HERE TO STAY
Big C Supercenter denies social media rumour that its France-based parent company is selling its assets in Thailand.
SET-listed Big C Supercenter Plc has insisted its parent company Casino Group of France will not sell assets in Thailand to cut massive debts next year.
Denying a rumour on social media that Casino was selling its shares in Big C in Thailand, the hypermarket operator said in a release: “This news has been misinterpreted and might have gone viral.”
Casino announced in France that it would strengthen its financial flexibility with a deleveraging plan in 2016 of more than €2 billion (78 billion baht), mainly through real estate transactions and disposal of non-core assets.
It would develop more real estate activities in Thailand and Colombia, it said.
In Thailand, Big C owns almost 800,000 square metres of space at its 174 shopping malls located in prime locations across the country.
Apart from real estate activities, Big C also plans to set up a real estate investment trust (REIT) in Thailand next year. All of these plans would create higher values for shareholders and allow it to pursue new developments in potential locations.
However, Casino said in its statement that the disposal of non-core assets include in particular assets in Vietnam, not Thailand.
“This means our group has no plans to exit Thailand,” said Robert Cissell, Big C’s chief executive and president.
He said the objective of its REIT was to unlock value for all Big C shareholders and make the best use of capital.
A REIT provides relatively strong and stable return on investment through rental income and other revenue streams as specified by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulations.
Underlying assets for Big C’s REIT are expected to comprise most of its 174 shopping malls.
Next year, Big C plans to spend 6-7 billion baht to open six hypermarkets, three Big C Markets and 75 Big C Mini stores. It is also renovating seven major stores including those in Lop Buri and Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district, Mr Cissell said.
As of Sept 30, it had 124 large-format stores (Big C Supercenter, Big C Extra and Big C Jumbo), 44 Big C Markets, 368 Mini Big Cs and 161 Pure drugstores.
Kasikorn Research Centre expects the hypermarket sector to grow a modest 1.5-2% next year as the economy may still struggle as household debts remain high.
Average hypermarket growth during 2013-15 is only 2.7%, lower than previous years’ 9.2% average. This has prompted the intense competition, said Kasikorn.
BIGC shares closed yesterday on the SET at 203 baht, up 12.50 baht, in trade worth 186 million baht.