The listed developer Raimon Land Plc plans a new subsidiary this year that will serve as a property agent to its own customers.
Chief executive Hubert Viriot said the new subsidiary would offer rental and resale services to its customers _ about 1,000 now in completed units and another 1,500 waiting for theirs to be transferred.
Raimon calls the new offering “owner service” and since early this year has helped its customers to buy, sell and rent out their units in company projects.
The service is covered by a resale team under the customer relationship management unit and will soon be spun off as a subsidiary.
“We know the pricing trends, so we can help our customers,” said Mr Viriot.
He said the new subsidiary would not be geared toward profit, but rather intended to help its customers, some of whom only want to invest in a property.
The subsidiary will be Raimon’s second non-residential development venture after the Vue shopping mall in The River condominium.
Raimon expects retail business to generate recurring annual revenue of 25 million baht from next year.
“We’re open to any property business, as we need to seek other sources of income besides property sales. In case of property market ups and downs, we will have recurring income to add to our cash flow,” said Mr Viriot.
He said Raimon was interested in hospitality and property management services for existing customers, as such operations generate recurring revenue.
The company will also focus more on the mass market instead of tapping only small, narrow segments in order to diversify and leverage its business.
It plans to launch two projects a year worth 5-6 billion baht each.
Raimon now has four condominiums on hand including two high-priced ones in Bangkok _ The River worth 15 billion baht and 68% sold; and 185 Rajadamri worth 9.6 billion baht and 30.7% sold.
The other two are on Wong Amat beach in Pattaya _ Northpoint worth five billion baht and 85.6% sold; and Zire worth 2.8 billion baht and 21.8% sold.
Mr Viriot said Raimon would apply Zire’s strategy to new planned condominium projects in Bangkok. Launched this year, Zire focuses on the Thai market _ young executives and buyers under 35.
The company achieved first-quarter sales of 1.5 billion baht, double the amount in the same period last year.
“It’s a good start after some sluggish years for us,” said Mr Viriot.
These past couple of years were difficult financially _ shares dumped, no sales and no finished projects. We needed to sell a good piece of land to maintain our finances. But now we’re back on track.”
Source: Bangkok Post
