SET-listed PTT Oil and Retail Business (OR) continues to expand its non-oil businesses overseas by opening a laundry service at its filling station in Cambodia.
Through cooperation with K-Nex Corporation, a Thai retailer of laundry and dryer machines and a franchiser of laundry self-services under the Otteri Wash & Dry brand, OR offers the service at Chbar Ampov PTT gas station in Phnom Penh, said Racha Uthaichan, OR's senior executive vice-president for global business.
PTT (Cambodia), which runs the gas station, plans to expand the laundry business to three more branches in Cambodia within this year.
OR's diversification into this business followed the purchase of a 40% share worth 1.1 billion baht from K-Nex in June last year. The company aims to run laundry services both inside and outside its petrol stations.
K-Nex currently operates more than 950 branches of Otteri Wash & Dry.
OR is focusing on non-oil businesses in order not to depend solely on the oil trade, which has a low profit margin.
Its non-oil businesses include coffee houses, food shops, convenience stores, car care and even a medical service.
In May, OR joined hands with Thonburi Healthcare Group to open a clinic under a pilot project inside the PTT Station-Jiffy Ram Intra 2 on Ram Intra Road in Bangkok.
The clinic provides both onsite and online services for patients who want to have a check-up, including blood and electrocardiogram tests, or meet doctors through telemedicine consultation.
Chumpol Siripuchaka, managing director of PTT Retail Management Co, a subsidiary of OR, said earlier OR aims to develop its gas stations into "living communities" that can cater to the needs of people and build relationships with them.
Business should be conducted to serve society, he said.
The company chose the PTT Station-Jiffy Ram Intra 2 because the facility is clean, convenient and safe and is open around the clock.
OR is allocating 31.1 billion baht to fuel its business expansion in Thailand and another 11 countries across Asia.
Up to 45% of the budget will support non-oil businesses, notably lifestyle businesses including the construction of 400 Cafe Amazon branches, Disathat Panyarachun, chief executive of OR, said earlier.
