Asean-focused. Ex-Head of Thai Research

Athaporn Arayasantiparb, CFA

Athaporn served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 22 years, of which 19 were in research and 9 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006.

Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also performs financial advisory services for TKC Services and provides 11 other on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely:

1) Snippets (news-driven);
2) Sathorn Series (financial services);
3) Silicon Stories (technology); 
4) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin series);
5) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative);
6) Thai Media Spotlight;
7) Political Pit Stop; 
8) Telecom Review; 
9) Thai Macro Watch (read-through from foreign events);  
10) Small Cap Diary; and
11) Property Grid

There are also 3 limited-time series driven by specific events or locations, namely:
1) Thai Corona Crisis;
2) South Series; and
3) Mechanics and Details (deal forensics).

The Week that Was in ASEAN@Smartkarma - Indonesian Dairy, Bank Central Asia, and Thai Picks

IPO Radar: PTTOR (Part I), A Gas Station Operator Behind Amazon Coffee

IPO Radar: S Hotels & Resorts, Singha's Hospitality Arm

PTG: Healthy Outlook to Continue in 3Q20E

PTG: The No. 3 Player with a Growing Market Share

Asean (Thailand) Focused Independent Research

M Corp Review

M Corp is led by Athaporn Arayasantiparb who served as Head of Research for UOB and ANZ in Thailand and was an award-winning telecoms analyst at UBS in 2010 (AsiaMoney Thailand category) and Regional Strategist for DMG in Singapore. Prior to that, he also served as Kasikornbank credit analyst and scholar. He has a total work experience of 17 years, of which 14 were in research and 4 in research management roles. He started his career as an engineer for PTT and currently manages family investments. He holds an MBA from Stern (NYU) and CFA Charter since 2006. Apart from IPO Radar, which focuses on future listings, MCorp Review also provides six on-going thematic series ranked by frequency in descending order, namely: 1) Silicon Stories (technology) 2) Sathorn Series (financial services) 3) Thai-Coons (billionaire origin stories) 4) Reality Check (data-driven, investigative) 5) Thai Media Spotlight; and 6) Thai Macro Watch (global market drivers).

Equity Bottom-Up

S Hotels & Resorts PCL / Equity Bottom-Up

We have visited many of two interesting companies recently, namely Singha Hotels (SHR) and PTG Energy, the country's second largest gas station operator.<ul>
<li>
Singha Hotels' losses in H1'20 widened over six-fold YoY to Bt946m as revenues dropped 34% to just Bt1.5bn, and the company expects earnings to be flat in H2'20. The company could not cut costs as aggressively as Minor did, bleeding Bt120/month on fixed cash costs alone.</li>
<li>Management clarified that most of their investments would be organic (refurbishment and improvements) rather than M&amp;A due to the tougher operating conditions. In the long-run, UK based hotels would fall from 74% to 21% of portfolio, and homegrown, own-managed hotels would rise to 48% of the portfolio.</li>
<li>
PTG Energy reported H1'20 earnings of Bt717m, down 24% YoY, on the back of a 15% revenue decline to Bt51.4bn during the same period. The company put up a brave face talking about its strong MKM (marketing margin) even as volumes plunged more than 30% for key categories.</li>
<li>We are rather bearish on the company, which appears to focus more on market share than profitability during this precarious period. They are investing some Bt3.5bn in capex and hoping to move up the rankings against key rivals.</li>
</ul>

We have visited many of two interesting companies recently, namely Singha Hotels (SHR) and PTG Energy, the country's second largest gas station operator.

Singha Hotels' losses in H1'20 widened over six-fold YoY to Bt946m as revenues dropped 34% to just Bt1.5bn, and the company expects earnings to be flat in H2'20. The company could not cut costs as aggressively as Minor did, bleeding Bt120/month on fixed cash costs alone.
Management clarified that most of their investments would be organic (refurbishment and improvements) rather than M&amp;A due to the tougher operating conditions. In the long-run, UK based hotels would fall from 74% to 21% of portfolio, and homegrown, own-managed hotels would rise to 48% of the portfolio.

PTG Energy reported H1'20 earnings of Bt717m, down 24% YoY, on the back of a 15% revenue decline to Bt51.4bn during the same period. The company put up a brave face talking about its strong MKM (marketing margin) even as volumes plunged more than 30% for key categories.
We are rather bearish on the company, which appears to focus more on market share than profitability during this precarious period. They are investing some Bt3.5bn in capex and hoping to move up the rankings against key rivals.


Small Cap Diary: Singha Hotels, PTG Energy