Political chaos means more losses for QCon

This would leave the company in the red for a second consecutive year.

The company forecasts a net loss of Bt30 mil¬lion to Bt50 million this year after posting losses of Bt107 million last year, an analyst at Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) said.

Kitti Soonthornmanokul, QCon's vice president for sales and marketing, said on Friday that a shortfall in the company's 2008 sales target was possible. Earlier he believed that QCon's newly launched products would help the firm make a turnaround.

"The economic downturn and political turmoil are the main factors hammering the industry, par¬ticularly in the construction and material sec¬tors," he said.

Under normal circumstances, QCon is given government projects, which represent 15 to 20 per cent of its total sales. However, in the current turbulent times the company's sales have not gone beyond 10 per cent due to a drop in govern¬ment construction projects.

The company's new product, steel reinforced blocks designed for builtin bathroom and kitchen counters, was recently targeted to lift QCon's average gross margin from 22 to 25 per cent. The product was created to target detached houses and condominium projects.

Nevertheless, QCon's new business plan, which aims to reduce its material costs, will cut its oper¬ating costs by Bt5 to Bt7 per square metre of con¬crete block.

The company has also increased the price of its main product by 6 per cent in the third quarter to compensate for higher material costs. This will make the company's books look better in the sec¬ond half of this year.