tores here and there, but then the same retailers benefit from the rebuild that ensues. It’s a fair bet that the retailer rebounding best from the weather-related disruptions this time is HomePro, already the nation’s biggest retailer in the segment.  HomePro, which has a store fleet of 115 in Thailand and seven in Malaysia, had total revenue in the first half of the year of 37.2 billion baht (US$1.1 billion), an increase of 9.3 per cent over the first six months of 2022. The growth was partly assisted by the opening of eight net new stores since mid-2022, and five more are planned for the second half of this year. Net profit for the first half was up 6.6 per cent, year-on-year, to 3.2 billion baht.  Both revenues and income include rental revenue, mainly from Market Village in the resort town of Hua Hin, which is recovering along with tourism. Revenue from this source was 940.6 million baht, up 15.3 per cent year on year. Competitors underperform, was politics a factor? HomePro’s improvement contrasted with the performance of its major competitors. One of them, DIY Home, reported, alongside disappointing second-quarter results, that people stopped doing construction projects in the lead-up to May elections because of uncertainty around the political environment. This ‘election jitters’ theory echoed a HomePro claim, but seems slightly overblown considering HomePro’s results were so strong and considering that in Thailand there is always political uncertainty; it’s a sad fact of life in the Kingdom and Thais, being extremely resilient people, have a strong tendency, proven time and again throughout their turbulent modern history, to carry on regardless. Siam Global House has a stinker DIY Home wasn’t the only home-improvement retailer to announce a slide in its fortunes. Siam Global House, which has 79 massive warehouse stores, reported revenues in the first half of 17.8 billion baht (US$523.2 million), down 7.5 per cent, year on year. And that sharp decline was despite the addition of three more stores since June of last year. Net profit was 1.6 billion baht (US$46.8 million), down 27.5 per cent, year on year. The decline in sales hit the bottom line hard, as did an increase in the price of steel-based products, and an increase in interest rates that has adversely affected financing costs. These results have not deterred the company from its expansion plans. Unlike HomePro, it currently has a much heavier concentration of stores in the provincial areas of Thailand, particularly in the northeast, where it is headquartered. It also has a wider presence outside of Thailand: it has two stores in Cambodia (one in Phnom Penh and one in Battambang), seven in Laos under the Souvanny Home Center banner, 11 in Myanmar as Pro 1 Global, 11 in Indonesia as Depo Bangunan and three Global House units in Philippines. Unable to catch up with HomePro in Thailand itself, Global House is setting its sights on tapping into some favourable structural factors in markets that are currently poorer but with more upside: in particular, upside from large populations being underserved by highly fragmented domestic home-improvement sectors, positive future household income growth potential, urbanisation and the steady splintering of extended family living arrangements into more nuclear units that generate greater demand for housing.  Central is a player, too The third of Thailand’s ‘Big 3’ of home-improvement retail is owned by the country’s largest retailer, Central Retail Group. The home-improvement part of Central’s vast portfolio consists of Thai Watsadu and BnB Home, with a combined 74 stores. Central has embarked on a strategy of combining the two banners into a ‘killer format’. Thai Watsadu, like HomePro, has a bigger presence in the more affluent and higher density Greater Bangkok area, where roughly one-third of its stores are located. From a corporate reporting perspective, home-improvement retail sits within Central’s Hardline Group, which accounts for 34 per cent of the company’s sales (39 per cent is accounted for by food and the remaining 27 per cent by fashion).  Results for Thai Watsadu/BnB Home are not broken out separately from the other Hardline retailers, which comprise 175 electronics stores (Power Buy in Thailand and Nguyen Kim in Vietnam) and 219 office supply and stationery stores under the B2S and OfficeMate banners. Since all of these different bits and pieces are related to the home, it’s possible from the combined Hardline results to get a pretty good sniff of how the home-improvement part is doing. Sales for Central’s Hardline Group were 37.6 billion baht in the first half, a very modest increase of 3 per cent, year on year, but same-store sales have been dragged down overall by weakness in Vietnam, which is essentially all electronic appliances. (Same-store sales in Vietnam were down 23 per cent in the second quarter.) Things were better in Thailand and it looks like Central’s home-improvement retail there has been performing a good deal better than Global House, if not as strongly as HomePro. Confidence up, inflation down With consumer confidence in Thailand rising, inflation continuing to head downward – including the cost of construction materials – and the election behind them, home-improvement retailers should be looking for a strong second half.