Petrochemical company IRPC will propose at its annual shareholders' meeting that a dividend of Bt0.12 per share be paid for last year, the first payment since the company - then named Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI) - plunged into financial crisis in 1998.

"Although our profits dropped last year, we decided to pay a dividend on May 10 to encourage our shareholders. We plan to pay Bt0.12 per share, accounting for 36.4 per cent of our net profit," said CEO Piti Yimprasert.

IRPC yesterday reported a net profit of Bt6.823 million for last year, down 88.98 per cent from 2005. Revenue was posted at Bt205.36 billion, up 9.47 per cent from the year before.

TPI had set out to be Southeast Asia's largest petrochemical company. However, the 1997 economic crisis doubled its debt burden, mostly denominated in US dollars. With the company since then subject to a painful debt-restructuring process, it has never paid a further dividend.

Last year, TPI was taken over by a group of investors led by PTT, and was renamed IRPC. The new investors have so far succeeded at minimising the influence of founder Prachai Leophairatana.

Chief financial officer Banlue Chantadisai said revenue had increased because of a hike in product prices, but profit had declined considerably due to the shutting down of plants for 30 to 45 days in the fourth quarter and the loss of oil stock.

Piti said the company had targeted maintaining this year's revenue at Bt200 billion. However, this also depends on crude oil prices in the global market, he added.

The company's integrated margin was about US$10 (Bt357) per barrel last year. However, Piti declined to forecast the margin this year due to rapid changes in oil prices.

IRPC has confirmed it will continue its five-year plan with an investment of $1.3 billion. Piti said money would be spent on improving its operations and purchasing permanent assets for the production process.

The company also plans to decrease its crude stock from 2.7 million barrels to 2 million in order to generate additional revenue from leasing more oil tanks this year, he said.

Of the $1.3-billion investment, it plans to spend $1.076 billion on new technologies for producing speciality products, including upgrading its refining plants to support Euro IV standards in the future.

"However, we won't take serious action in improving our refining facilities until the Energy Ministry declares the enforcement of Euro IV standards in the Kingdom," he added.

Meanwhile, another $200 million will be used to set up a 200-megawatt power plant.

The remaining $24 million will go towards expanding its production capacity of high-density polyethylene from 16,000 tonnes per year to 56,000 tonnes, and boosting the production capacity of computer colour-matching plastic from 96,000 tonnes per year to 117,000 tonnes.

Chalida

Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation