Excluding an extraordinary loss from vola-tile oil prices, net profit would have risen to Bt900 million, it told its shareholders' meeting.

Over the past year, retailers' average marketing fee was 38.5 satang per litre of petrol. To compensate for the low fee, Bangchak has penetrated non-oil businesses, such as distributing fresh coffee and providing food kiosks.

Foreign reserves

Indicating further demand for baht, Thailand's foreign reserves as of April 20 were US$70.7 billion, compared with $70.6 billion a week ago.

The central bank said in a statement that its net forward position in the foreign-exchange markets was $9.6 billion, compared with $9.0 billion on April 12.

The baht yesterday ended at Bt34.81.

New Pata chief

Shanghai-based hotel executive Brian Deeson has become the new chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, following Pata's board meeting and annual general meeting in Vancouver last weekend.

Deeson, Accor hotel group's CEO for Greater China and senior vice president for Asia Pacific, highlighted global warming and the shortage of human resources as two big challenges facing the industry.

"There is a huge gap emerging between the explosive growth in tourism infrastructure and the available pool of trained personnel," said Deeson. "And global warming is no longer a problem that can be left for tomorrow's generation."