WICE Logistics PCL (SET:WICE) eyes Total Logistics Solutions

BANGKOK, Sept 30, 2016 – (ACN Newswire) – WICE Logistics PCL
(“WICE”, SET:WICE) has been listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand
(SET) since July 2015. Managing Director Chudet Kongsoonthorn discusses the
company’s strategy and outlook in The Executive Talk (TET) by
ShareInvestor.com.

TET: Please explain the history of WICE.

WICE: We started in 1993 as a part of WICE Group which had firms throughout
Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand as a freight service company. Since then we
have continually expanded our services from purely sea freight to including
air freight, custom broker, transportation and so forth. This expansion
coincided with WICE becoming fully independent, expanding our customer base,
and subsequently listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in July 2015.

TET: What is WICE’s business model?

WICE: We are a one stop logistic service provider for our customers by
providing door-to-door services. This involves multiple processes starting
from documentation, transportation, warehousing, air freight or sea freight,
and custom broker. We have offices in three locations – Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi
Airport and Laemchabang. Today, half of our revenues are from sea freight with
20% from air freight and the remaining from warehousing and transportation. In
the past decade, we have increased our value added services so that any
questions that are posed by customers, in terms of documentation for the
import and export of products, physical transportation of goods domestically
and internationally, warehousing and so forth, can be serviced by us and then
we become an integral part of their business. As an example, we have an
international customer that has multiple suppliers within Thailand. In the
past, they had to co-ordinate with each supplier, thereby increasing their
logistics costs and time. Today, we manage their logistics and ensure that the
delivery of goods is streamlined, aggregated and by doing this we have
minimised their internal work, their costs and improved their logistics. This
is just one of the services that we consider value-added for our customers.

TET: Who are WICE’s target customers?

WICE: The majority of our customers are within the industrial estates in
Ayudhya, Chonburi, Rayong and other parts of Thailand. These are the large
manufacturers in the electronics and automobile industries, as these two
sectors represent the largest exporters from Thailand and have a lot of volume
whether it be via sea or air freight.

TET: What impact does the Thai economy and the global economy have upon your
business and industry?

WICE: We are naturally impacted by positive or negative changes in both
Thailand and globally because the majority of our customers are export based
and we have seen some impact from the recent slowdown in the global economy.
But we ensure that we have well diversified customer base that exports to the
US, China and ASEAN, and this helps to mitigate the broad slowdown. Also we
provide services for domestic logistics via our transportation and warehousing
solutions, and therefore we are able to maintain our existing business and
continue expanding.

TET: What differentiates WICE from its competitors?

WICE: Service and trust are the two factors that our customers value the most.
From our side we are providing a service that we are able to control end to
end and allows us to give a commitment to our customers to meet their
schedules. Because they are part of a global supply chain where there are
large volumes, multiple moving parts, if their products are not delivered on
time, this will have a massive impact on the rest of the chain. Thus our
commitment to service is what has differentiated us from others in the market.

TET: Why did WICE decide to IPO?

WICE: We required more capital for expansion to achieve our long term goals.
Within the first twelve months of becoming a publicly listed company in 2015,
we have already invested in expanding our trucking and trailer capacity,
implemented a new information system to further streamline operations, begun
construction on a new warehouse to expand capacity and acquired Sun Express
Logistics (SEL) in Singapore to expand our capabilities in international
logistics.

TET: Why did WICE acquire SEL?

WICE: We acquired 70% of SEL because they provide integrated inbound and
outbound freight transportation services by air and sea freight similar to us.
Whereas our core capability originated from Sea freight, their core capability
is from Air Freight. This, along with their location within the Free Zone in
Changi Airport in Singapore, their strong customer list of Multinational
Corporations and their expertise in international logistics, will allow us to
expand our own capabilities, service offerings to our clients, and give WICE a
global footprint. Financially, the share acquisition is divided into two
phases. 50 percent is paid in cash of THB 291 million and the remaining 50
percent is via a share swap where we have already issued 51.90 million new
shares at THB 2.80 per share. In the second phase we have the right to buy the
remaining 30% of SEL in 2020.

TET: What are the biggest risks facing your business?

WICE: There are multiple factors that can disrupt our business whether it be
internal or external. With regards to internal factors, we are able to control
and ensure that our operations are smooth, but external factors such as the
airport shutdown and the floods in Thailand were impediments to us and our
clients and we could not control them. During those periods, we had to help
our clients with these issues and troubleshoot solutions whether it be
preparing re-routing, re-directing products to U-Tapao or Chiang Mai, or
organising boats to reach their factories to help them transport their
finished goods or inventory to safer locations. The clients from those
difficult periods are still with us today because of our commitment, ability
to problem-solve and continue our service despite external challenges.

TET: Where do you see WICE in five years from now?

WICE: We aim to grow both in Thailand and internationally. When WICE decided
to become a publicly listed company we presented to our shareholders that WICE
would aim to grow 20% per annum to 2018. We have invested substantially within
the country by expanding our facilities, locations, capabilities and staff,
and internationally with the acquisition of SEL, and we believe that we are on
track. Our long term vision is to provide a total logistics service for our
clients not just in Thailand but internationally as well and to be able to
control the end to end logistics service to ensure our commitment and service
for our customers.

Source: Bloomberg

Yup its back, and now distributed throughout the entire interwebbbb including Bloomberg. Good bye Bangkok Post.