Economy and commerce

Thaicom Public Company Ltd., which owns a majority stake in local phone operator Mfone, announced on Friday that they have devalued the company by about $1.31 million as profits in the first quarter dropped by half. “In an effort to reflect the fair value of its ...

One of Cambodia’s true rags-to-riches success stories is that of Din Somethearith, co-founder and executive director of Frangipani Villa Hotels. Frangipani, named for the blossoming tree, is a chain of boutique hotels, one of which is located just off Street 178 at number 43, down a ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen lauded the capability of local Cambodian investors who can build factories by their own efforts on May 14 during the inauguration ceremony of the US$-60 million Cambodia Beer Factory, which is totally owned by Cambodians. ...

Cambodia needs to improve the skills of its workforce if it is to compete and benefit from Asean’s plan for greater integration and the free flow of skilled labor within the region by 2015, Minister of Labor Vong Sauth said on Friday at the Asean ...

The Philippines may decide to choose Cambodia to supply some of the rice it needs to boost its buffer stocks, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said on Friday. Alcala said the government still has to buy 120,000 metric tons of rice to fill the 500,000 metric tons ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday repeated a call for Asean countries to put a stop to the exploitation of migrant workers and urged the acceleration of efforts to provide protection for such workers. At the Asean Summit last month, Mr. Hun Sen said that protecting the ...

Surya Subedi, the UN’s human rights envoy to Cambodia, expressed concern Friday over land concessions provided to private companies that are forcing people from their land in the provinces. “the royal government has the primary responsibility for respecting, protecting and fulfilling the rights of its ...

Frontier and emerging economies such as Cambodia present companies with a specific set of challenges and risk, both real and perceived, beyond those found in more developed markets. A risk category getting ever- increasing attention is that of “social risk”, roughly defined as the risk of ...

Cambodia’s first-quarter exports to South Korea soared nearly 80 per cent year-on-year, driven mostly by garments and agriculture products, but imports still accounted for most of the trade between the two countries. Total exports to South Korea jumped to US$30 million for the first three months of ...

For the first time in weeks, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority yesterday closed up 4.35 per cent, a sign the stock was stablising after a rough opening, insiders said. After an eight-day price decline, PPWSA – the sole listed company on the Cambodia Securities Exchange – ...

Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, one of two state-owned companies slated to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange this year, yesterday called the price decline in the country’s first publicly traded company worrisome. The eight-day slide in price that neared Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s initial public offering ...

Total loans and deposits at the Kingdom’s microfinance institutions jumped in the first quarter of 2012 despite what is typically a slow season for the industry, insiders said yesterday. Loans outstanding reached US$708 million for the period ending on March 31, climbing 9.8 per cent from ...

The Cambodia representative for the world’s largest shipping company said exports from Cambodia to Europe grew by more than 60 per cent during 2011, but have since weakened. “Rice exports grew a lot during 2011 and a lot of it went to Poland and France,” ...

The Australian government has pledged $3.02 million toward three provincial information departments, which it said would help “increase citizens’ ability to voice their opinions.” ...

Cambodia’s government, facing growing protests by villagers and warnings about disappearing wilderness, suspended the granting of land to domestic and foreign companies on Monday in a move to curb forced evictions and illegal logging. Rights groups in the impoverished but resource-rich Southeast Asian country said the ...

The ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, the largest pooling of financial resources among Southeast Asia’s 10-member bloc, held its first board meeting in Manila last week, but the extent to which Cambodia will borrow from the non-concessional fund has yet to be determined, experts said. ASEAN countries and ...

The Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) planned to invest US$235 million in two Cambodian mega projects, one of which was the modernisation of a TV station that one analyst said might not be necessary given the country’s level of development. During a meeting with Prime Minister ...

Loran Import-Export Co Ltd, Cambodia’s largest milled-rice exporter, is scheduled to start construction on a new rice mill this month worth more than US$2 million, according to the company’s General Director Lim Bunheng. The mill will help reduce the flow of Cambodia’s paddy rice into neighbouring ...

One woman who has been actively involved in the development of Cambodia’s business climate is Janet Lueckenhausen of Functional Engineering. She’s been working closely with Cambodia’s biggest foreign-owned companies since 2008. Now she’s shifted in her role from executive director of International Business Chamber of Cambodia ...

Entertainment Gaming Asia, an American Stock Exchange-listed company with a regional presence in both Cambodia and the Philippines, will launch its Dreamworld Casino in Pailin province on Wednesday, according to a company statement. ...

I visited the Cambodian Stock Exchange (CSX) last September in the heart of Phnom Penh. It had officially “opened” a few months prior but no companies were listed yet. The trading room was filled with new desks and computer monitors, waiting for someone to power ...

Cambodia’s Internet penetration more than doubled to 3.1 per cent of the population in 2011, up from 1.3 per cent a year earlier, according to the Internet World Stats website. The country had 449,160 Internet users at the end of last year and 491,480 Facebook users ...

The expansion of Cambodia’s information and communications technology sector was highlighted at the ICT Expo on Diamond Island yesterday, as the sector’s bellwether companies continue to eye the Kingdom. Sony Corp, which took part in the eighth annual expo for the first time this year, set ...

Sellers have dominated the Cambodia Securities Exchange for the last seven days of trading, and the downward trend for the single stock, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, was expected to continue into next week, experts said. PPWSA closed down 4.6 per cent yesterday at 7,250 riel ...