After slump in H1, ThaiBev hopes festive season will boost sales growth

Senior vice president Vichate Tantiwanich said sales in the first six months dropped by 7.3 per cent compared with the same period last year to about Bt76 billion, as reported to the Singapore Exchange. Meanwhile, profit declined by 13.5 per cent.

“We admit that the slowdown in the economy in the first half of this year as well as the problem of higher living costs has had an impact on people’s purchasing power, which declined significantly over the period,” he said.

Alcohol consumption normally declines in the third quarter of every year as a result of the Buddhist lent. On top of that, the rise in alcohol tax imposed recently by the Excise Department resulted in higher prices of liquor and beer and affected the decisions by individual consumers on purchasing such beverages. 

“We believe that our sales will sharply recover in the fourth quarter, which is a festive season, and people have been urged to spend money on many celebratory activities. However, there are many factors outside our control, such as purchasing power, emotion, and political and tourism situations, that will affect our performance,” Vichate said. 

Alcoholic products account for about 70 per cent of the group’s sales. By 2015, the contribution from non-alcohol beverages will be increased to 35 per cent according to the rearrangement of its portfolio after the acquisition of Fraser and Neave (F&N).

“Our largest sales contribution is still from ThaiBev, followed by Oishi Group, manufacturer of ready-to-drink green tea, and Serm Suk, manufacturer and distributor of est carbonated soft drinks,” Vichate said.

ThaiBev enjoys between Bt130 billion and Bt160 billion in total sales per annum, or about Bt10 billion a month. 

Oishi, however, has just lowered its sales-revenue target from between Bt14 billion and Bt15 billion to between Bt12 billion and Bt13 billion. Serm Suk’s still targets sales revenue of Bt8 billion this year.