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"We may list [on the Stock Exchange of Thailand] next year but that depends on the economic situation at the time," Jay Mart founder and CEO Adisak Sukumvitaya said yesterday.

In August, Jay Mart said it would offer 75 million shares on September 16 to raise funds for expansion and repaying short-term debt. The company has yet to set the IPO share price, but the par value is Bt1.

The groups of Adisak and his wife Yuwadee jointly own 93.9 per cent of Jay Mart.

The company yesterday introduced two jFone house-brand models, the Paris and Sydney, targeting combined sales of 40,000 to 50,000 units per month.

Adisak said he hoped all the jFone models would share 5 per cent of the estimated overall cellular phone market next year of 9 million units.

Jay Mart will bring out three jFone models per month next year to serve the increasing demand for its house brand mobile phones.

Currently i-Mobile, the house brand of Samart i-Mobile, is the market leader.

Telecom sources say the market for low-cost phones has grown significantly, with consumers opting for cheap models as the economy slows.

Jay Mart aims to increase its nationwide store network from more than 200 now to 280 within three years.

In the first half, it earned Bt57 million, up 27 per cent from the same period last year, on revenues of Bt2.83 billion.

More than 95 per cent of its total revenue came from handset sales, 2 per cent from its debt-collection firm JMT Network Service and 2.3 per cent from retail-space management.