The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has created the Steel Sector under the Industrials Industry Group to reflect the importance of listed companies in the steel business and benefit research and investment decision-making. The SET will move 27 listed companies to this new Sector, starting on January 4, 2011.
“The steel industry is vital to the country’s development, as it is important to many other sectors, e.g., construction, electricity and electronics, automobile, and packaging. Thailand’s economic recovery and government projects also support the growth of steel operating listed companies, which showed a clear improvement this year,” said SET Group Head, Issuer & Listing, Chanitr Charnchainarong.
“Having a Steel Sector will help shareholders, investors and analysts to easily compare steel companies against their peers. This will benefit research and prudent investment decision-making, and is in accordance with practices at international index providers and other exchanges,” said Mr. Chanitr.
Currently, the SET has organized listed companies into eight industry groups, with 26 sectors. Today, there are 27 listings in the steel business but they are between two sectors: 16 are in the Industrial Materials & Machinery Sector (under the Industrials Industry Group) and 11 in the Construction Materials Sector (under the Property & Construction Industry Group), making a large number that can form a new sector.
The steel sector will cover makers of important steel output including for the construction sector, e.g., hot-rolled steel sheets or steel bars; steel-forming manufacturers and steel distribution agents, e.g., of stainless steel. At present, the market capitalization of listed companies in steel is THB103.00 billion (approx. USD3.33 billion), accounting for 1.32% of total market capitalization on the SET, and making it the 13th largest sector in terms of market capitalization. The top three listed firms by market capitalization are Sahaviriya Steel Industries PCL (SSI), Tata Steel (Thailand) PCL (TSTH), and Thainox Stainless PCL (INOX).
“Although businesses had faced economic fluctuation, five steel manufacturing-listed companies have show continuous profits and paid dividends for five consecutive years. They are M.C.S. Steel PCL (MCS), Sahamit Machinery PCL (SMT), Siam Steel Service Center PCL (SSSC), Thailand Iron Works PCL (TIW), and Thai Metal Trade PCL (TMT),” said Mr. Chanitr.
SET will provide investors with more information about stocks in steel business, starting with the seminar “Stock Focus : Steel business” on October 16 at 12.30-14.30 hrs., at Main Meeting Hall, AIA Training Center, Sathorn Road. The program will feature executives from three companies, i.e., Lohakit Metal PCL (LHK), Thai Metal Trade PCL (TMT), Sahaviriya Steel Industries PCL (SSI). The SET will also distribute “SET Stock Focus: Steel” at “SET in the City” at Siam Paragon Department Store during November 18-21.
Companies to be in the Steel Sector (ranked by market capitalization)
