Berli Jucker Q3 profit doubles to Bt1.8 billion
BERLI JUCKER, the retail flagship of Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s TCC Group, said its quarterly net profit more than doubled thanks to foreign-exchange gains and the consolidation of Big C Supercenter.
Berli posted a net profit of Bt1.8 billion for July-September, up 118 per cent from a year earlier. It also booked a forex gain of Bt1.08 billion after a loan repayment, the company said in a statement.
Third-quarter revenue jumped 241 per cent to Bt38 billion, mainly on consolidation of Big C’s performance.
Berli raised about US$6 billion (Bt210 billion) from the sale of new shares and bonds to repay the short-term debt raised with banks to fund its $6.2-billion acquisition of hypermarket chain Big C in May.
Berli holds 97.94 per cent of Big C after winning a hotly contested tender offer for French retailer Casino’s 58.6-per-cent stake in February.
Its ratio of interest-bearing debt to equity rose to 1.4 times in the third quarter versus 0.7 time the same period a year earlier because of the Big C deal, Berli said.
Big C, Thailand’s second-largest hypermarket operator, reported a 14.6-per-cent rise in net profit of Bt1.54 billion in the third quarter, on improved margins and resilient rental and service income growth.
Analysts expect Berli’s profit to rise sharply in 2017 as it will fully benefit from the Big C acquisition, which gives Berli access to large-format retail business and well-invested supply chain.
Berli Jucker, which operates a wide range of trading, packaging and healthcare supply chains, is already the third-largest grocery retailer in Southeast Asia in terms of retail sales, according to company data.
It competes with CP All, controlled by Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont’s Charoen Pokphand Group, and Tesco Lotus
