Thai TPI Polene Q4 earnings below forecasts
TPI Polene (TPIPL), Thailand’s third largest cement firm, said on Tuesday its fourth quarter net profit fell almost half, far below analyst forecasts.
TPIPL’s October-December net profit fell to THB294m (US$8.90m) from THB572m a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
The quarterly profit was below the THB449m net profit of the third quarter and a fourth quarter forecast of THB600m by four analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.
The firm gave no details of the fourth quarter fall, but analysts said higher energy costs, rising selling and administrative expenses and increasing interest expenses ate into its profit.
Full-year net profit was THB2.39bn, short of a mean analyst forecast of THB2.69bn, and included a THB400m foreign exchange gain compared with a THB1.79bn gain a year earlier, the company said.
Full year sales rose 10.2 per cent to THB24.94bn and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 0.14 percent to THB3.54bn, it said.
Its 2008 net profit was expected to rise to THB2.49bn, the Reuters poll showed.
Cement and ready mixed concrete account for about two-thirds of company sales. TPIPL has a cement plant and a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic resin plant, which contributes the rest of its sales. Published under Cement News
