Polyplex optimistic

Polyester-film producer Polyplex (Thailand) is bullish about its business outlook and boasts its fiscal-2008 net profit will be its best ever.

The company's fiscal year ends next March, and it expects its net profit to outstrip the Bt341.84 million it booked last year.

Already, its fiscal first-quarter net profit rose 503 per cent to Bt186.71 million, from Bt30.94 million in the same period a year ago.

The company's Turkish production line is the driving force behind profit growth, Vipin Vijeta Mittal, head of finance, said yesterday. "This fiscal year's net profit will be better than last year's. It was stunning in the first quarter, and we hope our net profit and growth rate for the following quarters will be the same," he said.

He predicts US$65 million to $70 million (Bt2.24 billion to Bt2.42 billion) in sales revenues in fiscal 2008, with exports contributing 85 per cent of the total.

Southeast Asia, Japan and the US are the company's biggest markets.

Currency risk is low, because most sales and costs are in US dollars. "We estimate every 1-per-cent appreciation of the baht lowers our net profit Bt10 million," he said.

Polyplex allocated $55 million to $60 million for investment in four projects in fiscal 2008: two in Thailand and two in Turkey.

"We're paying for these with working capital and borrowing, both locally and internationally. If business expansion goes ahead as planned, revenues will continue to grow. The company policy is to focus on value-added products," he said.

Source: The Nation
Thursday August 23, 2007