SINGAPORE-PTT Chemicals' (PTTCH) net profit is expected to grow 49% year on year in 2011 to Thai baht (Bht) 17.5bn ($58.24m), spurred by higher product prices and improving demand, DBS Group Research said on Thursday.
PTTCH's key product prices would increase "across the board" during the 2011-2013 period to reflect improving demand resulting from the global economic recovery and sustainable high crude oil prices, DBS said in a research report.
Prices of PTTCH's monoethylene glycol (MEG) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) were expected to increase to $1,000/tonne and $1,500/tonne respectively in 2011, as compared to $900/tonne and $1,350/tonne in previous estimates, the report said.
"High crude values would result in a cost-push effect on product prices and directly benefit PTTCH," it noted.
Revenue for the whole of 2011, meanwhile, was expected to grow 21.4% year on year to Bht 124.7bn, according to the research report.
Demand in the near-term was also expected to pick-up due to restocking activities ahead of the new year, while production at the company's facilities would also be ramped up to reduce supply-side pressures, it said.
PTTCH was also expected to soon increase its run rate at its new 1m tonne/year cracker as well as its 400,000 tonnes/year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) in Mab Ta Phut, the report said.
"We are maintaining average utilization for 2011 at 91%," it said. "The low utilization is a result of PTTCH s planned shutdown of crackers and downstream operations," the research firm added.
The company's 395,000 tonne/year MEG plant would be undergoing a 31-day planned shutdown during the first half of 2011 and its 400,000 tonne/year I-4 No 2 cracker was expected to undergo a 48-day shutdown during the period, it said.
In its forecast, DBS Research said that PTTCH was emerging as the "most attractive petrochemical play" in the region, despite the recent introduction of Malaysia's newly-listed Petronas Chemical Group (PCG).
PTTCH is second to PCG in its earnings margins among regional peers but this is offset by the latter s "superior earnings growth and profitability," according to Naphat Chantaraserekul, an analyst with DBS Research Group in Bangkok.
PCG's net profit was forecasted to grow by 13% year on year to Bht29.7bn in 2011, he added.
($1 = ?.76 / $1 = Bht30.05)
PTTCH's key product prices would increase "across the board" during the 2011-2013 period to reflect improving demand resulting from the global economic recovery and sustainable high crude oil prices, DBS said in a research report.
Prices of PTTCH's monoethylene glycol (MEG) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) were expected to increase to $1,000/tonne and $1,500/tonne respectively in 2011, as compared to $900/tonne and $1,350/tonne in previous estimates, the report said.
"High crude values would result in a cost-push effect on product prices and directly benefit PTTCH," it noted.
Revenue for the whole of 2011, meanwhile, was expected to grow 21.4% year on year to Bht 124.7bn, according to the research report.
Demand in the near-term was also expected to pick-up due to restocking activities ahead of the new year, while production at the company's facilities would also be ramped up to reduce supply-side pressures, it said.
PTTCH was also expected to soon increase its run rate at its new 1m tonne/year cracker as well as its 400,000 tonnes/year of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) in Mab Ta Phut, the report said.
"We are maintaining average utilization for 2011 at 91%," it said. "The low utilization is a result of PTTCH s planned shutdown of crackers and downstream operations," the research firm added.
The company's 395,000 tonne/year MEG plant would be undergoing a 31-day planned shutdown during the first half of 2011 and its 400,000 tonne/year I-4 No 2 cracker was expected to undergo a 48-day shutdown during the period, it said.
In its forecast, DBS Research said that PTTCH was emerging as the "most attractive petrochemical play" in the region, despite the recent introduction of Malaysia's newly-listed Petronas Chemical Group (PCG).
PTTCH is second to PCG in its earnings margins among regional peers but this is offset by the latter s "superior earnings growth and profitability," according to Naphat Chantaraserekul, an analyst with DBS Research Group in Bangkok.
PCG's net profit was forecasted to grow by 13% year on year to Bht29.7bn in 2011, he added.
($1 = ?.76 / $1 = Bht30.05)
