A New Found BEC with the Coming of “Ariya Banomyong”

Investors seemed to be in high morale as soon as BEC World Public Company Limited (BEC) appointed Mr. Ariya Banomyong as the President and Mr. Prachum Maleenont as the Chairman of the Executive Committee, both to be effective from May 2, 2019 onward.

The positive sentiment from the announcement of the new president and chairman buoyed BEC’s share price by as much as 13% on March 5, 2019, to reach ฿7.30/share before edging lower to close at ฿6.85/share. However, the price dipped slightly on March 6 by ฿0.25/share or 3.65%.

 

Mr. Ariya has an outstanding profile and been praised as “Father of Digital World”

He worked with True Corporation Public Company Limited (TRUE) for more than 10 years, then with Google (Thailand Office) as an executive, and a director of LINE Thailand.

The process of appointing Mr. Ariya as Channel 3’s president is considered a game changer, especially to BEC’s digital business.

 

It is sad but true that BEC had been in a slump for the past few years while its revenue saw a constant decline. BEC’s net profit slipped from ฿2,982 million in 2015 to ฿1,218 million in 2016. The company recorded a net profit of only ฿61 million in 2017.

The major factors for a decline in profit were due to high competition in digital TV and a low view rate as subscribers turned to social media instead. BEC had tried to reorganize the company’s fundamental structure along with professional executives, but were unable to stop the loss.

The company faced a ฿330 million of net loss in 2018 mainly due to a decline of 10.2% of advertising income, recorded at ฿8,878.8 million from ฿9,890.2 million in 2017, while income from organizing concerts and shows recorded a decline of 18.9% at ฿368.5 million from ฿454.2 million in 2017.

This is the first time in the history that Channel 3 recorded a net loss.

 

Thus, the coming of Mr. Ariya as a general of Channel 3 is highly anticipated by investors, hoping that he will be the savior to save the company. Also, this posts a good sign as the Maleenont Group is willing to take a step back and allow a professional executive to handle the situation.