Preuksa to make brands stand out

Preuksa Ville will be the brand name for townhouses, The Connect for town homes and The Plant for single-family homes and three-storey town homes.

Prasert Taedullayasatit, chief business officer, yesterday said business last year was very successful after the residential developer increased its brands from only Preuksa to The Connect and The Plant. The company doubled is presales last year, while presales for single-family homes increased by 43 per cent. In this year's first quarter, presales for single-family homes doubled.

Preuksa plans to launch 23 projects worth a combined Bt1.04 billion in the rest of this year. They will be located mostly downtown, rather than in the suburbs, as was company policy before.

"We decided to move our projects into the city because of the high oil price. Although there are many economic problems nowadays including high inflation as well as the high cost of living, I believe that demand for residences is real. The proportion of city projects will increase to 50 per cent by year-end," he said.

The company has 35 new projects on hand, of which 12 are already under construction. It forecasts that its new projects this year are likely to exceed the target of 40.

The company plans three new condominium projects next quarter on top of the three for which construction began in the first quarter. Preuksa expects to build eight condominiums this year.

The company recently launched its PS Centre in CentralWorld shopping plaza, to provide information on all of its projects and offer rental and brokerage services.

"We expect to increase our market share from 14 per cent last year to 20 per cent, due to the aggressive move," Prasert said.

The company's revenue and net profit in the second quarter will double from the previous quarter's Bt2.2 billion and Bt308 million. Presales in the first two months of this quarter have about matched the entire first quarter. The company posted presales of Bt8 billion for the first five months.