Thai Union’s Q3 net profit rises 17.2%

Editorial Staff

Thai Union’s Q3 net profit rises 17.2% on quarter to 1.2 billion baht, with strong gross profit margin at 18.4%

Thai Union Group PCL reported its third quarter earnings for the period ended September 30, 2023, booking sales of 34 billion baht, a slight drop of 0.9 % from the previous quarter.

Mr Thiraphong Chansiri, CEO of Thai Union Group said the company saw its net profit grow 17.2 % quarter-on-quarter to 1.2 billion baht, while the gross profit improved 8.4 % to 6.2 billion baht, mainly driven by less pressure from key raw material prices, portfolio rationalization and the implementation of profit protection plan measures.

Quarterly sales continued to ease from last year’s extraordinary high baseline, declining 16.8 % year-on-year. This also weighed on the net profit for the quarter, which was down 52.3 % from a year earlier, also impacted by foreign exchange losses and the continued dilution effect on i-Tail’s net profit.

However, the gross profit margin in the third quarter was solid at 18.4 %. “Thai Union continued to successfully improve its profitability and delivered another strong quarterly gross profit margin, the second highest ever performance, across all business categories. This is proof positive that the implementation of the profit protection plan across all our operations is being effective,”

“We continue to focus on strategies to strengthen our profitability. Overall, our financials remain strong, which was reinforced by TRIS Rating, which affirmed our company rating and the ratings on our senior unsecured debentures at A+.”

Frozen and chilled seafood business sales increased by 0.9 % quarter-on-quarter to 11.6 billion baht. The gross profit margin in this category continued its impressive recovery, rising from 9.6 % in the second quarter of this year to 12.9 % in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the value-added business’ sales grew 19.4 % to 2.7 billion baht quarter-on-quarter, with a healthy gross profit margin at 28.9 %, thanks to the company’s focus on higher margin products.

The PetCare business also continued to recover, with quarterly sales increasing 19.1 % to 3.8 billion baht and the gross profit margin standing at 19.4 % as the U.S. and Europe markets saw customers resume restocking products while selling prices were also higher. Sales for the ambient seafood business decreased by 7.5 % from the previous quarter to 15.9 billion baht, however, its gross profit margin was solid at 20.4 %.