Dear Shareholders,

With more than 141 years of operations, Berli Jucker Public Company Limited (BJC), an ASEAN-based leading company in packaging, consumables, medical supplies, and modern retail business, is committed to excellence in developing products and services of high quality throughout the flow, and being the leader in selling a comprehensive range of daily consumable goods. Our organization navigates through today’s complex challenges in the economy, society, and environment. All of which are related and have a significant impact on one another.

The year 2023 was another year of challenges for the growth of business and industry sectors amidst the global economy that had to be monitored. As for investment and operation preparation and adaptation, the company has optimized the production and transport of goods, reduced energy usage, branched out retail stores and added an omni-channel, as well as become more conscious about the environment and corporate governance, such as transporting goods with electric cars instead of electric cars and using solar energy. All of the aforementioned factors helped mitigate the impact during this period of time and drove the continuous growth of our business. As a result, the company generated 154,672 million baht of revenue—a 2.9 percent increase from the previous year—from the increased sales of packaging, medical and technical, as well as modern retail products and services due to an increased number of tourists and more branch expansion. The gross profit margin also saw an improvement in every product and service group as a result of optimization and cost reduction projects.

With the vision to be the leader in the ASEAN region, Berli Jucker Public Company Limited, or BJC, currently operates both domestically and internationally, namely in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, as well as in Malaysia and China, with a comprehensive network of distribution centers and logistics system all over the region. More importantly, BJC continues to explore new markets for the expansion of its business and investments, aiming to establish an ecosystem that covers upstream, midstream, and downstream businesses, enables joint growth, and prepares the Group for future global market endeavors.

I feel honored to be able to witness the continuous growth in all of BJC’s business segments, including consumable products and services, where we continuously offer new products; medical supplies and services, where health and beauty products are growing exponentially along with diagnostic systems, medical tools and materials providing healthcare for the people of Thailand; packaging products and services, where glass packaging and cans are becoming more diversified to satisfy the needs of today’s customers, and modern retail products and services. In 2023, there was a continuous expansion of over 5,552 branches of every format domestically and internationally. The company entered Hong Kong’s retail market strongly, and there are currently over 25 branches of Big C Hong Kong (including 1 pop-up branch). In addition, the company focused on expanding and renovating Big C Place, new hypermarket stores aiming to represent a modern image with various types of vendors, multi-purpose areas and spending areas to attract young customers to Big C stores. In 2023, there were 6 branches of Big C Place. The company plans to branch out to more locations in 2024, as well as to continuously open 200 more branches of Big C Mini in 2024. Moreover, the company plans to renovate over 18 branches of Big C Hypermarket to optimize the shopping experience for every group of customers. Another important platform is the Donjai model, whose store network is being rapidly expanded all over Thailand with over 6,350 branches. The essential goals of this platform are to develop, grow, and modernize small local grocery stores through sales-enabling data systems, while Donjai partners still retain their original ownerships of their stores in accordance with our concept of joint success in business development.

The BJC Group is enhancing its strength towards regional leadership by acting as a center for nurturing relationships in the business ecosystem. We are committed to developing our business by integrating sustainability as a part of business development that adheres to the principle of good governance, conducting its business with integrity and transparency, and being conscious of the society and the environment to create a sustainable change.

In today’s landscape, sustainability plays a crucial role and requires collective contributions. As such, the BJC Group has established its pillar towards sustainability through the concept of “B.J.C.” (Better Living, Joint Success, and Caring for Community) where we collectively pursue better living through a variety of goods and services, strive for joint success and growth across all sectors within the framework of social and environmental balance. The company has also adopted the concept of ESG, that is, to operate while considering 3 domains of responsibility—environment, society, and governance, as its business foundations alongside adhering to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) and UN Global Compact (UNGC). We believe all of this will serve as firm roots that allow a big tree like BJC to continue to grow with values and provide shade for all, with coverage extending to the entire business ecosystem.

I would like to thank all shareholders, customers, business partners, various organizations, and all interested parties for providing your support to the operations of BJC Group. Most importantly, I would like to thank the Executive Board and every staff member for their indispensable contributions towards developing our business and delivering the best of the best to consumers. From this step onwards, we are ready to collectively push the Group's visions and policies to the best of our abilities, so that we may achieve our goals together and firmly move forward into our 142nd year.