Diethelm Keller announces 790 million dollar sales in Thailand

"The companies controlled by Diethelm Bangkok will be achieving a turnover of 34 billion baht, which represents an increase over 1999 of 21.5 per cent," said Renato Petruzzi, chief executive officer of Diethelm & Co., Limited, Thailand.

Petruzzi said the Zurich-based conglomerate, which recently changed its name to Diethelm Keller Holding, this year reported 27 per cent sales growth of its pharmaceutical products, 22 per cent growth in consumer products and a 50 per cent jump in engineering services.

Diethelm Keller Holding, a general trading and service operator 80 per cent owned by fourth-generation descendants of the founding families, expects worldwide sales to reach 4 billion Swiss francs (2.2 billion dollars) this year, with sales in Thailand accounting for about 35 per cent of its worldwide revenues, said chairman Andreas W. Keller.

Keller and other top managers of the European trading house, which set up its Bangkok office in 1906 and has had operations throughout Southeast Asia, China and South Korea for decades, were in Bangkok to announce the group's new "fan tree" logo.

Last month, Diethelm Keller made Bangkok its regional headquarters for its pharmaceutical operations throughout Asia, one of its strongest sectors. The Swiss conglomerate is best known in Thailand for its Diethelm Travel company, a major tour operator in Southeast Asia.

While Southeast Asia has traditionally been the group's main focus point for sales, top management said there are good growth prospects in China, where the company has also been operating for a century.

"We are very pleased that China will be joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) very soon, and we see a hell of an opportunity there to increase our service activities, especially in the health sector," Keller told a news conference.

But Diethelm Keller's chief executive officer Erick Hunziker was quick to add that the group's activities in China would not come at the expense to operations in Southeast Asia. "There may be a lot of sales potential (in China), but whether there is a lot of profit potential is another matter," said Hunzikier.

He added, "We will stay where we are strong, and we will not neglect our operations in ASEAN." ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which groups the 10 Southeast Asian countries into one regional block.

(la/dpa)