Siam Cement Q3 net profit up 18 pct, beats forecasts

Siam Cement PCL SCC.BK, Thailand's biggest industrial conglomerate, posted an 18 percent rise in third quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating forecasts, helped by improving petrochemical earnings.

Siam Cement said its July-September net profit was 6.99 billion baht ($209.1 million), or 5.82 baht per share, compared with 5.94 billion baht last year and 6.84 billion baht in the previous quarter.

Four analysts surveyed by Reuters had an average net profit forecast of 6.38 billion baht for Siam Cement, which is seen as a barometer of Thailand's corporate health.

Petrochemicals generally make up almost half of its profits.

Analysts expect weaker fourth-quarter earnings due to a petrochemical oversupply plus the impact of a recent court order to suspend 76 industrial projects at the country's biggest industrial estate.

That has affected Siam Cement's new petrochemical plant, which had been scheduled to start operations at the end of the first quarter of 2010.

Siam Cement is 30-percent owned by the Thai royal family's Crown Property Bureau and has stakes in more than 100 petrochemical, cement, paper and related businesses, including subsidiaries in the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.

Siam Cement shares rose 43.2 percent in the July-September quarter, outpacing a 20 percent gain in the main Thai stock index .SETI. ($1=33.43 Baht)

From China Cement [2009-10-29]