Thai SET-listed companies’ H1 net profit falls 58.7% y-o-y

Monday 24 August 2020 08:38
- H1 combined net profit down 58.7 pct y-o-y to just shy of THB 188 billion
Thai SET-listed companies H1 net profit falls 58.7% y-o-y

- Total sales down 13.3 pct to 5.03 trillion

- Agro & Food Industry’s and Technology’s core operating profit increased.

Companies listed on The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) posted an aggregate net profit of THB 187.9 billion (approx. USD 6.09 billion) in the six months through June of 2020, down 58.7 percent from the previous year, grappled by COVID-19 outbreak and the oil price war in the first quarter.

SET Senior Executive Vice President Manpong Senanarong said that 691 SET and mai--listed firms, making up 95.4 percent of the total 724 companies (excluding property funds, infrastructure funds, non-compliance or NC, and non-performing groups or NPG), submitted their first-half and second quarter financial reports, ended June 30, 2020. Among those securities, 456 securities, accounting for 66 percent recorded net profits.

Based on year-on-year basis, SET-listed securities' total sales recorded at THB 5.03 trillion, or a 13.3 percent drop, with core operating profits of THB 273.27 billion, or a 43.8 percent decrease, and net profits of THB 187.9 billion, down 58.7 percent, during January-June. The revenue decline contributed to the lower profitability than it was in the preceding year, with gross profit margin softening to 20.5 percent from 21.3 percent, while the core profit margin lowering to 5.4 percent from 8.4 percent and net profit margin to 3.7 percent from 7.8 percent.

Stripping out Energy & Utilities and Petrochemicals & Chemicals sectors, listed companies’ total sales declined 5.6 percent, operating profit decreased 13.3 percent and net profit dropped 41.2 percent from the same period a year earlier. In terms of profitability ratio, gross profit margin rose to 28.5 percent from 27.8 percent, core operating margin fell to 7.6 percent from 8.3 percent and net profit margin was down to 6 percent from 9.7 percent. The marginal decline in core operating profit relative to total sales reduction during the COVID-19 pandemic indicated listed companies’ remarkable adaptability, particularly in efficient cost control.

In Q2, listed securities' combined sales amounted to THB 2.26 trillion, or a 22.3 percent drop from a year earlier, and core operating profit of THB 143.9 billion, a 33.1 percent decrease, with cumulative net profit of THB 107.26 billion, or a 47.3 percent decline year-on-year.

"The COVID-19 pandemic in the second quarter of 2020 took a bite out of sales and net profit of Thai securities across almost all industry groups. However, the changing consumer behavior during this new normal stemmed from social distancing practice has propelled listed companies to adjust the way they do business by prioritizing digital channels to speed up product and service distribution. In addition, the work from home practice has boosted demand in communication equipment and technology. Agro & Food Industry and Technology industry groups therefore performed better in terms of core operating profit," added Manpong.

According to Thai listed companies’ financial positions at end-Q2, 2020, they continued to pile up debts with the debt-to-equity ratio (excluding those in Financials industry group) rising to 1.57 times from 1.35 times over the same period last year.

Market for Alternative Investment (mai)-listed companies posted total sales in the first half of 2020 at THB 82.54 billion, a decline of 7.9 percent; core operating profit at THB 3.07 billion, an 8.4 percent decrease; and net profit at THB 1.09 billion, a 73 percent drop compared to the previous year.