buy top chip maker
An Abu Dhabi investment firm has offered to buy Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor for US$3.9 billion, which would create one of the world's largest microchip makers.
The buyout by Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) comes as chip companies around the world look to boost sales after being hit hard by falling demand brought about by the global slump.
Chartered chairman James Norling said the firm had been looking at several "potential strategic options" and the offer from ATIC was the best.
"After carefully looking at all of these strategic options in front of us, we believe this proposal is definitely worthy for the company shareholders to consider," he said at a news briefing.
ATIC, Abu Dhabi's investment vehicle in the high-tech sector, is also the main shareholder in Globalfoundries, a joint venture with US firm Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), focused on making nextgeneration chips.
Chartered is the world's third-biggest maker of custom-made chips, but it has been struggling to catch up with leaders Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), also of Taiwan.
It has also been hit by the global economic crisis, but the industry is banking on rising demand for "billions of new mobile phones, cars, televisions, computers and other devices" that are run by chips.
ATIC chief executive Ibrahim Ajami said the combined strengths of Chartered and Globalfoundries would make them number two in the world, behind market leader TSMC in terms of capacity.
"Right now Chartered is ranked, from the microchip perspective, as the third leading foundry in the world. A combination with Globalfoundries would put us as the second leading foundry in the world," he said.
ATIC, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government, wants to buy each Chartered ordinary share at S$2.68 (US$1.86) in cash, valuing the company at about US$1.8 billion.
Including Chartered's debt and convertible redeemable preference shares totalling US$2.2 billion, the transaction would have a total value of about US$3.9 billion, the two companies said in a joint statement.
ATIC's offer per share for Chartered represents a premium of 14.2% on its 30-trading day volume weighted average price.
Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, which owns about 62%of Chartered, has thrown its support behind the deal, said Norling.
Chartered chief executive Chia Song Hwee said the company would not solicit competitive bids, but would have to go through the process if there were unsolicited offers.
"All parties concerned are very committed to make this scheme go through,"he said at the news briefing.
ATIC chairman Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi said he believed Temasek's support for the deal would discourage any other interested parties.
"We believe that we are the best choice for Chartered's current investors. We believe we have a compelling offer on the table," he said.
The buyout by Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) comes as chip companies around the world look to boost sales after being hit hard by falling demand brought about by the global slump.
Chartered chairman James Norling said the firm had been looking at several "potential strategic options" and the offer from ATIC was the best.
"After carefully looking at all of these strategic options in front of us, we believe this proposal is definitely worthy for the company shareholders to consider," he said at a news briefing.
ATIC, Abu Dhabi's investment vehicle in the high-tech sector, is also the main shareholder in Globalfoundries, a joint venture with US firm Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), focused on making nextgeneration chips.
Chartered is the world's third-biggest maker of custom-made chips, but it has been struggling to catch up with leaders Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), also of Taiwan.
It has also been hit by the global economic crisis, but the industry is banking on rising demand for "billions of new mobile phones, cars, televisions, computers and other devices" that are run by chips.
ATIC chief executive Ibrahim Ajami said the combined strengths of Chartered and Globalfoundries would make them number two in the world, behind market leader TSMC in terms of capacity.
"Right now Chartered is ranked, from the microchip perspective, as the third leading foundry in the world. A combination with Globalfoundries would put us as the second leading foundry in the world," he said.
ATIC, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi government, wants to buy each Chartered ordinary share at S$2.68 (US$1.86) in cash, valuing the company at about US$1.8 billion.
Including Chartered's debt and convertible redeemable preference shares totalling US$2.2 billion, the transaction would have a total value of about US$3.9 billion, the two companies said in a joint statement.
ATIC's offer per share for Chartered represents a premium of 14.2% on its 30-trading day volume weighted average price.
Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, which owns about 62%of Chartered, has thrown its support behind the deal, said Norling.
Chartered chief executive Chia Song Hwee said the company would not solicit competitive bids, but would have to go through the process if there were unsolicited offers.
"All parties concerned are very committed to make this scheme go through,"he said at the news briefing.
ATIC chairman Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi said he believed Temasek's support for the deal would discourage any other interested parties.
"We believe that we are the best choice for Chartered's current investors. We believe we have a compelling offer on the table," he said.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Makers divided over 3D TV
Consumer electronics companies at the IFA trade show in Berlin are divided over the potential of threedimensional television images, which require users to wear special spectacles to see the 3D illusion.
"Next year, television is going to change dramatically," said Yoshiiku Miyata, a Panasonic executive briefing reporters on the eve of the top fair, which began yesterday and runs till September 9.He declared Panasonic was in "pole position" as the first maker with a complete range of 3D technology, from production equipment for studios right through to consumer products under development.
Earlier this week, Sony chief executive Howard Stringer announced in Berlin his company's own venture into 3D,backed up by content from Sony's own Hollywood studio.
IFA is featuring a wide range of ever-
better high-definition flat-panel televisions, but not 3D ones.
Dutch-based Philips questioned whether the technology, which it said it had helped to invent, was trouble free and whether viewers would bother to wear the special spectacles while relaxing at home.
"3D is a television viewer's dream.But the technology still does not operate stably," said Andrea Ragnetti, chief of Philips Consumer Lifestyle.
Ragnetti said there were some alternatives that did not require viewers to put on eyeglasses, but they were not yet ready for the market.
Samsung of South Korea was also circumspect, suggesting broadcasters and DVD vendors would take a long time to offer films in 3D.
An executive at IFA said Samsung had been quietly adding 3D technology to some of its high-end products since 2007 and aimed for an early lead.
"We are ready, so that when the content is developed, we will be waiting for it in the living room," said Michael Zoeller of Samsung.
It will not be cheap. Sony's chief for Europe, Fujio Nishida, conceded that 3D televisions were bound to be among the most expensive on store shelves.
Sony aims for a simultaneous launch in Japan, Europe and the United States.
He said more details would be announced at the other big industry fair,the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)next January in Las Vegas.
Viewers are likely to be initially offered 3D movies on DVD, but the ultimate aim is clearly to offer live 3D coverage of football, baseball and basketball, giving the impression of being right there in the stadium.
Rob Enderle, a US analyst, voiced caution, saying in Berlin it could take up to seven years before the technology is mature. Moreover the Sony and Panasonic technologies are not compatible.
"The last thing we need is yet another war over formats," he said.
"Next year, television is going to change dramatically," said Yoshiiku Miyata, a Panasonic executive briefing reporters on the eve of the top fair, which began yesterday and runs till September 9.He declared Panasonic was in "pole position" as the first maker with a complete range of 3D technology, from production equipment for studios right through to consumer products under development.
Earlier this week, Sony chief executive Howard Stringer announced in Berlin his company's own venture into 3D,backed up by content from Sony's own Hollywood studio.
IFA is featuring a wide range of ever-
better high-definition flat-panel televisions, but not 3D ones.
Dutch-based Philips questioned whether the technology, which it said it had helped to invent, was trouble free and whether viewers would bother to wear the special spectacles while relaxing at home.
"3D is a television viewer's dream.But the technology still does not operate stably," said Andrea Ragnetti, chief of Philips Consumer Lifestyle.
Ragnetti said there were some alternatives that did not require viewers to put on eyeglasses, but they were not yet ready for the market.
Samsung of South Korea was also circumspect, suggesting broadcasters and DVD vendors would take a long time to offer films in 3D.
An executive at IFA said Samsung had been quietly adding 3D technology to some of its high-end products since 2007 and aimed for an early lead.
"We are ready, so that when the content is developed, we will be waiting for it in the living room," said Michael Zoeller of Samsung.
It will not be cheap. Sony's chief for Europe, Fujio Nishida, conceded that 3D televisions were bound to be among the most expensive on store shelves.
Sony aims for a simultaneous launch in Japan, Europe and the United States.
He said more details would be announced at the other big industry fair,the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)next January in Las Vegas.
Viewers are likely to be initially offered 3D movies on DVD, but the ultimate aim is clearly to offer live 3D coverage of football, baseball and basketball, giving the impression of being right there in the stadium.
Rob Enderle, a US analyst, voiced caution, saying in Berlin it could take up to seven years before the technology is mature. Moreover the Sony and Panasonic technologies are not compatible.
"The last thing we need is yet another war over formats," he said.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Hana revises up revenue forecast on fast recovery
Hana Microelectronics Plc (HANA), the country's biggest semiconductor manufacturer, has raised its revenue forecast this year to a contraction of only 18%,up from an estimated decline of 30%, in anticipation of a solid economic rebound.
"There will be an 18% contraction for our sales this year, but it is less than our previous estimate of a 30% decrease from last year," said Issra Sivakul, vicepresident and CPG general manager of Hana Semiconductor Co Ltd, a member of Hana Microelectronics Plc.
All economic data from the second quarter show a rebound in electronics export orders, driven by restocking by manufacturers and related industries,which also brought an improvement in Hana's second quarter.
The third quarter will also produce higher profit, as customers look to restock before the year-end, said Mr Issra.
The company has cut its prices this year to maintain sales in the face of consumers' weaker purchasing power,he added.
"It is also a peak period for this type of industry," said Mr Issra.
"From now on we will try to win market share, to reduce costs in terms of the supply chain and to raise our output by at least 10% to increase economies of scale."
Hana is also looking to manufacture new products such as a Windows 7 touchscreen interface, which will be ready in October.
To cut production costs, the company invested US$1 million in upgrading machinery in the first half of this year.
Hana plans to invest $10 million in the second half to raise its daily output of integrated circuits (IC) to 11 million units from 10 million today.
Another 120 million baht will be spent on purchasing land in Lamphun province for expanding printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) production from 2011.
The SET-listed electronic parts maker currently employs 7,993 people. It has recently taken on 600 additional staff and is likely to hire another 400-500 in the second half of this year.
First-half revenue was 6.05 billion baht,compared with 7.87 billion in the same period last year. Net profit was 705.44 million baht (0.86 baht a share), down 29% from 993.55 million (1.20 baht a share) a year earlier.
Shares of Hana closed yesterday on the SET at 19.80 baht, unchanged, in trade worth 8.06 million baht.
"There will be an 18% contraction for our sales this year, but it is less than our previous estimate of a 30% decrease from last year," said Issra Sivakul, vicepresident and CPG general manager of Hana Semiconductor Co Ltd, a member of Hana Microelectronics Plc.
All economic data from the second quarter show a rebound in electronics export orders, driven by restocking by manufacturers and related industries,which also brought an improvement in Hana's second quarter.
The third quarter will also produce higher profit, as customers look to restock before the year-end, said Mr Issra.
The company has cut its prices this year to maintain sales in the face of consumers' weaker purchasing power,he added.
"It is also a peak period for this type of industry," said Mr Issra.
"From now on we will try to win market share, to reduce costs in terms of the supply chain and to raise our output by at least 10% to increase economies of scale."
Hana is also looking to manufacture new products such as a Windows 7 touchscreen interface, which will be ready in October.
To cut production costs, the company invested US$1 million in upgrading machinery in the first half of this year.
Hana plans to invest $10 million in the second half to raise its daily output of integrated circuits (IC) to 11 million units from 10 million today.
Another 120 million baht will be spent on purchasing land in Lamphun province for expanding printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) production from 2011.
The SET-listed electronic parts maker currently employs 7,993 people. It has recently taken on 600 additional staff and is likely to hire another 400-500 in the second half of this year.
First-half revenue was 6.05 billion baht,compared with 7.87 billion in the same period last year. Net profit was 705.44 million baht (0.86 baht a share), down 29% from 993.55 million (1.20 baht a share) a year earlier.
Shares of Hana closed yesterday on the SET at 19.80 baht, unchanged, in trade worth 8.06 million baht.
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