PROSPECTUS THAI BEVERAGE PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED ...

Part 2 Issuing CompanyThai Beverage Public Company Limited4. Research and DevelopmentThe Company is aware of the importance of the research and development by focusing on theimprovement of the innovations and production techniques and raw material packaging and others,which are material factors of the Company’s strategy to decrease production cost, increase efficiencyand improve the Company’s product quality.The Company has research and development centers for production of beer, drinking waterand soda water at Bang Ban brewery and Kamphaengphet brewery. As of June 30, 2008, theCompany had 38 research and development officers for production of beer, drinking water and sodawater. The research and development centers for production of beer, drinking water and soda waterhave objectives as follows:• Being a center for testing and approving various raw materials and packaging suitable toeach brewery and studying alternative sources for changes in the future.• Being a center for preparing yeast in the process of beer production of each brewery andcontrolling quality to assure that yeast used in the process of production is pure and isqualified under the same standard.• Being a center for controlling production process to assure that quality and standard ofproduction of all beer, drinking water and soda water are the same.• Being a center for testing of working conditions and air disposed from beer, drinkingwater and soda water facilities for the standard of working conditions control and airdisposed from the facilities through an environmental laboratory, consisting of both waterand air.• Monitoring the quality of water resources and technology in the water improvementprocess to assure that quality and standard of water used in the production are the same,and to prepare for new technology.• Monitoring techniques of production and packaging to prepare for changes andimprovement for cost reduction, increasing of production efficiency and responding toconsumers’ requirements.• Improvement of products, both existing and new products.• Development of staff to increase their capability for production and internationaloperation through brewing school project and the project to improve English proficiency.Additionally, the Company aims to improve yeast culturing and expects to improve newproducts from new species of yeast in the near future. For example, the Company introducedFederbräu Beer in April 2008 to compete with standard brands and other premium brands inThailand. In addition, the Company aims to develop functional drinks.For production of spirits, the Company has a research and development center, located atSangsom Building, Phahonyothin Road, Phayathai District, which had similar objectives as theresearch and development centers for beer, drinking water and soda water. As of June 30, 2008, theCompany had 47 research and development staffs for production of spirits.For the year ended December 31, 2004, 2005, 2006 and the six-month period ended June 30,2008, the Company has invested for the research and development in the amount of Baht 35.2 million,Baht 31.4 million, Baht 43.0 million and Baht 46.1 million, respectively.Part 2 Page 77