Dr. Naree Boontherawara, the SET Vice President- Research and Business Strategy Department, disclosed that the SET has developed new industry classifications to better reflect the Thai economy and industries overall whilst presenting a clearer picture at the industry level. The new classifications will officially be effective starting Monday 5 January 2004 onwards.
"With this new grouping structure, there will be eight industry groups - 1. Agro & Food Industry, 2. Consumer Products, 3. Financials, 4. Industrials, 5. Property & Construction, 6. Resources, 7. Services, and 8. Technology. The thirty business sectors under these groups will still remain with related or complementary businesses under the same industry grouping," Dr. Naree said.
Listed companies in the 'Others' sector, Companies Under Rehabilitation (REHABCO), listed companies on the MAI, and other types of financial instruments, however, will not be included in these eight industry groups.
The Vice President of Research and Business Strategy went on to say that: "The eight new industry groupings will facilitate the selection of securities making investors' selection more convenient and quicker. Investors will be able to consider the big picture of each industry group before digging down to the business level. The comparison of common-group listed companies will then be more efficient. Moreover, foreign investors will then also be able to compare, more conveniently and clearly, the direction being taken by each Thai industry group's price index and how they compare to other markets. The new grouping structure will also be better suited to the types of companies expected to be listing in the future."
The SET has been reporting securities information under the new industry classifications since October 2003. Each industry group is comprised of related business sectors e.g. Agro & Food Industry Group is composed of two sub-sectors-1. Agribusiness and 2. Food & Beverages, and the Consumer Products Group is composed of four sub-sectors-1. Household Products, 2. Jewelry & Ornaments, 3. Pharmaceutical Products & Cosmetics, and 4. Textiles, Clothing & Footwear.
The industry groups will be sorted in alphabetical order beginning with the Agro & Food Industry Group on down to the Technology Group.
"The SET will calculate the indexes of these industry groups starting from the first business day of 2004 (5 Jan. 04) by using the data from year 2003's last business day as the base date with the base value of 100. The sector indexes will remain alongside with the new industry-group indexes except for that of the REHABCO Sector index which will no longer be displayed in 2004," Dr. Naree concluded.
