SCG to follow HM’s principles
Siam Cement Group (SCG), the industrial conglomerate, says it will maintain the late King’s philosophy of self-sufficiency as a guiding principle to maintain its operational resilience in the face of risks and external uncertainties.
President and chief executive Roongrote Rangsiyopash said the philosophy of selfsufficiency was one of the major ways that helped the company manage the Asian financial crisis in 1997, when its debt burden soared to 200 billion baht due to the depreciation of the baht.
He said the debt was double their total revenue of 100 billion baht, forcing the company to rethink its business plan in order to survive.
“We needed to rethink what we were keen to do and where our expertise was,” he said. “At that time we started to think of the necessity of relying on ourselves and downsizing our business to only do that which we were enthusiastic to do.”
To survive the crisis, Mr Roongrote said SCG slimmed down to three core businesses, which it still focuses on today: cement and construction materials, petrochemicals and paper.
SCG further started to analyse its export markets before making any major changes so as not to rely too much on a single market such as the US or Europe, which had faced economic turbulence during the financial crisis, cutting demand.
He said SCG had switched to focus more on Asian countries, especially in the Asean market, where demand has continued to grow. That strategy has helped the company increase its revenue every year.
“Today, the domestic market generates up to 60% of the company total revenue, while overseas market accounts for around 40%,” said Mr Roongrote.
SCG posted a net profit of 14.1 billion baht in the third quarter of this year, a 57% increase year-on-year.
SCC shares yesterday closed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 478 baht, down four baht, in heavy trade worth 1.38 billion baht.