Bangkok, Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand Foods PLC (CPF) reported THB 133.9 billion (USD 4.3 billion, EUR 3.9 billion) in sales for the first quarter of 2019, slightly down from the same period last year. Sales in the first half of 2019 were up slightly, however, to THB 259.2 billion (USD 8.4 billion, EUR 7.5 billion).
The company’s net profit dropped from THB 8 billion (USD 258.4 million, EUR 232.7 million) in the second quarter of 2018 to THB 5.2 billion (USD 168.6 million, EUR 151.3 million) in Q2 2019, and fell from THB 11.2 billion (USD 363.1 million, EUR 325.8 million) in 1H 2018 to THB 10.4 billion (USD 337.2 million, EUR 302.6 million) in the first six months of 2019.
CPF CEO Prasit Boonduangprasert said the appreciation of Thai baht against other currencies had hurt the company’s net profitability, bringing the company’s profits down to 4 percent year-over-year in Q2. However, Boonduangprasert said the company’s gross profit margin rose from 11 percent last year to 14 percent, and its EBITDA jumped by 44 percent.
Net profits fell in the H1 by 6 percent due to an adjustment of the fair value of its biological assets and the imposition of the Labour Protection Act in Thailand, which raised severance rates.
Photo courtesy of Charoen Pokphand Foods
