P&G seeks to add a billion more customers

       The Procter & Gamble Co's new CEO wants to fire up growth by adding a billion new customers for products such as Pampers diapers and Gillette shavers around the globe over the next five years.
       P&G veteran Bob McDonald spoke with shareholders on Tuesday in the first annual meeting since he moved up from chief operating officer on July 1 with sales down as households cut spending in the recession.
       He says P&G reaches about four billion people now, but is focused on getting more people to buy more products in emerging markets, led by China and India.
       "The potential for growth is amazing,"said McDonald, adding P&G "is offering more low-priced versions of its products to lure lower-income consumers."
       He also said the world's largest consumer products company would take advantage of its size and brand strength.
       McDonald said "while the average Mexican spends about $20 a year on P&G products in that country, Chinese per-capita spending on the company's goods is only about $3 and India $1."Getting usage in those giant countries to Mexico levels would add some $40 billion in sales, he said.
       McDonald also pledged to streamline P&G operations to make the company more efficient and fast-responding.
       P&G officials said recently they expect sales to start coming back this autumn around price cuts, new products and value-focused promotions, after falling 3%, to $79 billion for the last fiscal year.The company will report first-quarter results on Oct 29.
       Shareholders turned down, with 54%against, a proposal for an advisory vote on executive compensation. High corporate pay has became a growing issue during the US financial crisis, and backers said that a non-binding vote would let the P&G board gauge shareholders' views on compensation.
       During questions from the floor, a shareholder asked why P&G was letting "foul-mouthed athletes" represent their products.
       Tennis star Serena Williams has appeared in advertising for Tampax feminine care products since her tirade last month against a lineswoman at the US Open, which brought a $10,000 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct.
       "She apologised, and we accepted her apology," McDonald said, adding that "we'd have to review" the relationship if the behaviour is repeated.
       McDonald and many shareholders also paid tribute to A.G. Lafley, who stays on as chairman after nine years as CEO. Lafley's son Patrick took the microphone to comment on the "countless hours of work," stress and even personal threats his father endured.
       "Thank you, Dad, good job," he said,as the crowd applauded.
       "I think they've weathered the situation well," said Donald Kittle, a shareholder and retired oil company employee from Rising Sun, Indiana.
       Steve Moore, who retired from P&G two years ago after 30 years, said McDonald, with an Army background and skill for running efficient operations,"is a solid choice in an uncertain time.
       "I feel pretty comfortable with his leadership style," Moore said.

Magnificent seven

       In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
       Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
       Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
       Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
       Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
       The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
       The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
       Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
       The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
       The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.

Dow hits new 11-month high as builders advance

       US stocks rose on Friday as Procter & Gamble and major home builders advanced on positive brokerage comments and investors bet the economic recovery will be strong enough to sustain corporate profits.
       The Dow hit a new 11-month high and capped its best week in two months as Citigroup said Procter & Gamble,maker of Tide detergent and Pampers,is poised to win market share through aggressive pricing.
       Procter & Gamble's shares rose 3.2%to $57.32. The S&P consumer staples index, up 1.1%, was among the S&P 500's best-performing sectors.
       "It's sort of cautious optimism. What that's doing is leading to analyst upgrades, and we're seeing analysts raising earnings estimates for both this year and for calendar 2010 fairly consistently,"said Fred Dickson, market strategist at DA Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego,Oregon.
       The S&P 500 is up 58% since hitting a 12-year closing low in early March,partly because of strong second-quarter earnings and optimism that an economic recovery is gaining traction.
       Home builders Toll Brothers and KB Home both were upgraded by JP Morgan Securities, which said the housing sector will continue to recover over the next 24 months and drive the current rally in home builders' stocks.
       The Dow Jones industrial average was up 36.28 points, or 0.37%, at 9,820.20.The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.81 points, or 0.26%, at 1,068.30 while the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 6.11 points, or 0.29%, at 2,132.86.
       It was the market's second-straight week of gains. Last week, the Dow rose 2.24%, the S&P 500 gained 2.45% and the Nasdaq advanced 2.50%.
       "Quadruple witching," the expiration and settlement of four different types of September equity futures and options contracts, seemed "fairly quiet". Mr Dickson said, though the event sometimes leads to increased volatility.
       Oil company Chevron Corp also was upgraded.
       Credit Suisse said Chevron looks best equipped of the major oil companies to deliver growth "over the coming cycle to 2020". The stock rose 0.9% to $72.64.
       Toll Brothers shares rose 3.1% to $22.20, while KB Home's stock gained 2.6% to $20.21.
       The Dow Jones US Home Construction index rose 0.7%.
       On the Nasdaq, Palm Inc fell 3% to $14.01 a day after the company gave a tepid second-quarter sales forecast and said it plans to sell 16 million shares of common stock.
       Volume was heavy on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2.28 billion shares changing hands, well above last year's estimated daily average of 1.49 billion,while on the Nasdaq, about 3.16 billion shares traded, also far above last year's daily average of 2.28 billion.
       Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of three-to-two, while on the Nasdaq,14 stocks rose for every 13 that fell.

Meyer commits B340m to its Thailand facilities

       Meyer general manager Joseph K.C.Lo says the company has confidence in Thailand and is buying machinery and upgrading facilities at its factory in Laem Chabang, Si Racha, Chon Buri.
       PITSINEE JITPLEECHEEP
       The US cookware producer Meyer Manufacturing Co has confidence to invest 340 million baht in Thailand despite is poor economy and uncertain politics.
       General manager Joseph K.C. Lo said the budget is for new machinery and upgrading facilities at its factory in Laem Chabang, Si Racha, Chon Buri.
       "We set up our production base here after the Tienanmen Square riots in 1989 and are committed to continuing our investment here because Thailand has good infrastructure and is strategically located as a centre to export our products worldwide," he said yesterday in Bangkok.
       The company exports 98% of its nonstick and stainless steel cookware to the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia and some countries in the Middle East.
       Meyer Manufacturing Co is one of the world's top three kitchenware suppliers. Sales in Thailand are only a few hundred million baht per year but demand was up 10% annually until this year's slowdown. The company expects local sales this year to match last year.
       Meyer's brands include Meyer cookware for the midmarket, Prestige for the medium- to high-end and Circulon and Anolon for the high-end.
       Mr Lo said Meyer's success stemmed from product development, quality control and after-sales service."Having goodquality products and competitive prices help us to attract consumers, while good after-sales service will create consumer confidence," he said.
       Domestic sales of Myer dropped slightly in the first seven months of this year but the company expects conditions to improve by year-end. New products will be launched next year and the company will spend 10 million baht on marketing.
       "As consumers are concerned about a good life, we will continue to innovate and make cooking a fun and enjoyable part of life," he said."Apart from fresh ingredients, cookware plays a very important part in cooking."
       He said cookware sales in Asia are only 2-3% of revenue worldwide but the company expects the proportion to rise to 5-7% over the next three years.
       "Despite the economic crisis in its homeland, Meyer's sales in the US remain outstanding. This is because fewer people are going out to dine in restaurants and they are buying more cookware to cook at home," he said.

Srithai, PTTCH plan "water lillies"

       SRITHAI'S PROJECTED 2009 REVENUE +5%B5.1bn
       Srithai Superware Plc (SITHAI),Thailand's largest plastic houseware producer is diversifying into products to combat evaporation in collaboration with a foreign innovator and PTT Chemicals,the country's largest olefin maker.
       The fear of water shortages is rising with global warming and the accelerated evaporation of natural water, creating demand for tools to preserve water resources, said Srithai chairman Sanan Angubolkul.
       His company plans to produce "water lillies",which are pro-+5%ducts for preserving ponds invented by an Australian company that Srithai declined to name.
       Research has almost been concluded for the water lilies, which should be commercially available from 2010, he said.
       "Simply speaking, water lilies are plastic modules that the user needs to patch together as a sheet to cover the surface of ponds or reservoirs," said Mr Sanan.
       The water lillies will be made from a special formula of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) created in collaboration with PTTCH to meet the requirement of Srithai and the Australian inventor.
       "We gather knowledge from each other to make something new to meet the new demand. With co-operation, development will be faster and cheaper as we can pool our resources together,"said Mr Sanan.
       The United States and Australia are showing enthusiasm for the product as they are highly concerned about future water shortages, he said.
       But other countries with a tropical climate could also benefit from the new product, Mr Sanan added.
       PTTCH will develop the new HDPE to float while protecting water from heat and controlling water movement and shore erosion.
       The project is expected to get patents
       for its materials and design. But the business model is yet to be established as the project requires huge capital investment.
       Srithai will invest mainly in advance,spending 800 million baht this year and another 400 million next year.
       "We have to focus on technology at a time of economic slowdown. When the global economy returns to normal,we will be more able than our rivals to meet our clients' demands," said Mr Sanan.
       Srithai expects its revenue this year to rise 5% to 5.1 billion baht from 4.92 billion last year due to strong demand in the packaging sector.
       Shares of SITHAI closed yesterday at five baht, unchanged, in trade worth 5.48 million baht, while PTTCH shares were also unchanged at 66 baht in trade worth 202 million baht.

Moong Pattana prepares for MAI listing

       Moong Pattana International, a market leader for maternity and child-care products, will list on the Market for Alternative Investment in early October.
       The company is a distributor of household products under the Japanese Pigeon brand, including cotton buds, sprays and knives. Moong Pattana was founded in January 1981 by Sumeth Lersumitkul,and began trading Pigeon brand products from 1988.
       A total of 30 million new shares with one baht par value will be floated under the offering, with 24 million offered to the general public,2 million to directors,executives and staff and 4 million to company partners. Paid-up capital will increase to 120 million baht.
       Asia Plus Securities is the financial adviser for the offering. Pricing for the IPO will be set later.
       Post-IPO, holdings for the Lersumitkul family will be diluted to 74.69%, with public investors holding 23.33% and employees 1.67%.
       Mr Sumeth, who also is the company's CEO, said funds raised from the offering would be used to finance business expansion and debt repayment.
       Moong Pattana reported first-quarter revenues of 92.4 million baht, up from 87 million in the same period last year.Revenues in 2008 totalled 421.3 million baht, up from 345.2 million the year before. First-quarter net profits rose to 15.2 million baht from 13.7 million a year earlier. Profits in 2008 totalled 53.9 million baht, up from 28.4 million baht during the previous year.
       Mr Sumeth said the company expected to maintain double-digit growth this year.
       The company is also strengthening its sales and marketing teams as well as looking to expand its current sales channels of over 8,000 stores nationwide.
       Kongkiat Opaswongkarn, chief executive officer of Asia Plus Securities, said Moong Pattana International was a leading distributor of consumer products in Thailand, with a nationwide network and decades of experience.
       Dr Kongkiat said new listings this year would be limited to small firms on the secondary MAI, as few large companies are interested in the main board given market and economic uncertainties.
       "We will see a parade of small companies look to list on the exchange until next year. As far as market sentiment,global market will be the main driver going into the end of this year," he said.

Comet wins for Thai designer

       Achic martini glass named "Comet" by young Thai designer Ekarin Khunapinya won the unanimous approval of the judging committee who awarded it first prize in this year's Bombay Sapphire Glass Competition Thailand. The competition was organised by Bombay Sapphire premium gin in cooperation with the Export Promotion Department's Office of Product Value Development for Export.
       As well as a cash prize of 200,000 baht, Ekarin will represent Thailand in the world glass design competition at the London Design Festival in September this year. The judging committee is confident that his creative work will win Thailand the world title once again.Last year, Thai designer Amorn Thongsa-ard won the first prize at the world's competition in London with his "Ramify" glass, thus putting Thailand on the world map of international designer arena.
       This year, Ekarin, a graduate of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Lad Krabang now working as a designer at Object & Thinks Design Studio, has high hopes of following in his predecessor's successful footsteps.
       "I chose a comet as my concept in designing the glass, because Bombay Sapphire is an international brand with a unique personality of luxury, glitter dignity and elegance.
       "A comet moves round the sun and looks like a bright star with a tail, and it is very beautiful whenever it appears with its shining light. I designed my glass to be cone-shaped, at an angle of 60 degree from the base so that it looked like a comet. The body of the glass is made of crystal to reflect the light beautifully.
       "I imagined it like a passing comet through the horizontal line of the sky.I intended it to make anyone who holds the glass feel more graceful and more confident.
       To prepare for the world-class competition in London, Ekarin said,"I shall probably modify the design a little bit according to comments from the judges to reflect a clearer concept, and will do my very best to win the first prize for Thailand again."
       This year's first and second runners-up are Apirat Boonruangthaworn with his "Ice Cube" glass, and Saran Youkhongdee with his "Double" glass. Each received a certificate and 20,000 and 10,000 baht cash prize award, respectively.
       The judging committee consists of professionals in the design field, namely ML Kathathong Thongyai, director of the Office of Product Value Development for Export; Supatra Srisook, former assistant director-general of the Department of Export Promotion; Thitipat Supapattranont, chairman of Designs & Objects Association; designer Napapadol Paholayothin; Hataitip Devakul,managing director of T-Positif; and Rungsima Kasigranunt, editor of Elle Decoration magazine.