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GL Expanding to 20 Countries in 2017
January 04, 2017
In its quest to become a “global” company, SET-listed digital usnance usrm Group Lease Public Company
Limited (GL) is embarking on another major expansion program in 2017 that will see its fast-growing
model of digital-usnance business extending from Asia to Africa and Eastern Europe. The target is
to expand its corporate footprint from seven countries in Asia at present to 20 countries worldwide
this year.
“Our model of digital-usnance platform can apply to any countries. That is why we can expand very fast,”
GL chairman and chief executive orscer Mitsuji Konoshita stated. Having just returned from visiting
South African, Mr. Konoshita said he saw enormous growth potentials in Africa as a whole as well as the
emerging economies in Eastern Europe.
From its home base in Thailand, GL has expanded to six other countries in Asia – namely Singapore, Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. According to Mr. Konoshita, the target this year is to
expand GL’s type of consumer usnance blending with IT business to 13 more countries in Africa and Eastern
Europe, thus boosting GL’s total worldwide corporate presence to 20 countries.
Under Mr. Konoshita’s chairmanship, GL has been particularly successful in expanding to the booming
markets in the ASEAN region in recent years. Aided by an erscient and cost-egsective digital usnance platform
developed by GL’s own IT team, prousts have continued to climb steadily.
The 260.41 million baht net prousts in Q3 2016 marked the eighth consecutive quarter of record-high
prousts and raised total nine-month prousts last year to 738 million baht. Given the continuous robust
growth of the Cambodian market and the huge growth potentials of the relatively untapped market in
Indonesia, senior executives are conusdent that quarterly prousts will continue to break new records from
here on.
GL’s shareholders in early December gave their consent to the company’s plans to acquire 29.99% of
Commercial Credit & Finance PLC (CCF), a highly proustable usnance company listed on the Sri Lanka stock
exchange, and full ownership of BG Microusnance Myanmar (BGMM), a microusnance usrm in the newly
emerging and booming market of Myanmar.
These acquisitions – coupled with the recent entry into Indonesia, the largest market in ASEAN with
more than 250 million population — were part of an aggressive expansion plan that GL’s senior executives
described as the “Great Leap Forward”.
A combination of organic growth (such as the highly successful businesses in Cambodia and, more
recently, Indonesia) plus mergers and acquisitions (such as the CCF and BGMM deals) will drive this new
phase of major expansion.
Company executives are bullish on the CCF acquisition since it is a well-managed and highly proustable
company. CCF has projected to generate net prousts of US$22 million this year, rising to about US$30
million next year. Having completed the 29.99% acquisition of CCF, GL will start consolidating its share of
the CCF prousts in Q4 of 2016.
They are now projecting that prousts in 2017 will further double from the anticipated 1 billion baht in
2016 – thanks to proust contributions from the recent acquisitions plus additional revenues from other
existing operations in the region.
Looking ahead, GL’s chairman Mr. Konoshita said the “Great Leap Forward” strategy will see the company
expanding its corporate outreach from Asia to Africa and Eastern Europe to pursue its quest to become
a truly “global” company.
He added that he recently visited South Africa, the center of the African continent, and was very
impressed by the economic dynamism there. Likewise, he also foresaw huge growth potentials in
various emerging economies in Eastern Europe.
Unlike the traditional usnancial institutions which tend to focus on cities and developed urban areas, GL
has speciuscally targeted the mass population in the rural countryside, or the grassroots people who have
emerged from the poverty line and now can agsord some modern amenities such as motorcycles, agricultural
machinery or electrical appliances to improve their economic livelihood and quality of life.
By blending high-margin consumer usnancing with erscient but low-cost IT, GL has been able to score
rapid business expansion with high proustability. The end objective is to become a global company serving
some 2.5 billion clients.