Central Retail Corporation Pcl (CRC) has said it plans to invest 100 billion baht over the next five years to expand its retail businesses.
Thailand’s biggest retailer also said in a statement that it aims to boost revenue growth and market capitalisation by 2.5 times over the period.
Central Retail has become Thailand’s leading multi-format, multi-category and omnichannel retailing platform.
Chief Executive Yol Phokasub said CRC’s five-year strategy includes expanding its online shopping platforms to bolster its food, fashion and other business lines.
Yol told a virtual news conference that the bulk of investment will be used for physical store expansion and upgrades, with the rest for technology.
He added that “Online is not going to kill offline, but will complement each other.”
As part of plans for 2026, CRC is targeting boosting its earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) by 3.5 times.
In the nine-months to September 2021, the company booked revenue of 136.8 billion baht and EBITA of 12 billion baht for an overall loss of 2.1 billion baht.
About 72% of CRC’s revenue is generated in Thailand and the remainder in Vietnam and Italy.
In December, parent company Central Group, owned by the billionaire Chirathivat family, acquired luxury British store chain Selfridges with Austrian real estate firm Signa Group in a $5 billion deal.
