ANAN

Ananda scales back condo advertising – The SET-listed Ananda Development Plc (ANAN) has capped spending on marketing and advertising at 2.5% of sales, down from 4% last year, as the political turmoil looks set to dampen condo-buying sentiment throughout 2014. (Bangkok Post, 11/04/14)

Comment: The pullback in advertising has been throughout all of Bangkok, hardly any fairs nor sales points in any of the malls.

AOT

Good Songkran travel — AOT expects an 8% rise in passengers and 15% in flights at its six airports during Songkran holiday. It is planning at phase 4 for Don Muang airport at a cost of Bt20bn, a third passenger building connected with the Red and Green lines. (Khao Hoon, 11/4/14)

Comment: Once management improves – there’s no reason why this Airport won’t be number one in the region in terms of volume and quality – same goes for Thai Airways.

SAMART

SAMART says 1Q14 was good supported by higher sales from SIM. It expects higher growth in 2Q14 and 3Q14 with the TV digital business helping support sales. Its subsidiary, One to One Contracts Plc (OTO) will also IPO with 80mn shares at Bt5.40/share. It will start trading on mai on May 15. (Khao Hoon, 11/04/14)

Comments: Brokers (and we) are loving this at the moment.

GUNKUL

GUNKUL says 2014 revenue growth of 50%. GUNKUL’s unit holders voted for a share dividend of 3:1 (existing:new) and cash dividend of Bt0.038/share; payment will be on May 9. (Khao Hoon, 11/04/14)

Comment: A co visit company up with GUNKUL – quite curious as to when this company will finally stabilise its earnings.

IVL

IVL gains a majority stake in Turkey’s Sasa – Indorama Ventures Plc (IVL), the SET listed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyester producer, has acquired a majority stake in a Turkish counterpart. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Indorama Netherlands BV (IBV), IVL has obtained 51% of Sasa Polyester Sanayi AS, a polyester and PET producer in Turkey, from Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS. (Bangkok Post, 11/04/14)

Comment: IVL – still on the quest for world domination

PTT

PTT awaits Myanmar policy — The energy giant PTT Plc has been reluctant to invest in the retail oil business in Myanmar as part of its aggressive expansion plan in Southeast Asia, citing unclear regulations in the previously military-ruled country. Senior executive vice-president Auttapol Rerkpiboon said investments in Myanmar remained risky and PTT has been awaiting a clear investment policy to be announced by the Myanmar Investment Commission. Once Myanmar opens this sector, PTT plans to allocate about Bt1.3bn to open 50 petrol stations there. It now has only one station in Nay Pyi Taw and an oil depot in Yangon. (Bangkok Post, 11/04/14)

PTT confident 2014 earnings will hit Bt100bn. It plans to sell more oil through five different service centers abroad and expects earnings in that area to grow by 10-15% over the next five years, up from Bt60bn last’s year. It will also invest Bt3bn to expand the number of service stations in ASEAN over the next five years in Laos, Cambodia and Philippines. (Tun Hoon, 11/04/14)

RML

RML expects new high net profit of Bt264mn in 1Q14, +86YoY, supported by booking revenue from 185 Ratchadamri condo. It also expects revenue of Bt1.7bn. (Khao Hoon, 11/4/14)

Comment: The issue for raimon is that post transfers of the river and 185 (their 2 largest projects) earnings may decline tremendously, unless they mange the transfer process and thus their earnings. But the upside is then that there will be a massive amount of cash on the balance sheet

SCCC

SCCC delivers cautious view — Siam City Cement Plc (SCCC), Thailand’s second-biggest cement maker, expects marginal or even flat revenue growth this year, blaming the prolonged political turmoil for slower cement consumption. SCCC has thus tried to cut expenses and improve efficiency while increasing exports to offset declines in the domestic market, Mr Vorathep said. (Bangkok Post, 11/04/14)

SVI

SVI 1Q14 net profit expected at Bt150mn, +588% YoY, with no FX losses. It expects 2014 revenue of US$320mn supported by capacity expansion. (Thun Hoon, 11/4/14)

Comment: The story here is simple, they have the capacity and are just filling it up.

THAI

Thai AirAsia, Nok Air clip THAI’s wings — Thai Airways International (THAI) and sister budget airline Thai Smile are facing strong competition in Thailand’s fast-growing domestic air travel market as no-frills carriers flex their muscles in pursuit of the market leader. The group saw its market share drop to 29.3% last year, down from 33.7% in 2012 and 35.6% in 2011. Major no-frills operators Thai AirAsia (TAA) and Nok Air saw their respective market shares last year grow to 27.8% and 27.2%, putting them only slightly behind the flag carrier. (Bangkok Post, 11/04/14)

Comment: Bye bye Thai airways, recap coming soon?

TSF

TSF asked to explain loan — The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has required Three Sixty Five Plc (TSF), a public relations company, to provide additional information about its short-term loan of 50 million baht to Asia Aviation Plc (AAV) chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld by next Wednesday. “Since the core business of TSF is not to provide financial services to an individual person and the loan amount at 50 million baht is a large amount, the SET requires TSF to clarify additional information and disclose to the SET and investors,” a SET statement said yesterday. (Bangkok Post, 11/04/14)

Comment: Well then, at least the SEC is doing its job!