SET/SMFG19 trading debut

Editorial staff

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) today lists depositary receipt (DR) on Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG).

SMFG19, listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), is one of Japan’s largest financial institutions offering comprehensive services including lending, securities and credit card globally. SMFG19 DR, issued by Yuanta Securities (Thailand) Co, is start trading on SET on May 29.

DR is an investment instrument that provides investors with the benefits of the underlying foreign securities by trading DR in Thai baht under the existing securities accounts.

In a related development, SET reported performance in the first quarter this year that listed companies delivered continued growth in revenues and net profits for the first quarter of 2024 due to higher number of tourists over the same period last year and Financials industry group benefiting from rising interest rates.

Senior executive vice president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Manpong Senanarong said that 816 listed companies, representing 98.31 % of the total 830 listed companies (comprising SET- and mai-listed companies scheduled to submit financial statements ended March 31, 2024, and excluding property funds and infrastructure funds) already submitted their first-quarter operating results. A total of 646 listed companies, or 79.17 % of all listed companies that submitted their financial statements, reported net profits.

Manpong Senanarong

SET-listed companies recorded first-quarter sales of 4.40 trillion baht (approx. USD 123.39 billion), an increase of 4.6 % over the same period a year ago.

Production costs increased by 3.1 %, while selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses rose by 6.8 %, leading to a 14.2 % and a 1.7 % increase in core operating profits to 466.86 billion baht and net profits to 264.81 billion baht. For the financial position as of March 31, 2024, Thai listed companies’ debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio (excluding the Financials industry group) was steady at 1.52 times from a year earlier.

"The overall performance improved due to the recovery of tourists, resulting in better profits for tourism-related service businesses such as hotels, airlines, rental spaces, retail, and telecommunications. Moreover, the higher interest rates contributed to the better financial performance of Financials industry group, but may put pressure on financing costs for other industry groups," added Mr Manpong.

For mai-listed companies, they reported a 9.2 % year-on-year increase in total sales for the January-March quarter, reaching 54.03 billion baht. Production costs and SG&A expenses rose by 6.7 %t and 6.4 %, respectively. This resulted in operating profits of 5.26 billion baht and net profits of 4.61 billion baht.