BERGAMOT-MAKER GUARANTEES RESULTS, SAYS HE HAS PERSONALLY USED IT TO TREAT CONGENITAL BALDNESS

       Odinric-Thai, the market leader in hair-loss treatment products, offers a customer-satisfaction guarantee - one to which the company's owner says he can personally attest."We can guarantee customers that our product works. I myself use it to treat my congenital baldness, and members of my family use it to keep their hair healthy," said Virath Boonkarn, chief executive officer of the company, in an interview with The Nation.
       The company's flagship brands include Bergamot, Presenta and Nash.
       Launched as Serm Suay 77 in 1977 with registered capital of Bt1 million, the company initially focused on selling hair-beauty products. However, Virath wanted to create a business with a more sustainable income.
       He thought back to his days as a salesman of hair-salon products and cosmetics. His baldness had been a major impediment to his career, robbing him of his confidence in meetings with clients.
       "It is very important for anybody working in the cosmetics or beauty-salon business to look good and feel confident if they want to sell products," Virath said.
       Virath looked around for products to treat baldness, focusing on items made from local herbs using local wisdom.
       A doctor, a chemist and an engineer, all friends of Virath, did research on the hair loss-prevention and scalp-enriching qualities of bergamot, a citrus fruit, and other natural ingredients.
       Two years later, the first product, a hair lotion, came out - after being personally tested by Virath.
       "I experienced hair growth after using the formula. It convinced me to launch my first product," Virath said.
       Virath has not stopped conducting research and development, and continues to upgrade his products based on feedback from clients.
       Hair strength and scalp health depend on many factors, he said, such as the condition of the hair roots and excess oil, which can cause hair to fall out.
       To ensure product quality, Virath set up a call centre in 1987 to gather information from and answer questions for clients. He even answers phones and dispenses advice himself.
       "I have personal experience with hair loss. This, combined with the research and development we have done, helps me figure out the right solutions for customers," he said.
       After six months, the products began to sell well.
       A boom in the hair and scalp treatment business has seen the wide-scale opening of hair-treatment clinics offering many services, including surgery. Moreover, One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) goods developed using local wisdom and natural herbs have become very popular. Both developments have helped Odinric-Thai.
       Virath distributed his products through barber shops and beauty salons. In this respect, timing was important, as the late 1970s and early 1980s saw many barbers switch from soap to using shampoo when washing customers' hair.
       Virath said the company marketed its products under one brand, Bergamot, until 1997, when the regional economic crisis hit, forcing the company to launch Presenta, a lower-priced brand, in a bid to maintain market share and sales. Also, there were rumours that its major competitor planned to launch a new hair-growth product.
       "We heard the rumours. We had to protect ourselves by introducing a 'fighting' brand," Virath said.
       The Bt70-million investment required to launch Presenta hurt the company, however, as sales were not as high as projected.
       The company began to promote Presenta again last year, seeing a business opportunity as consumers looked to spend less due to the global financial crisis. It plans to promote the product not only in Thailand but also in the Indochina market.
       In addition to the purely economic factors, stress brought on by the recession could lead to hair loss in some people - a possible business opportunity upon which Virath intends to pounce. He expects to see sales increase in both the domestic and export markets.
       Virath is negotiating with a potential business partner in Singapore to produce goods on an OEM, or original equipment manufacturer, basis for Odinric-Thai.
       Among the company's other brands is the Nash line of cosmetics.
       The flagship Bergamot brand accounts for the lion's share of sales with 80 per cent, followed by Nash with 12 percent and Presenta with the remainder. Sales of Bergamot goods have grown by an average of 10 to 20 per cent a year.

Dow hits new 11-month high as builders advance

       US stocks rose on Friday as Procter & Gamble and major home builders advanced on positive brokerage comments and investors bet the economic recovery will be strong enough to sustain corporate profits.
       The Dow hit a new 11-month high and capped its best week in two months as Citigroup said Procter & Gamble,maker of Tide detergent and Pampers,is poised to win market share through aggressive pricing.
       Procter & Gamble's shares rose 3.2%to $57.32. The S&P consumer staples index, up 1.1%, was among the S&P 500's best-performing sectors.
       "It's sort of cautious optimism. What that's doing is leading to analyst upgrades, and we're seeing analysts raising earnings estimates for both this year and for calendar 2010 fairly consistently,"said Fred Dickson, market strategist at DA Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego,Oregon.
       The S&P 500 is up 58% since hitting a 12-year closing low in early March,partly because of strong second-quarter earnings and optimism that an economic recovery is gaining traction.
       Home builders Toll Brothers and KB Home both were upgraded by JP Morgan Securities, which said the housing sector will continue to recover over the next 24 months and drive the current rally in home builders' stocks.
       The Dow Jones industrial average was up 36.28 points, or 0.37%, at 9,820.20.The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.81 points, or 0.26%, at 1,068.30 while the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 6.11 points, or 0.29%, at 2,132.86.
       It was the market's second-straight week of gains. Last week, the Dow rose 2.24%, the S&P 500 gained 2.45% and the Nasdaq advanced 2.50%.
       "Quadruple witching," the expiration and settlement of four different types of September equity futures and options contracts, seemed "fairly quiet". Mr Dickson said, though the event sometimes leads to increased volatility.
       Oil company Chevron Corp also was upgraded.
       Credit Suisse said Chevron looks best equipped of the major oil companies to deliver growth "over the coming cycle to 2020". The stock rose 0.9% to $72.64.
       Toll Brothers shares rose 3.1% to $22.20, while KB Home's stock gained 2.6% to $20.21.
       The Dow Jones US Home Construction index rose 0.7%.
       On the Nasdaq, Palm Inc fell 3% to $14.01 a day after the company gave a tepid second-quarter sales forecast and said it plans to sell 16 million shares of common stock.
       Volume was heavy on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2.28 billion shares changing hands, well above last year's estimated daily average of 1.49 billion,while on the Nasdaq, about 3.16 billion shares traded, also far above last year's daily average of 2.28 billion.
       Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of three-to-two, while on the Nasdaq,14 stocks rose for every 13 that fell.

Flu fears lift Lion's sales

       Lion Corporation (Thailand), the producer of Kirei Kirei hand gel and foam,is reaping the benefits of the H1N1 flu scare which has seen sales of hand cleansers boom.
       Sales of Kirei Kirei hand cleanser have surged since the flu outbreak due to increased hygiene concerns and attempts to prevent the disease's spread, said managing director Boonyarith Mahamontri.
       "We are confident that demand will continue to grow, especially in provincial areas where rural people still rarely buy this kind of product to use in households,schools or government offices," he said.
       The company cut product prices by 20% on Sept 1 to ease the financial burden on customers. A 20ml tube of gel now costs 20 baht, down from 29 baht.
       It also plans to give 1 million tubes of hand cleanser to schools nationwide.Consumers can access 300,000 free sample packs at department stores and shopping complexes."By doing so, we hope our sales of Kirei Kirei hand gel will rise 20 times to 100 million baht by the end of this year, up from only 4-5 million baht last year," he said.
       The overall hand cleanser market is estimated to be worth 300 million baht by year-end and 500 million next year,up from just 40 million last year.
       Mr Boonyarit said the company had reduced production costs and cut expenses for promotional activities so it could pass the savings on to consumers.
       Sales of Lion Corporation (Thailand)in the first seven months rose by 13%following the launch of new products such as Pao Silver Nano detergent. The company expects revenue of 9 billion baht for 2009.

MUNICIPALITIES TIE UP OVER WASTE

       Thailand Institurte of Packaging Management for Sustainable Environment under Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has collaborated with 15 municipalities to promote the participation of households in segregating recyclables from the upstream.
       FTI chairman Santi Vilassakdanont said the treatment of waste has become the country's major concern and an obstacle for sustaining the industrial sector and the local community.
       "We plan to expand our collaboration to 400 municipalities by next year in order to help them save their budgetto get rid of the waste and reduce the quantity of rubbish treated in the dumping site in each area," he said.
       The instite launched this project in 2006.As of July 2009, the project had gathered about 470 tonnes of recyclable rubbish from eight municipalities, which could be sold for more than Bt2.5 million.
       It will also set up recyclable-waste markets where they will purchase the recyclable waste from households and industrial plants at a reasonable price.This project will take 18 months.
       Apart from this project, the institute has promoted its campaign of segregation of recyclables from the upstrem in hotels and schools such as setting up a recyclable waste bank in communities and campaigns for undergraduate students to pay attention to recyclable waste bank and proper disposal or recyclabe material.
       The FTI presently contributes for the operation of such projects through donations from industrial enterprises on a voluntary basis. However, the lukewarm response has resulted in limiting the pace of project expansion.
       He said the public sector should encourage and support thes projects through budget subsidy or tax incentives, for example, tax deductions for donations.