Kaohoon’s Top News on August 19, 2021

– Tipco Asphalt (TASCO) is implicated for money laundering in a criminal complaint against a U.S. businessman for violating U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, according to AP News. The US media outlet reported last year that Venezuela had been relying on the publicly traded TASCO to blunt the impact of U.S. sanctions in a way that TASCO would pay PDVSA’s, the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company, obligations and deduct the amounts from what it owed the Venezuelan oil giant in exchange for deep discounts on crude shipments. Should keep close eyes on this case as it has already been brought to the Florida court.

– Mr. Rathian Srimongkol, Chief Executive Officer of Krungthai Card (KTC), is confident that the company will record new high earrings this year despite being hit by Covid-19 outbreak during the second half of the year. In 3Q21, the company plans to erase 800 million baht in non-performing loans and shift its focus to secured loans. Meanwhile, Muangthai Capital (MTC) would increase the monthly interest rate on motorcycle loans to 0.65% in an effort to boost profits.

– Minor International (MINT) sees a sign of recovery throughout the second half of 2021, backed by recoveries in Europe that began to reopen in mid-May, in large part enabled by a strong vaccination program and entered the summer high season. To ensure the sustainability of the business, MINT will cut its investment budget to 4,000-5,000 million baht.

– Kaohoon Turakij has compiled a list of the top ten real estate companies that pay an excellent interim dividend, led by NOBLE (Div. Payment 0.35 baht, Yield 5.34%), LH (Div. Payment 0.25 baht, Yield 3.10%), LALIN (Div. Payment 0.295 baht, Yield 3.02%), SPALI (Div. Payment 0.50 baht, Yield 2.38%), PSH (Div. Payment 0.31 baht, Yield 2.44%), and LPN (Div. Payment 0.10 baht, Yield 2.10%).

– The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) canceled an auction of satellite orbital slots scheduled for August 28 due to the need to revise bidding regulations to reflect the current situation and concerns about fair and free competition after only one contender participated in the contest. Following the announcement yesterday (August 18), Thaicom (THCOM)’s share price plummeted over 7%.

– IRPC has established a 30-billion-baht investment budget for the next five years, with plans to advance the UCF project and complete further mergers and acquisitions in the expectation of further expansion. Additionally, the company stated that the second half of this year’s operations will remain challenging, as the company anticipates continued high oil and petrochemical prices.