With revenue from its beverage business drying up, the Oishi Group's third-quarter net profit plunged 55.6 per cent year on year to Bt64.7 million.

Sales revenues in the quarter fell 12.6 per cent from Bt1.08 billion in the year-ago period to Bt941.5 million, it said in a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.

About half of its revenues, or Bt460.6 million, was generated by its food business, while the rest came from sales of beverages.

Although food revenues rose 13 per cent year on year, this was not enough to offset the 28.2-per-cent fall in beverage revenues.

The company called the year-on-year decline the result of unusually robust sales in the year-ago period.

Beverage sales had benefited from a highly successful promotional campaign in the year-ago period.

Still, quarterly net profit

from the food and beverage

businesses fell 21.7 and 53.3 per cent year on year to Bt11.4 million and Bt53.3 million, respectively.

Net profit for the first nine months of this year fell 73.6 per cent year on year, from Bt577.82 million in the year-ago period to Bt152.6 million.

Total revenues slid 20.5 per cent year on year to Bt2.97 billion in the first nine months.

Sales from its food business rose 14.5 per cent year on year to Bt1.34 billion, while sales from beverages fell 36.4 per cent year on year to Bt1.63 billion.

Cost of sales from January to September was Bt2.33 billion, or 67 per cent of revenues.

Meanwhile, Sicco Securities recommends investors sell Oishi stock, because its sales outlook is bleak and costs are rising.

The ready-to-drink green-tea segment, which is the company's main source of revenues, is saturated, while energy and sugar prices are rising, the brokerage noted.

It also more than halved Oishi's full-year net-profit forecast, from Bt468 million to Bt224 million.

From this quarter, Oishi has lowered its capacity-utilisation rate from 70 per cent to 50 per cent.