The change in the petrol retail industry in Thailand was first started by PTT Group when they constructed the first half decent stations with retail outlets, coffee shops, f&B etc, over a decade ago. Following on from this the other players, i.e. Shell, Esso, Bangchak did try to follow suit but never really took off in the past they way that PTT Group did.

Now PTG came onto the market and decided to give a whopping middle finger to the big players and said “we aren’t going to buy land, we’re going to lease it, we won’t only do mass traffic locations, and we’ll own the stations instead of franchise to control the quality” and are now the largest in terms of the number of stations in Thailand and I wouldn’t be surprised if they would be the largest in terms of volume in the coming 2-3 years.

This acquisition of the coffee world is both wonderful and scary at the same time, given that it is a completely different market/industry that PTG is expanding into. Yes they are going to take coffee world and put them in their petrol stations, but still, its a different business and whilst the management team has been amazing so far executing everything they said they would, I do fear this may be a step too far if they are going to expand coffee world via both the stations and stand alone outlets in Thailand.
Then again I could be wrong…

Article Link: Bangkok Post

PTG Energy Plc (PTG), a SET-listed oil retailer, has acquired a majority stake in GFA Corporation Ltd, the operator of Coffee World, in a bid to strengthen its retail and non-oil business.

PTG president and chief executive Pitak Ratchakitprakarn said the acquisition was made through its subsidiary, PunThai Coffee Ltd, which has acquired 99.99% stake in GFA Corp, which operates the well-known coffee cafes and restaurants of Coffee World and Cream & Fudge, and the restaurant chain New York 5th Avenue.

“The acquisition is worth 205 million baht for 29,350 shares of GFA Corporation,” said Mr Pitak, adding the acquisition would make PTG the owner of the existing 130 branches of restaurants and coffee cafes both in Thailand and overseas.

“This move will help enhance PTG’s non-oil business to increase its food selling channels via those branches located in places with strong potential,” he added.

Mr Pitak said the move also matched the company’s strategy of expanding its business in food and beverages at home and overseas, which is part of its non-oil business.

He said the non-oil business has continued to grow substantially over the past few years and has helped offset falls in the oil business at a time when sales have dropped in line with weak global prices.

Thai retail oil demand has seen double-digit growth over the past few years, thanks partly to massive sales campaigns from major oil retailers, including mileage cards and lucky draws.

Some retailers have renovated their petrol stations to offer extra services to motorists such as more parking space for the disabled and vendor stalls for locals.

The collapse of global prices started an oil retail war in 2014, as retailers cut the prices of several types of petrol.

Retailers allocated huge amounts of capital to renovate their petrol stations and launch non-oil services and goods in the stations.

PTG, itself, has earmarked 5 billion baht for investment this year, mostly for improving its 1,400 existing petrol stations and adding 400 more.

Shares of PTG closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) yesterday at 19.10 baht, up 40 satang, in trade worth 140 million baht.