- H1 sales rose y-o-y 13.4 pct, but higher costs dragged total earnings down 14.9 pct
- The profit decrease capped in big-sized firms in resources, industrials
- Return on equity (ROE) at 7.31 pct, down from 9.15 pct a year ago
- Debt to equity ratios (D/E) up at 1.32 times vs. 1.27 times a year ago
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) reveals that rising production costs and inventory losses of resources and industrials groups in the first half of 2012 weighed down overall net profits of Thai listed companies. However, there were about half of the companies posting higher earnings, which were financials, services, agro & food industries and companies listed in Market for Alternative Investment (mai).
In the first six months of this year, the companies' overall ROE fell to 7.31 percent, compared with 9.15 percent a year earlier, after posting aggregate net earnings of THB 346.60 billion (approx. USD 10.83 billion); however, their sales and services revenues rose 13.43 percent, the SET Note Quarterly Corporate Update shows.
The decrease of net profit was limited to large-sized companies in some industries, while 282 companies, or 51.93 percent of the total firms, reported higher net profit in January-June.
All indicators used to gauge listed firms' financial health dropped from the same period of last year, hit by higher operating costs. In addition, most companies expanded business more in the first half, resulting in an increase in the average debt to equity ratio, which was up to 1.32 times from 1.27 times in the same period of last year -- however, this ratio was still stable compared with the levels during the economic crises in 1997-1998, and again in 2008-2009.
Capital expenditures were at THB 214.71 billion, rising from a year earlier in terms of investment value and company amounts. Most industries showed higher investment, excepting the property and construction industry and rehabilitation group. Companies which invested at high levels were industrials, technology, and mai-listed companies.
In the first six months, companies raised THB 60.83 billion (USD 1.9 billion) through equities, down 11.7 percent from a year earlier.
By quarter, listed companies posted a drop in second-quarter net profit to THB 131.31 billion, down from a year earlier and from the first quarter, hit by losses of inventory and foreign exchange in the resources and industrials groups.
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