Ichitan Group Plc, the producer and marketer of Ichitan ready-to-drink green tea, looks set to beef up its carbonated soft drink business in the second half of the year.
The company wants to boost its annual sales to 6.5 billion baht at the end of this year, up from 5.22 billion last year.
According to Tan Passakornnatee, the company's chief executive, despite the value of Thailand's carbonated soft drink market contracting by 1.4% in the first half of this year and the volume easing by 2.1% from the same period last year, there is still a huge market opportunity given the vast size of the market which is valued at up to 45 billion baht a year.
"Our business in the first half of the year remained strong. Revenue from sales increased by 10% to 3.06 billion baht. We expect a continuous increase in sales in the second half of the year due to the strength of our traditional trade sales channels and popular brand," said Mr Tan.
He said the company will still concentrate on its "3N" business strategy (referring to new product, new market, new business).
New products scheduled for rollout in the second half of the year include a plum-flavoured herbal tea called YenYen, Ichitan No Sugar, a healthy green tea drink with zero calories, and Tansansu carbonated beverages.
Regarding the new market strategy, Mr Tan said intensive campaigns are being run to welcome the reopening of several countries following the pandemic situation, particularly Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, which is expected to improve the situation in the second half of the year. The success of the Ichitan Indonesia joint venture continues to send positive signals, with a realised profit share from joint venture investments of 44.6 million baht, an increase of 100.9% from the same period last year.
The next big step for Ichitan Indonesia is to expand Thai tea to a new market in the Philippines through more than 1,300 Alfamart branches under the SM Group -- the largest supermarket chain in the Philippines -- and Rebisco Philippines, which is expected to return a significant profit to Ichitan Group with a target set at around 75 million baht in terms of the profit shared in 2022.
Under the new business strategy, Ichitan will also ramp up its original equipment manufacturer business, with the latest deals signed recently with two new customers -- Acer Predator Shot Vitamin Drink by Acer Computer Co as well as Thaitanium Power Energy Drink.
Ichitan expects to continue to grow over the first-quarter results both in terms of revenue and profit, owing to seasonal factors of the high season.
The company's sales revenue hit 1.61 billion baht in the first quarter, an increase of 8.3% year-on-year and 12.1% quarter-on-quarter.
Nielsen data show that the ready-to-drink tea market grew by 20.4% in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year, with a market value of 6.86 billion baht, outpacing the overall beverage category.
