Modernform to focus on supplying home projects

CEO Thaksa Busayapoka yester¬day said demand for furniture for res¬idential projects was growing in line with the residential market, while the officefurniture market was slowing down.

The company has decided to con¬centrate more on providing furniture to the mushrooming number of res¬idential projects. Thaksa said 70 per cent of Modernform's revenue already came from that segment, fol¬lowed by retail business at 25 per cent and exports at 5 per cent.

He said both the residential and the officefurniture markets would help boost company revenue to Bt3 billion this year, up 14.5 per cent from Bt2.62 billion last year.

The company will reduce its pro¬portion of officefurniture sales from 60 per cent to 52 per cent, while that of residential furniture will increase from 40 per cent to 48 per cent, a response to an increase in residential contracts.

The retail market contributes the highest margin, but the company prefers to tap residential projects, because it enjoys good relations with property developers. Modernform has also received excellent feedback from the education and hospital mar¬kets.

"For our retail segment, we've spent about Bt10 million on a new luxury showroom called the Crystal Design Centre. Its target group is interior designers, because they exert a great deal of influence on furniture buyers' decisions," Thaksa said.

He said that although exports had contributed good revenue, Modernform had not focused on for¬eign markets very much, because domestic demand for furniture was already so much a driver of the com¬pany's growth.

However, to reduce future risks, export markets will figure promi¬nently in the company's longterm plan.

Modernform has a Bt500million backlog, mostly from residential projects, and expects to realise Bt400 million of that in revenue this year, Thaksa said.

Thaksa said increases in prices for raw materials would cut the compa¬ny's profit margin in the second half of the year. Modernform posted a firsthalf net profit of Bt196 million but expects only Bt380 million for the full year.