Cafe fuels Thailand’s PTT expansion in PH

PTT Philippines Corp. is shelling out P500 million in capital expenditures this year as it seeks to ramp up its nonfuel business while maintaining growth momentum in fuel retailing.

Thitiroj Rergsumran, PTT’s newly installed president and chief executive, said in a press briefing the Thai firm wanted to open 15 new Cafe Amazon branches within this year.

This would add to a portfolio of 11 cafes, spread out across Metro Manila, Central Luzon and the Calabarzon region, that PTT built up over the past two years.

“The market’s response has been really good,” Rergsumran said. “We have many inquiries from our dealers (fuel station operators) as well as other potential clients when we took part in a franchising event recently.”

As for PTT’s retail network for fuels, the company intends to open 30 to 40 new stations within this year, maintaining a pace that the company set in previous years.

PTT already has 162 fuel stations in the Philippines, including 10 new ones that were opened so far this year. These are spread out across Metro Manila, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Central Visayas.

Of this year’s capex kitty, P80 million is allocated to Cafe Amazon expansion and the rest to PTT’s fuel retailing network.

Rergsumran, most recently PTT’s retail marketing director in the Philippines, succeeded as CEO Sukanya Seriyothin who has been promoted as vice president of international marketing at the company’s headquarters in Bangkok.

“We will continue to strive further to sustain if not exceed all the efforts that my predecessors had started,” Rergsumran said.

“Our expansion will continue on both our oil and nonoil businesses and we are confident that we can achieve our growth because of the strong support from our head office in Thailand,” he added.