Centel plans new food brandsGoal is to double revenue in that area

Ronnachit Mahattanapreut, senior vice president for finance and administration, yesterday said Centel was negotiating to buy several local and international brands and expected to finalise at least one deal this year.

It will finance this from cash flow, he said. Centel's operating cash flow from food is Bt800 million a year.

"Food is planned to be the key driver for revenue next year. Food revenue is expected to double from this year. It currently contributes 60 per cent," he said.

Centel's food brands are KFC, Mister Donut, Auntie Anne's, Pizza Hut, BaskinRobbins and Pepper Lunch.

In the first half of the year, food generated revenue of Bt2.3 billion.

Ronnachit said the company's hotelbusiness outlook was still good in the second half despite the political turmoil. Advance bookings for hotels at tourist destinations like Koh Samui are 90 per cent for next month and nearly full for December.

He said the domestic political turmoil and worldwide economic problems had shortened the foreigntourist advancereservation period from three months to one week.

The company expects occupancy rates for the full year of 73 per cent and in the high season's second half of 75 per cent.

Ronnachit said Centel planned new hotels on Koh Lanta, Koh Muk, Koh Kood and Koh Tao and in Hua Hin after existing construction proj¬ects were completed in 2010.

"Centel has operating cash flow from hotels of roughly Bt3 billion yearly, but that will increase significantly in 2010 after ongoing projects are completed. So we shall have enough cash to invest in the new hotels," he said.

The ongoing projects are the Centara Grand at CentralWorld, the Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort and the Centara Grand Phuket Beach Resort.

Centel expects this year's net profit to exceed Bt1 billion, up from Bt397 million last year. It posted a firsthalf net profit of Bt300.91 million. So far in the third quarter, it has already posted net profit of Bt700 million from selling property to the Centara Hotels and Resorts Leasehold Property Fund it set up this month and which will sell investment units next month.