Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) president Chanitr Charnchainarong said yesterday it would wait for second-quarter corporate results before revising its expectations.

If results turn positive, the MAI may stick with its original listing forecast, he said.

"Although the overall situation is improving, we may need to adjust our forecast. We need to take another month before making that decision. From early this year, only two companies have listed," Chanitr said.

He said there were at least 100 companies among the country's 10,000-odd small and medium-sized enterprises with the potential to list on the smaller board.

But they needed to be convinced of the benefits of listing. Others disliked the stricter disclosure rules governing public companies.

Yesterday Dragon One debuted on the MAI. It had been listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand until the backdoor listing of Diana Department Store. The stock closed at Bt1.13, a rise of 0.89 per cent.  

Dragon sold most of its assets to Diana and thereafter no longer itself qualified for main-board listing.

Dragon is a holding company with 95.3-per-cent ownership of core company Application Hosting Service and three related companies.

Application Hosting is a distributor of Oracle software with more than 100 direct-sales outlets and agents. The related companies are Chaiyo Productions and Onenet, both involved in technology and software, and BritBike, Thailand's sole agent for Triumph motorcycles.

Chief executive and 21.4-per-cent stakeholder Jrarat Pingclasai said it would conclude between Bt200 million and Bt300 million in new investment in three additional technology-sector companies next month.

The money comes from the balance of proceeds of its recent recapitalisation.

Dragon said the three technology companies would list themselves after the general election.

"Whether we will be able to bring these three companies to market depends on conditions. We think the timing will be better after the general election. We are not in a hurry to spend money as we already have adequate cash," Jrarat said.

The tentative date for the next election is November 25.

Jrarat said his company would be less active in stock trading because "sentiment is not supportive". But the company will invest more in its subsidiaries. Currently, the company's stock portfolio represents 10 per cent of its paid-up capital of Bt351 million.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation