Market for Alternative Investment (mai)-listed companies recorded total sales of THB 48.38 billion (approx. USD 1.41 billion) in the first quarter of 2022, or a 20.4 percent rise from the same period last year, while operating profits totaled THB 2.50 billion, or a 7.2 percent drop. The industry groups that delivered the higher operating profits over the same period were Services, Property & Construction, Technology and Agro & Food Industry.
mai President Prapan Charoenprawatt said that 179 mai-listed companies or 96 percent of the total 186 companies (excluding those in the non-compliance or NC group and those with different accounting period close) submitted their financial reports for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022. Out of these, 119 listed companies, accounting for 66 percent, recorded net profits.
For the first quarter of 2022, mai-listed companies' cost of goods sold increased by 25.6 percent from the same period a year ago to THB 38.44 billion, lowering gross profit margin to 20.5 percent from 23.8 percent. However, the overall net profit amounted to THB 2.74 billion, a 21 percent rise, due to the fact that a listed company recognized one-off profit worth THB 1.42 billion from a disposal of a power plant. Compared with the final quarter of last year, mai-listed companies' combined sales rose by 0.6 percent with the lower gross profit margin to 20.5 percent from 21.6 percent, and a 10.9 percent decline in operating profits.
"In the first quarter of 2022, the government further relaxed the COVID-19 restrictions, enabling most business organizations to resume the near normal activities. The Russia-Ukraine war impacted mai-listed companies' costs and started to erode their profitability, however. All in all, four industry groups comprising Services, Property & Construction, Technology and Agro & Food Industry managed to record higher operating," added Prapan.
In terms of financial position, mai-listed firms' total assets rose by 1.78 percent from the end of 2021 to THB 289.80 billion at the end of March 2022. The overall financial structure was strengthened, with debt-to-equity ratio (D/E ratio) of 0.94 time, a decrease from 1.02 times at end-2021.
As of May 25, 2022, there were 186 mai-listed companies and the benchmark Index closed at 641.64 points, with the total market capitalization of THB 524.36 billion and average daily trading value of THB 7.61 billion.