Bangkok – 1 February 2021
Frasers Property Commercial (Thailand) reveals robust performance of the office leasing business for the year 2020 with an occupancy rate of over 90% despite the impact from the COVID-19 and business uncertainties to the hotels and meeting facilities. With our customers retention strategy and the diversified portfolio spanning mixed-use projects, office building, hotels, condominium and meeting facilities, we are able to maintain the businesses and prevails amidst the economic challenges. In addition, we also heightened precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 throughout our properties.
Mr. Withawat Koottatep, First Executive Vice President - Commercial Development, Frasers Property Commercial (Thailand) said “The first wave of COVID-19 in Thailand last year has highly affected the tourism and hospitality sectors. As a consequence, the hotel, meeting facilities and shopping malls have been severely impacted. The developers must reconsider and redefine how to sustain their businesses through this crisis. With our diversified properties portfolio, Frasers Property Commercial remains strong and resilient although the performance of our hotel and meeting facilities business was dramatically dropped. We were able to deliver a satisfactory performance of our office leasing business. Currently, we have office building under our management of over 209,000 square metres. Moving forward, we will focus more on cost optimization and operational efficiency while also preparing for challenges and uncertainties ahead.”
“For the overview of commercial properties in 2020, we saw dropping demand in rental office space by 50% comparing with 2018-2019. However, we were able to maintain the average occupancy rate of over 90% as a result of having a portfolio of Grade A offices located in the Bangkok’s CBD including Ploenchit, Sathorn, Rama IV and Samyan. Additionally, we benefit from having customers from various sectors and enable us to reduce dependency on a single industry. Despite the new wave of COVID-19, we have not received customers’ request to downsize or terminate the leases. Nevertheless, we are monitoring the situation closely to assess and determine the severity of consequences if such request arises.”
In the past year, Frasers Property Commercial (Thailand) has altered its operations with two strategies;
1. Focusing on customers retention to build long-term relationship and gain trust from the customers
To retain existing customers, the company has allocated a relief fund to assist those affected by the pandemic. Designated team had a conversation with each customer to understand their financial situation and share the plan to address their health and financial concerns. In addition, the rental fee was waived for customers whose stores were closed during the emergency decree. The company has also provided other assistance to customers both directly and indirectly impacted by the pandemic.
2. Optimizing operational cost and investing on safety and hygiene measures
The company has reallocated the marketing budgets to invest on safety and hygiene measures. As mass gathering events had been cancelled to avoid overcrowding and to observe social distancing guideline, the budget was reallocated to purchase temperature scanning devices, schedule weekly disinfection services and clean the contact surfaces more frequently. Furthermore, the company has adopted a no-layoff policy although businesses in some areas have been closed under lockdown.
Currently, Frasers Property Commercial (Thailand) owns 5 office properties, namely Mitrtown Office Tower, FYI Center, Golden Land Building and two properties listed under Golden Ventures Leasehold Real Estate Investment Trust (GVREIT) which are Sathorn Square and Park Ventures Ecoplex with a total gross rentable area of 209,000 square metres. With over 20,000 employees from Thai and international customers on premises, the company is considered one of the country’s leading commercial property developers.
“Frasers Property Commercial understands the customers’ situation. Apart from increasing COVID-19 precautionary measures in our office properties, we work diligently to help our customers sustain their business and to ensure that their employees are working in a safe environment. By recognizing the importance of retaining existing customers which are leading companies with strong financial performance. In addition, we could secure new tenants to replace the vacant space as our Grade A office properties are located in the Bangkok’s CBD and connected to BTS and MRT. Therefore, our properties are of high interest by customers who value the quality lifestyle of their employees,” Mr. Withawat said.
