- Tend to all stakeholders throughout the challenging periods, including customers, tenants, business partners, communities and shareholders.
- Collaborate with the public and private sectors to accelerate the nation's vaccination program to ensure swift recovery of the situation.
- Continues to invest to help develop cities and the country, preparing to open new mixed-use development projects: Central Si Racha and Central Ayutthaya this year and at Central Chanthaburi in mid-2022, while planning to launch Dusit Central Park in phases in 2023-2024.
Central Pattana Plc., reported its performance for the first quarter of 2021 with total revenue of 9.528 billion baht and a net profit of 3.835 billion baht, reflecting its ability to maintain its financial robustness, achieved commendable efficiency gains, and professionally fine-tune its business strategy to handle various uncertainties whilst providing support to stakeholders and moving forward to invest in new mixed-use development projects, namely Central Ayutthaya and Central Si Racha, scheduled to be open this year, and Central Chanthaburi, to be open in mid-2022.
Ms. Naparat Sriwanvit, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Executive Vice President - Finance, Accounting & Risk Management of Central Pattana, said "In the first quarter of 2021, Central Pattana was able to retain its ability to generate revenue and profit despite the persistent COVID-19 outbreak. Although total revenue of 9.528 billion baht and net profit of 3.835 billion baht represented a decrease of 17% from the prior year in both cases and included the impact of non-recurring items and the new financial reporting standards, the overall business performance was professionally handled to mitigate the impact to all stakeholders. Amongst the priorities are cost reduction initiatives to combat the drop in revenue, protect the company's cash flow and liquidity amidst uncertain situations. The company has also adjusted its business strategy and investment plan by considering the current circumstances and future growth trajectory. We have continuously provided support to shop tenants in the shopping centers by reducing rental fees in according to the levels of impact they receive and exempting the fees for shops which were closed during the lockdown. We launched the omnichannel platform which includes the Chat & Shop, takeaway and delivery services. As for the SMEs, farmers and other groups of people who were hard hit by the pandemic, we provided free spaces for them to distribute their products and services, generating income to the local communities amidst the subdued environment.
Following the fresh round of COVID-19 outbreak since April onwards, Central Pattana maintains its stance to uphold the interest of its stakeholders as a top priority, which covers but is not limited to customers, tenants, lessees, business partners, communities, shareholders and all other concerned parties, to mitigate the impact of the current situation to the aforementioned groups. Furthermore, Central Pattana collaborates with the public and private sectors to prepare its shopping centers for vaccine distribution to the general public as fast and holistic as possible. Not only that the collaborative effort will help the situation and the citizens' lifestyles return to normal quickly, but it also sets the stage for economic recovery where the company prepares to launch marketing campaigns to stimulate spending and consumption for the remainder of the year.
For 2021, Central Pattana plans to continue to develop three big mixed-use projects worth 13.9 billion baht in total, which are Central Ayutthaya and Central Si Racha, slated to be open at the end of this year, and Central Chanthaburi, scheduled for mid-2022. We expect these three projects to help expand the government's plan for infrastructure development for the three provinces, which are considered having a high potential. The projects will benefit the areas in terms of the economy, tourism and employment, as well as helping Thailand's economy recover. Each of the three projects will become a new landmark and a center of lifestyle and identity of the province. In addition, Central Pattana is developing Dusit Central Park jointly with Dusit Thani Plc. or (DTC) on a highly valuable land plot in the 'super core CBD' of Bangkok. The project is expected to be open in phases in 2023-2024," stated Ms. Naparat.
Central Pattana currently manages a total of 34 shopping centers with total NLA of 1.8 mn sq.m. (15 projects in Bangkok Metropolitan Area - BMA, 18 projects in provinces, and 1 project in Malaysia), 30 food centers, 10 office towers and 2 hotels. As for residential project development, the company thus far launched a total of 15 residential projects. These include condominium project under the brands ESCENT, ESCENT VILLE, ESCENT PARK VILLE, PHYLL PAHOL 34 and BELLE GRAND RAMA 9, and low-rise projects, namely ESCENT TOWN PHITSANULOK (Townhome), NINYA KALLAPAPRUEK (Twinhome), NIYHAM BOROMRATCHACHONNANI (Luxury single houses), and the newly launched single houses brand NIRATI in Chiangrai and Bangna. These projects include those managed by Grand Canal Land Public Company Limited, or GLAND, a property developer that currently has both operational assets and assets under development in high potential locations cross BMA. Central Pattana is the major shareholder of GLAND.
Under a 5-year investment plan of 2021-2025, Central Pattana will focus on maintaining the annual revenue growth by developing new mixed-use and residential projects, improving its current assets to increase value, adjusting strategies in according to the situation, managing expenses and costs with efficiency to maintain a good cash flow in preparation for future uncertainties. In addition, the company is studying opportunities to invest in new businesses with high potentials, acquisitions of operations, and expansion into other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam, as it aims to generate new incomes and grow firmly with sustainability in according to the target.