"We are now ready to launch full operations there," Mitsuji Konoshita, chairman and chief executive officer, said yesterday.
There has been not a single case of non-performing loans among the first group of 200 Cambodian customers.
There were only two stolen
motorcycles, which were fully insured.
Cambodia, which is managed by Group Lease's wholly owned subsidiary GL Finance, will increase its accounts to 1,000 next month and 2,000 next quarter as planned.
"We could have pushed the numbers sooner, but we wanted to make sure that our Cambodian operations proceed in a prudent and solid manner," Konoshita said.
To ensure that the financial resources for the Cambo-dian operations are adequate and to comply with the National Bank of Cambodia's regulations on capital sufficiency, the registered capital of the Singapore unit will be raised from 3 million Singapore dollars (Bt69.75 million) to S$4.6 million, while paid-up capital will increase from S$757.500 to the full S$4.6 million, according to a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
INDUSTRIAL ZONES
The Thai business is also growing strongly thanks to the rapid expansion of the dealers' network particularly around the industrial zones of Chon Buri and Rayong where demand for motorcycle leasing is high.
Since the start of the year, sales have been running at about 8,000 units a month, although this month will drop to about 7,000 because of the long Songkran holiday.
However, sales will jump to about 10,000 next month - a target the company had expected to achieve around year-end.
