LH
LH to make further inroads in US market – SET-listed developer Land & Houses Plc (LH) plans to double its investment this year, earmarking Bt12bn to buy new plots of land and invest in rental properties both here and in the US. Adisorn Thananan-narapool said the company would continue investing in rental apartments in San Francisco Bay as the occupancy rate at the two apartments it invested in two years ago was as high as 95%. (Bangkok Post, 15/01/15)
Comment: This isn’t LH’s first attempt at expanding overseas and they appear to be far more cautious this time around. However the net impact on their earning is minimal from these projects.

NNCL
NNCL said it expects to post a turnaround in earnings this year from the expected loss of Bt100mn last year due to the high number of land sales and the startup of operations of its power plant phase 2 in Pathum Thani in 1Q15. It plans to submit to its board a proposal to develop a community mall in its industrial estate. (Thun Hoon, 15/01/15)

OISHI
OISHI has set a four year roadmap (2014-2018), targeting sales from its food business to reach Bt13bn. The company has set a budget of Bt600-700mn for each new branch and for the renovation of existing branches. It will introduce a “Break & Fast Sandwich by OISHI” to help increase sales. (Thun Hoon, 15/01/15)
Comment: It’s still a company that is struggling to make a decent profit given the brand it has.

PLE
PLE expects revenue to reach Bt9bn in 2015, up 10% YoY from the expected revenue of Bt7-8bn in 2014. Currently, it is considering setting up its new 3-6MW biomass power plant worth Bt200-300mn in the south after the government changed its program to a feed-in tariff. The new plant is expected to help expand its electricity sales in the southern region. (Kao Hoon, 15/01/1)
Comment: The biomass plant is small relatively to its overall earnings, PLE, as a contractor must be able to receive some of the upcoming infrastructure spending (most likely as a subcontractor)

SAMART
SAMART signs Bt483.95bn contract with EGAT to supply and construct the renovation of Surat Thani Substation. (Kao Hoon, 15/01/15)

SMM
Expects to conclude acquisition in first half — SMM said that it should reach an agreement on its acquisition deal worth more than Bt100mn in the first half of the year. The deal is expected to help expand its TV and radio business. It said that it still expects to post profit in 2014 despite its loss in the first nine months. (Kao Hoon, 15/01/15)

SPCG
SPCG to invest Bt300-500mn to develop a new factory to manufacture solar cells. It said revenue should reach Bt5bn this year supported by the increase in production capacity and its solar rooftop projects. (Thun Hoon, 15/01/58)
Comment: The only solar player to actually have all their projects fully installed.

TPCH
TPCH says total production capacity will reach 40MW this year from last year’s 10MW. It is confident that total production will reach 100MW by 2017, up tenfold within three years. However, the company expects earnings to grow at an even faster rate than capacity over the period. Conclusions on its acquisition plan are to be finalized by 2Q15. TPOLY announced that it expects to post a turnaround in both its revenue and profit with backlog to reach Bt6bn. (Kao Hoon, 15/01/15)
Comment: Another renewable energy player, I do wonder now at what point are we going to see industry consolidation.