STOCK EXCHANGE
Listed firms raise less cash
Fund-raising by firms listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand fell to Bt17.4 billion in the first quarter, a drop by 15 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to the bourse's "SET Note".
However, overall capital investment by listed firms was 30 per cent higher than in the same period last year. Sethaput Suthiwartnarue-put, senior vice president of the SET, said Bt2.7 billion was through initial public offerings, while the remaining Bt14.7 billion was raised via private placements and rights offerings. None of the listed companies generated funds through public offerings during the quarter. "The property sector topped the table in the first quarter this year in terms of money raised. It raised Bt8.6 billion or a 14-per-cent year-on-year increase, while the financial sector raised around Bt4.9 billion or a 311-per-cent year-on-year increase. The resources sector raised the least money, at just Bt10 million," said Sethaput. According to the SET's research, listed companies received more than Bt135 billion in cash in the first quarter, and Bt87 billion was invested - Bt81 billion in fixed assets. "The listed companies issued debt securities of Bt24 billion, while Bt9 billion was borrowed from banks. The property and construction sectors issued debentures and long-term debt instruments worth more than Bt23 billion," said Sethaput. Although the resources sector raised the least amount of money, it saw the largest amount of capital investment, with more than Bt36 billion - 46 per cent of the overall investment by listed companies - in the first three months of the year. Only the service sector witnessed a decline in investment. However, tourism, which is a sub-sector of the service sector, showed a significant increase. "Investment in the tourism sector more than doubled. Special service and transportation and logistics sectors reported the worst drop - 51 and 63 per cent, respectively," Sethaput said. Sethaput said the amount of money raised and capital invested showed that listed companies were being more careful about investment. The overall debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio by listed companies remained relatively low at about 1.2 times, and their interest-coverage ratio was about 9.1 times. The low D/E ratio indicates that listed companies prefer to spend their own profits rather than borrowing for investment. However, the quarterly net profit margin decreased to 8.7 per cent from 10.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2005. This resulted in a decline in return on equity from 22.6 per cent to 19.4 per cent. Siriporn Chanjindamanee The Nation
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