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- Net profits worth THB 708 billion, up 3.74 pct YoY in Jan-Sept]
- Sales rose 10 pct to THB 7.98 trillion pushed up by higher oil prices
Companies listed on The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) reported a net profit of THB 707.78 billion (approx. USD 20.83 billion) in the first nine months of 2017, a 3.74 percent rise from the same period in 2016, due to the increased sales and profits in Petrochemicals & Chemicals, Commerce, and Property Development sectors, mainly boosted by oil price rise, while Thai economy has been gradually recovering.
SET Senior Executive Vice President Santi Kiranand said that nine-month aggregate earnings were compiled from 577 listed firms (as of September 30, 2017), or 93.82 percent of the total 615 companies (including property funds, real estate investment trusts and infrastructure funds and excluding non-compliance and non-performing groups), There were 434 companies making net profits, representing 75.22 percent of the total listed companies already disclosed their financial statements.
The overall sales of listed companies from Jan-Sept were up 10.00 percent to THB 7.98 trillion, boosting gross profits by 5.25 percent to THB 1.90 trillion and net profit up 3.74 percent to THB 707.78 billion compared to Jan-Nov a year earlier. The sales rise of most listed firms, especially in Energy & Utilities, Petrochemicals & Chemicals sectors, was due to higher oil price. However, the gross profit margin decreased slightly to 23.81 percent from 24.89 percent in the same period last year.
In Q3/2017, listed firms’ combined sales increased 8.66 percent y-o-y to THB 2.01 trillion, with gross profits rise by 11.82 percent to THB 656.62 billion, while gross profit margin increased to 24.61 percent from 23.91 percent in Q3/2016. However, their combined net profit increased slightly at 0.03 percent to THB 207.70 billion as a result of by extraordinary items from large-cap companies in Energy & Utilities, Construction Materials, Media & Publishing sectors; as well as required reserves set aside to minimize non-performing loans by Banking sector.
When compared to Q2/2017, in Q3/2017 listed firms’ combined sales increased 1.24 percent and the gross profit increased 12.12 percent, while the net profit dropped 3.76 percent due to extraordinary items of such large–cap companies.
"During the first nine months of this year, the gradual recovery of the Thailand economy affected the overall sales of listed firms in second and third quarters of 2017, as well as their profitabilities. The manufacturing and service sectors faced higher operating and sales costs, while the three sectors that reported growth in total sales and net profits in the January-September period, are Petrochemicals & Chemicals, Commerce, and Property Development,” added Santi.
The Thai listed companies' financial status at end-Q3/2017 remained strong with debt to equity ratio (excluding Financials industry) decreased to 1.19 times, down slightly from 1.25 percent at end-2016.
Companies listed on Market for Alternative Investment (mai) reported net profit in Jan-Sept period at THB 2.93 billion, 34.37 percent decrease y-o-y. Their net profits in Q3/2017 decreased 56.81 percent to THB 593 million y-o-y,or down 22.08 percent compared to Q2/2017.
