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Published on February 7, 2008

The gas will be delivered to PTT's LNG gas station in Rayong, where construction will be completed in 2011.

Chitrapongse Kwangsukstith, PTT's chief operations officer for the Upstream Petroleum and Gas Business Group, said PTT was securing a sufficient gas supply to satisfy demand from the power generating, industry and transportation sectors. - The Nation

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SCNYL empowers branches

Local insurer Siam Commercial New York Life (SCNYL) plans to give its branches the autonomy to underwrite insurance policies, in order to speed up the sales process.

This will be made possible by the company's new information-technology system, called iVision, which should be up and running by mid-year.

Adisorn Sermchaiwong, executive vice president for savings and investment products at Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), yesterday said the new system would free up bank staff to provide better service to clients.

SCB, which is SCNYL's major shareholder, believes improving services is the next step in maintaining the insurer's competitive edge.

The model for the insurer's new system has been implemented by SCNYL's other partner, New York Life Insurance in Argentina, in conjunction with HSBC Bank.

Last year, fee income from SCNYL's bancassurance sales totalled Bt2 billion, amounting to 20 per cent of SCB's overall income from service fees.

Adisorn said SCB's mutual-fund business - the biggest in the industry in terms of assets under management - contributed less than half of that in the same year, or about Bt800 million.

SCNYL is the market leader in bancassurance, with total annualised first-year premiums of Bt6.1 billion last year, a 21-per-cent jump. Its renewal premiums also rose 21 per cent to Bt6.8 billion, so the company's total premiums reached Bt12.9 billion.

The company is currently number five in the life-insurance market.

SCNYL president and CEO Donald Carden wants to see the company in the top three, but he believes that to achieve that goal, it must level out its distribution channels, in order to achieve more sales through its agency force. - The Nation

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Habitat to cut prices 14%

British home-furnishing store Habitat will from April cut its retail prices by up to 14 per cent, thanks to the baht's appreciation, chief marketing officer Brent Smith said yesterday.

The company also plans to open a second branch in Bangkok in April to drive its sales growth to double digits this year.

Habitat will set aside 5 per cent of sales as a marketing budget, with a focus on condominium buyers. The Habitat brand showed a 6-per-cent annualised growth in sales in last year's fourth quarter.

Property consultant CB Richard Ellis expects up to 6,000 new condo units to be completed in the first quarter this year. - The Nation

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Possible delay in Bt600m tunnel

The Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning Office may delay the construction of a Bt600-million tunnel at Bangkok's Khae Rai Intersection, due to protests from local residents.

The Highways Department has been assigned to evaluate traffic conditions at the intersection and submit an evaluation report in March. Aram Kornsombut, the office's deputy director, said the tunnel could be delayed or cancelled if the report showed that it would not address real public needs.

The Highways Department has already picked a contractor, but the contract is not signed yet. - The Nation

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Loxley expands direct sales

Local conglomerate Loxley has set a plan to build strong domestic consumer network through its new business: multilevel-marketing direct sales using the brand L-Direct. Internationally, it will expand its export markets.

Suraphand Bhasitnirandr, executive vice president and CEO for the trading-business group, said yesterday that the company had actually started its direct-sales business in June last year and had already gained Bt100 million in revenue with 100,000 members, of which 60 per cent applied as independent sales representatives and the remainder as consumer members.

It expects to gain another 100,000 members, which would contribute Bt300 million in revenue by this year-end. Currently the company had six L-Direct centres acting as distribution centres nationwide.

The company has allocated Bt20 million as a budget for developing products and marketing. Within five years, Loxley hopes the new direct-sales unit will strengthen its trading business which currently generates Bt6 billion in revenue out of the company's total revenue of Bt10 billion annually.

The company is listed among the top five players in the Bt40-billion direct-sales industry.

At the same time, Loxley will strengthen its consumer network abroad by export its consumer products to Dubai and Vietnam, where it already has a market for its shrimp feed. The move will drive its export sales to contribute 10 per cent of its total revenue in next three years, up from the current 4 per cent. - The Nation