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@Smartkama - Kalbe Spin-Off, SingTel's Deep Value, and Thailand's Gamers

Thai Strategy 2021 (Part 2): Top 10 Stock Picks

Thai Strategy 2021 (Part 3): Sector Outlooks

ADVANC:  2Q20 Will Be the Lowest Quarter

COM7: Temporary Store Closures Could Hit Earnings by 14% in Worst Case

AsiaSoft's First Profit & Ride With the Devils

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

<p>AIS recently invested in the online gaming industry. We took the opportunity to visit the country's largest mobile operator and second largest online gaming company. This is a what we found:</p><ul>
<li>AIS reported 3.3% earnings QoQ increase despite a 2.4% decline in revenues when its stores were closed as a result of the pandemic due to a combination of: 1) marketing &amp; administrative cost reduction and 2) increase in contribution from broadband subscribers.</li>
<li>While the largest operator still expects a 1-5% decline in revenues and EBITDA, they are not exactly standing still, diversifying into games, cloud, insurance, and online marketing, while trying to make the most of the spectrum they recently won.</li>
<li>AsiaSoft reported a 6-fold increase in profits on the back of Bt450m revenues (more than double of last year), 60% of which came from <strong>outside Thailand</strong>! We were literally shocked with the results  (+197% revenue growth in Singapore for eg.) and will go all-in on this stock now.</li>
<li>We are not too alarmed by COM7's 8% QoQ and 5% YoY earnings decline given the store closure. Rather, it shows resilience and resourcefulness that they shifted some sales to online channels and sold at cost or even loss to garner cash flows needed for survival. Generating Bt271m of profits at all in Q2'20 was a feat in itself and is likely due to its contract with True Shop for management.</li>
</ul>

AIS recently invested in the online gaming industry. We took the opportunity to visit the country's largest mobile operator and second largest online gaming company. This is a what we found:
AIS reported 3.3% earnings QoQ increase despite a 2.4% decline in revenues when its stores were closed as a result of the pandemic due to a combination of: 1) marketing &amp; administrative cost reduction and 2) increase in contribution from broadband subscribers.
While the largest operator still expects a 1-5% decline in revenues and EBITDA, they are not exactly standing still, diversifying into games, cloud, insurance, and online marketing, while trying to make the most of the spectrum they recently won.
AsiaSoft reported a 6-fold increase in profits on the back of Bt450m revenues (more than double of last year), 60% of which came from outside Thailand! We were literally shocked with the results  (+197% revenue growth in Singapore for eg.) and will go all-in on this stock now.
We are not too alarmed by COM7's 8% QoQ and 5% YoY earnings decline given the store closure. Rather, it shows resilience and resourcefulness that they shifted some sales to online channels and sold at cost or even loss to garner cash flows needed for survival. Generating Bt271m of profits at all in Q2'20 was a feat in itself and is likely due to its contract with True Shop for management.


Telecom Review (Sept 2020): AIS and AsiaSoft Get Aggressive on Gaming

Advanced Info Service

Telecom Review (Sept 2020): AIS and AsiaSoft Get Aggressive on Gaming