30 July 1998: French glassmaker Saint-Gobain is interested in expanding into Thailand and Indonesia to produce glass for export, company president Jean-Louis Beffa said recently.
The company wanted t…
30 July 1998: French glassmaker Saint-Gobain is interested in expanding into Thailand and Indonesia to produce glass for export, company president Jean-Louis Beffa said recently. The company wanted to increase its Asian presence despite the region“s economic crisis so as not to miss any growth opportunities, he told reporters in Paris. “Asia will remain in crisis for some time yet. But some countries still interest us, such as China or South Korea,” Mr. Beffa said at a press conference. He did not elaborate on possibilities in Thailand. “We are maintaining all our projects in India and will give priority to bringing our float glass unit there on line before the one in China, because the market there is doing less well at the moment.” The Asian crisis had no significant effect on the first-half results since the company currently did only about 1% of its business in Asia. The company“s net profit rose by 2.5% in the first six months of the year to about US$ 560 million (23 billion baht), compared with the same period of last year, he said.