Thai Beverage Plc is optimistic about the economic outlook and will continue with its plan to invest 4 billion baht to expand its beverage operations in Thailand next year as part of its Vision 2020 business scheme.
"I believe Thailand will have a smooth transition regarding the monarchy and the upcoming general election. 2017 will be better than 2016 because the government will inject more money into the economy to boost local consumption and Asean will continue to have strong growth," said Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, group chief executive of ThaiBev.
The country's largest alcoholic beverage company will spend 4 billion baht to maintain its machinery and increase production capacity of its Crystal drinking water. New technologies will also be used for beverage manufacturing.
The Vision 2020 scheme began in 2015 and the six-year roadmap called for average revenue growth of 12-16% per year. The company aims to become a top beverage company in Asean by 2020.
Revenue during the first nine months this year increased 14.8% to 139 billion baht with net profit rising 14.3% to 19 billion. Last year revenue tallied 172 billion baht. It produces both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
ThaiBev is listed on the Singapore Exchange. It also owns Fraser and Neave in Singapore, holding about 90% stake.
When combining sales from F&N, ThaiBev is one of the largest beverage companies in Asia with group sales of US$5.4 billion. This is behind only Suntory, Asahi Group, Kirin Holding, Yili Group and China Mengnui Dairy with sales of $21.8 billion, $16.6 billion, $14 billion, $9.7 billion and $7.8 billion, respectively.
"We're looking for additional growth in neighbouring countries. Asean is the world's highest-growth emerging market and Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia are our priority investment destinations," Mr Thapana said.
He said overseas expansion has both challenges and risks. If a plan doesn't work properly, ThaiBev will revise it, but will never change its goal.
Prapakon Thongtheppairot, ThaiBev's chief executive for spirit products, said the company relaunched soda water under the Rock Mountain brand a few months ago.
It will allocate about 250 million baht to promote its soda water from November to April next year. The company aims to have a 30% market share of Thailand's 15-billion-baht soda water market by next year.
Arch-rival Singha soda water dominates the market, controlling a 95% market share, with 5% belonging to ThaiBev's Chang brand.
ThaiBev plans to expand its alcoholic products in Myanmar, Vietnam and the Philippines. It already set up a distribution company in Vietnam for its premium Scott whiskey and Thai white spirits.
Mr Prapakon said the company plans to team up with local partners to set up its whiskey-filling factories in Myanmar and the Philippines in the near future.
"This year soda and whiskey sales dropped by 7% because of the sluggish economy," he said.
Neo Kim Soon Edmond, chief executive for beer products, said ThaiBev also wants to become the market leader for beer, controlling a 46% market share by 2020, up from 39%.
The local beer market sold 2 billion litres in volume for 180 billion baht last year. The market grew by 2% from 2014. Singha's Leo brand controlled a 53% market share, followed by ThaiBev's Chang brand at 38%, Singha brand at 5-6% and Heineken at 4-5%.
In addition, ThaiBev plans to open 17 new distribution centres across the country within the next three years. Each requires an investment of 250-400 million baht, depending on land cost and location.
Vivek Chhabra, chief executive for non-alcohol business at ThaiBev, said the company will put more focus on expanding the healthy products under its portfolio in response to the growing health concerns of Thais.