Kaohoon’s Top News on September 20, 2021

– According to market speculation, Thai Union Group (TU) is in the process of acquiring 200,000,000 shares, or 10% of the shares in R&B Food Supply (RBF), from the Ratanapoompinyo group at a deal price of 16.00 baht per share, for a total of 3,200 million baht, in order to create opportunities in the global market. Analysts believe TU will immediately get a return of 800 million baht from the latest trading price at an average of 20 baht, while Rattanaphumpinyo Group would make a profit of 3,000 million baht from this transaction if it costs par 1 baht.

– PTT announces an interim dividend payment for the first six-month performance of year 2021 at the rate of 1.20 baht per share, totaling approximately 34,276 million baht, or 60% of the consolidated net income. The Ex-dividend date will be on 29 September 2021. The Ministry of Finance will receive a 1.75 billion baht dividend. PTT is expected to pay another 0.80 baht dividend in the second half of the year as the business gradually recovers. Meanwhile, PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) will aggressively pursue the clean energy market, with a goal of contributing 20% of new business revenue to the company by 2030.

– TEAM Consulting Engineering and Management (TEAMG) signs a 415.61 million baht project management consultant (PMC) contract for the first phase of the development of U-Tapao Airport and Eastern Aviation City, bringing the company’s backlog to 3,700 million baht. Additionally, TEAMG seeks to acquire additional projects in 4Q21, totaling 200 million baht.

– Morningstar Thailand reveals that the value of RMF Equity reached 175 billion baht in the first eight months of 2021, a 19.1% increase, while Kasikorn Asset Management’s RMF, which invests primarily in mid-to-small-cap stocks (i.e. COM7, JWD, BEC, AMATA and GLOBAL), has a one-year return of 42.06%.

– Moody’s is optimistic about Thai financial banks’ solid capital, citing their high provision for bad debt of more than 152.2%. Analysts favor KBANK due to loan growth of 6%, which is higher than expected, and a P/BV of as low as 0.64x. Fitch Ratings upgrades TTB‘s credit rating to “BBB” from “BBB-” following the completion of the consolidation transaction.