Bangkok--30 Aug--SET
- H1 total sales up 3.1 pct to THB 92.12 billion.
- Combined net profit during Jan-June up 14 pct to THB 3.87 billion.
- Services and Technology industry groups reported higher sales and net profit.
Companies listed on Market for Alternative Investment (mai) reported a 3.1 percent year-on-year increase in aggregate sales to THB 92.12 billion (approx. USD 2.97 billion) from January to June, with 14 percent rise in total net profit to THB 3.87 billion. Two industry groups: Services and Technology posted higher sales and net profits.
mai President Prapan Charoenprawatt stated that 155 mai-listed companies, representing 95 percent of the total 163 firms (excluding those in the non-compliance or NC group, those with different accounting period end dates and those not submitting financial reports in time), submitted the operating results ended June 30, 2019. There were 108 companies reported net profit, accounting for 70 percent of the total listed companies already disclosed their financial statements.
mai-listed companies' first-half sales increased 3.1 percent from a year earlier to THB 92.12 billion, while the costs rose 4.5 percent to THB 73.15 billion. Consequently, this narrowed the gross profit margin to 20.59 percent from 21.64 percent; decreased the operating profits to THB 3.2 billion or down 12.7 percent, while reducing the operating profit margin to 3.48 percent from 4.10 percent. The aggregate net profit was up at THB 3.87 billion, or a 14.0 percent rise, as such raising the net profit margin to 4.05 percent from 3.66 percent.
"For the January-to-June period, mai-listed firms had higher sales and net profits but comparatively lower profitability, weighed down by the tougher competition stemmed from the US-China trade tensions and the sluggish global economy. The slowdown in operating results was seen in Q2, given a 0.6 percent year-on-year rise in total sales to THB 45.58 billion, and a 2.4 percent increase in cost of sales to THB 36.22 billion, resulting in reduced gross profit margin to 20.53 percent from 21.86 percent. In addition, a number of listed companies recorded higher reserves for employee benefits in compliance with the new labor law, causing a drop in total operating profit by 44.3 percent to THB 1.13 billion. However, the media & publishing sector's profit from digital TV license returns had enabled mai-listed companies' net profit increase by 20.4 percent to THB 2 billion," Prapan said.
"Regarding mai-listed firms' financial position, their combined assets rose 5.8 percent from end-2018 to THB 263.97 billion. The overall capital structure remained solid, with debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05 times, a slight increase from end-2018," added Prapan.
As of August 29, 2019, there were 163 mai-listed companies. The mai Index closed at 350.84 points, with market capitalization of THB 233.41 billion and average daily trading value of THB 776 million.