Briefs

Tevin Vongvanich, chief financial officer of PTT Plc, said yesterday that the severe flooding might reduce demand for oil and petrochemical products, which will also affect PTT’s revenues.
The impact would be obvious on the company’s operations this quarter, but is expected to be minimal in the third quarter, he said. However, oil demand is not very sensitive to the economic slowdown caused by the disastrous flood, he added.
PTT will still go ahead with its plan to raise Bt20 billion by issuing debentures in early December. The bonds have been rated “AAA(tha)” by Fitch Ratings. – The Nation

Nod to merge of futures trading 
Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong has agreed in principle to the planned integration of agricultural and financial futures trading, Sompol Kiatphaibool, chairman of the Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX), said yesterday.
There are two options – move all products in the Agricultural Futures Exchange of Thailand (AFET) to TFEX, which would require regulatory changes, or dissolve AFET and its regulatory body, which would affect over 100 staff.

Space on offer to Thai automakers 
Malaysia-based Proton Holdings has offered the storage facility at its Tanjung Malim plant to automakers in Thailand affected by the flooding there.
"We are open for negotiations anytime," its group managing director, Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, told the Bernama news agency yesterday.
On Proton's operations in Thailand, he said the 34 sales outlets in the country were not badly affected.
"Thailand is a very important market for us and we are monitoring the situation closely. So far, the business there in terms of sales has not been disrupted," he added.

Ad spending up
Advertising expenditure last month remained strong, with revenue up 5.77 per cent to Bt9 billion over the same month last year though ad spending via newspapers, magazines and radio faced a decline, according to Nielsen survey.
Advertising spending via newspapers last month recorded a 0.53-per-cent drop to Bt13 billion year on year from Bt14.3 billion. Radio adverts saw a 3.14-per-cent decrease to Bt539 million from Bt558 million, while magazines witnessed a 1.96-per-cent decline to Bt501 million from Bt511 million.
Among big companies that advertise on all media, Unilever (Thai) Holdings cut its ad budget for last month to Bt482 million from Bt554 million in September 2010.
However, the report said that during the first nine months, the advertising industry witnessed 10-per-cent growth year on year to Bt80.8 billion from Bt73.1 billion. TV retained its key role in the industry, as it garnered 60 per cent of total advertising spending, enjoying a 10-per-cent surge year on year to Bt48.96 billion from Bt44.45 billion.
Newspapers ranked second at 13.52 per cent of the total and 2.56-per-cent growth to Bt10.93 billion from Bt10.66 billion in the first three quarters of 2010.

SCB picked for Betagro bond issue 
Betagro Plc plans to sell a debut bond of Bt2.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Betagro hired Siam Commercial Bank to start selling Bt1.5 billion of three-year notes, Bt500 million of five-year securities and Bt500 million of seven-year debt this month, the person said. – Bloomberg

Laotian farmers need rice seeds
Farmers in many parts of Laos are in need of rice seeds after heavy flooding destroyed much of their wet season crop, but the seed crop has been damaged, too, the state-run daily Vientiane Times reported on Friday. – Deutsche Presse-Agentur
 
Mitsubishi lends a hand
Mitsubishi Electric Corp said yesterday that Mitsubishi Electric Group will donate 50 million yen (Bt20.3 billion) to aid flood victims affected in Thailand and support recovery efforts. – The Nation

Fitch affirms StanChart (Thai)
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Standard Chartered Bank (Thai)’s long-term foreign-currency-issuer default rating (IDR) at “BBB+” and national long-term rating at “AAA(tha)”. The outlook is stable. A full rating breakdown is provided below.
The local bank’s international, national and support ratings are based on Standard Chartered Bank’s (“AA-“/stable) ownership and support. StanChart’s 99.9-per-cent stake is intended as a long-term strategic holding and the group exercises effective control of the Thai unit’s board and management. Given StanChart’s reputation and resources, Fitch believes that there would be a high probability of shareholder support, if required. As such, a change in StanChart’s shareholding or propensity to support could have an impact on StanChart (Thai)’s ratings, as could a change in the parent’s ratings.
As StanChart (Thai)’s foreign-currency IDR is capped by the country ceiling, a change in Thailand’s country ceiling could also affect the foreign-currency IDR. Meanwhile, the current viability rating remains somewhat constrained by the bank’s high level of government exposure. A material increase in StanChart (Thai)’s risk appetite indicated by excessive loan growth or significant concentration in certain exposures and/or deterioration in its franchise strength would most likely negatively affect its viability rating. – Fitch Ratings
 
Kim Eng upgraded
Fitch Ratings (Thailand) has upgraded Kim Eng Securities (Thailand)’s national long-term rating to “AA-(tha)” from “A(tha)”. The outlook is stable.
The upgrade reflects benefits from Kim Eng integrating with its new shareholder, a subsidiary of Malayan Banking (rated “A-”/stable), as well as likely support from the strong bank shareholder.
The acquisition of Kim Eng is part of Maybank’s strategy to become a regional financial-services leader by end-2015. This July, Maybank through its wholly owned investment arm, Mayban IB Holdings, completed an all-share acquisition of Kim Eng Holdings of Singapore, which holds 55.75 per cent of Kim Eng Securities (Thailand), and directly purchased a 28-per-cent stake in the Thai unit, resulting in the group’s effective interest of 84 per cent in the company.
Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) is the largest securities company in the Kingdom, with a strong retail brokerage franchise (with a market share of 11.5 per cent in the first half of the year), which should aid Maybank, which still has no presence in Thailand. Maybank is now focusing on integrating with Kim Eng (Thailand) on cross-border and cross-product opportunities, as well as attaining an oversight of the subsidiary’s risk-management framework.
Kim Eng (Thailand)’s profitability was strong in 2010 and the first half of this year, backed by robust securities trading volume. It will remain focused on securities brokerage with limited proprietary trading, while aiming to increase investment-banking transactions on collaboration with Maybank.