CPF

CPF slashes 5-year investment plan — CPF plans to slash its five-year investment budget by a third to US$1.6bn and pare back revenue targets, as its foreign farms are performing below expectations. It will also cut its revenue growth target to an average of 10% over the next five years from its earlier goal of up to 15%. (Bangkok Post, 27/06/13)

Comment: We’ve been sitting and waiting and waiting for this company to begin performing for the past 2 years, and I think we still may have to wait longer until the stock becomes attractive

KBANK: Loan approval rate falls as debt deepens. Deteriorating debt-repayment ability stemming from the rising household debt, especially among earners of less than Bt15,000 a month, has slightly lowered Kasikornbank’s mortgage loan approval rate. The bank’s housing loan approval rate has declined to around 50%. The impact on the bank’s loan approval rate is however limited as 80% of its customers earn more than Bt30,000 a month. (Source: Bangkok Post)

Comment: We are deeply worried about the amount of debt accumulated by low/mid income earners on the back of the first car and property scheme that the government had launched last year. Despite the minimum wage increase we don’t think that there will be much further growth on the consumer end and this will eventually negatively impact all these retailers that are trading at 20-30x PE

INTUCH

INTUCH wires into broadband — InTouch, formerly known as Shin Corporation, outlined a five-year strategic plan to diversify into wired broadband business to strengthen its position as an integrated telecom service provider. It plans to balance the proportion invested between wired and wireless 3G broadband business. It is considering two investment options – renting a network from a telecom service provider or building its own infrastructure. It will run the service through ADVANC. (Bangkok Post, 27/06/13)

Comment: Bye bye TRUE!