BBL: Expects good 2Q13 earnings. BBL is forecasted to report good earnings of over Bt10b in 2Q13 (up 15-18% yoy). Key drivers will be a pick-up in loan growth, stable NIM, strong fee momentum (backed by wealth management and bancassuarnce) and stable credit costs. (Source: BBL)

Comment: Every bank will have a good 1H13 but 2H13 will have slower growth

BEC: World aiming for 1-2 variety licences. If BEC World wins commercial terrestrial digital TV licences in the upcoming auction, it could broaden its mass audience and broadcast programmes that vary from its analogue Channel 3. BEC World plans to establish a separate company for the bidding to avoid legal conflicts under the concession from MCOT to its subsidiary Bangkok Entertainment Co for Channel 3. It plans to continue operating Channel 3 until its concession expires in Mar 20. BEC World is aiming for one high definition (HD) variety licence and one standard definition (SD) variety licence, but if the bidding competition is too fierce, it might go for only one of them. News takes up half of Channel 3’s airtime. BEC World wants to expand its viewership from its stronghold in major cities. The NBTC requires digital TV network providers, which will serve terrestrial digital broadcasters, to extend their network to 50% of the population in the first year, 80% in the second year, 90% in the third and 95% in the fourth year. This will enable the digital TV stations to give service with equal network coverage. (Source: The Nation)

Comment: BEC need this in order to maintain its ad rates and market share

CKP: CK Power (CKP), a subsidiary of Ch.Karnchang Plc, is proceeding with its plan to go public by launching an initial public offering (IPO) next week after the stock market has stabilised. (Source: The Bangkok Post)

Comment: CKP isn’t interesting to us at all, too expensive for what’s on offer, however CK will naturally benefit from recognising profit from the sales

MSC Looks for 7% revenue growth this year — MSC aims for profits this year to be no less than last year’s of Bt220mn. Despite the high competition, the company wants to maintain gross margin of at least 14-15% and expects revenue growth of 7% this year, up from last year’s Bt6.4bn. (Tun Hoon, 08/07/13)

Comment: One of the most volatile stocks we’ve seen in Thailand, thus we’ve always stayed away, not sure whats going on with the business.

SSI Some capital increase shares unsold — SSI only sold 9.851bn shares from its capital increase. Management announced that it aims to close its deal to sell shares to Vanomet by the end of October. SSI shares are trading at Bt0.40, lower than the capital increase price of Bt0.68. (Khao Hoon, 08/07/13)

Comment: I’ve liked the idea of SSI but the business constantly needs capital, there’s massive oversupply in the steel industry globally, and SSI is still running losses

TRC TRC gets pipeline job from PTT — TRC won the gas pipeline work from PTT worth Bt1.07bn, pushing its current projects to Bt2.6-2.7bn. The company expects to win work no less than Bt5bn by the year of the end and expects to close the ethanol investment deal in Cambodia within this month. (Khao Hoon, 08/07/13)

Comment: TRC has always been tight with PTT thus no surprises here

VIH Better 2Q13 than 1Q13 — VIH says financials in 2Q13 improved from last quarter, supported by a better business performance. It expects revenue and profits this year to grow by no less than 10% and plans to invest more at the beginning of next year to prepare for the opening of AEC. (Khao Hoon, 08/07/13)