SET: Thai Listed Companies Report Continued Earnings Growth In Q2, Propelled By Tourism And Oil-Related Sectors

• SET-listed firms’ H1 sales up 6.3% y-o-y to THB 8.96 trln
• H1 core operating profit up 18.7% y-o-y to THB 922.74 bln
• H1 net profit up 9.7% y-o-y to THB 519.31 bln

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)-listed companies delivered significant growth in both top-line and bottom-line figures for the first six months, buoyed by a robust tourism sector and rising oil prices. The positive impact of tourism rippled across services and consumer goods industry groups, while the oil-related sector benefitted from favorable market conditions.

SET President Pakorn Peetathawatchai said that 819 listed companies, representing 95.7 percent of the total 856 listed companies (comprising SET- and Market for Alternative Investment (mai)-listed companies, excluding property funds and infrastructure funds, scheduled to submit financial statements ended June 30, 2024) already submitted their second-quarter operating results. Of these, 631 listed companies, accounting for 77.05 percent of those submitted financial statements, reported net profit.

In the second quarter, listed companies continued their growth trajectory, with those on SET experiencing an 8.4 percent year-on-year increase in sales. This contributed to a 6.3 percent year-over-year rise in the first-half sales for SET-listed companies, amounting to THB 8.96 trillion (approx. USD 227.84 billion). Core operating profit and net profit surged 18.7 percent and 9.7 percent in the first six months of 2024 from a year earlier to THB 922.74 billion and THB 519.31 billion, respectively. The improved performance was attributable to a mere 4.9 percent and 6.0 percent increase in production costs and selling, general, and administrative expenses. As of June 30, 2024, the debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio of Thai listed companies (excluding the financial sector) remained stable at 1.51 times.

"The continued expansion of the tourism sector significantly boosted profits across service-related and associated businesses, such as food and beverages, consumer goods, hotels, aviation, space rental, retail, healthcare, and telecommunications. Higher oil prices also bolstered the oil sector, leading to strong operational and net profit growth for listed companies in the first half of 2024. However, the property development and construction sectors faced challenges due to decreased public and private sector projects,” added Pakorn.

For mai-listed companies, their first-half sales increased 7.7 percent over the same period last year to THB 104.30 billion. With effective management of production costs and selling, general, and administrative expenses, these companies saw a 44.8 percent and an 80.5 percent jump in operating profit and net profit to THB 8.35 billion and THB 6.10 billion, respectively. Excluding the top five turnaround companies, these mai-listed companies reported a 22.8 percent rise in net profit to THB 4.95 billion for the first half of 2024.