Bangkok--4 Jun--SET According to The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)’s Research and Information Division, the efficiency of Thai listed companies in Q1/2008 improved on the same period in 2007 in terms of Return on capital employed (ROCE), Return on equity (ROE), net profit margin (NPM) and interest coverage ratio. The Technology Group recorded the highest ROE and NPM at 5.60% and 12.00%, respectively. The division’s SET Note Corporate Update, an analysis of listed firms’ operational efficiency, investment and funding, revealed that public companies (excluding those in the Financials and Non-Performing Groups) increased their average ROCE to 4.80% in Q1/2008, compared with 4.00% in Q1/2007. ROE grew to 4.80% from 3.90% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q), while NPM rose to 7.60% from 7.40%. The report also indicated that financial risk fell in Q1/2008, as evidenced by the rise in interest coverage ratio to 9.80 from 7.10 and debt to equity ratio falling to 1.00. In Q1/2008, overall investment in fixed assets was THB 82 billion, a 0.80% decrease q-o-q, while the Resources Group had the most fixed assets THB 38 billion. In this year’s first quarter, all listed firms recorded a healthy THB 37.00 billion net cash inflow resulting from operational inflow of THB 140 billion. Listed companies’ raised THB 14.09 billion in capital increase during this quarter. Most of this amount, 96%, (THB 13.49 billion) was raised through the secondary stock market. The bulk of the new capital, more than THB 5.71 billion, was raised through the exercise of warrants (XR) by existing shareholders. The Financial Group raised the highest amount, THB 6.42 billion, while newly-listed companies raised THB 596 million through initial public offerings during the quarter. For more information, please visit http://www.set.or.th/setresearch/setresearch.htm .