Glow Group (“Glow”) posted consolidated total revenues of THB 25,836 million, Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (“EBITDA”) of THB 5,743 million and Normalized Net Profit (“NNP”, net profit before unrealized foreign exchange gains and losses) of THB 2,669 million for the 9 months of 2009.
The 3rd quarter NNP of 2009 for Glow stood at THB 899 million. The key drivers for the result were strong industrial customers’ sales, whose power and steam consumption have returned back to normal levels since mid year, and favorable operating margins, where fuel prices have stabilized along with the electricity tariffs.
The 3rd quarter result is THB 274 million below the previous quarter, mainly because of two key reasons. First, unlike in the previous quarter, the 3rd quarter result does not include the business interruption compensation for the outage earlier this year of the 150 MW coal-fired Unit 1. The Company expects to receive the remaining business interruption claim of more than THB 100 million. Secondly, there was lower availability in the 3rd quarter due to a minor forced outage and a one-month major maintenance of the 150 MW coal-fired Unit 2, which was deferred from the previous quarter, the total effect was a reduction in profitability in the 3rd quarter by about 100 million baht. The 4th quarter plant availability is expected to return to normal as there is no other major maintenance scheduled until later 2011
Mr. Esa Heiskanen, the CEO of Glow Group commented: “The operation and performance of the Group have returned to normal and our industrial customer sales volumes have returned to expected levels. Our operating margin has also recovered to normal levels as the Ft remains high and fuel prices have stabilized .”
Mr. Esa continued to add “We are following up very closely on what the impact of the temporary suspension ruling has on our numerous customers in Map Ta Phut, Glow currently has all the necessary permits for our expansions, including the 115 MW coal-fired, 382 MW gas-fired, and 660 MW coal-fired IPP. Our expansions will utilize proven technology to ensure low emissions and will include reduction in emission from our existing plants, where the net result will be an improvement in the overall air quality in Map Ta Phut. We are confident that our projects are environmentally sound and will benefit surrounding communities as the total emission from our existing and new plants would be lower than current levels.
”Glow’s year-to-date interest expenses and corporate income tax have increased from same period last year. The effective tax rate has gradually been increasing year on year, as tax privileges for some of Glow’s older plants are starting to expire. However, the overall effective tax rate for the group will come down after the tax exemption period begins for the expansion projects after commercial operation starting in 2010.
Mr. Suthiwong Kongsiri, the CFO of Glow Group further explained: “The increased interest expenses is not due to higher funding costs but it is reflecting the higher debt level due especially to our strategy to pre-fund some of our funding needs at the beginning of the year, this strategy is aimed at mitigating liquidity risk which has resulted from troubles in global financial market. We now have the necessary funding through to the 2nd quarter of 2010 and are very confident in our ability to secure the remaining funds needed for our expansion projects, thanks to our solid business fundamentals, robust performance and improved market conditions.”
About Glow Energy
Glow Energy is a member of the Glow Group who is a major energy player in Thailand. Glow Group combined installed capacities include 1,860 MW (Glow’s stake is 1,775 MW) of electricity and 967 tons per hour of steam.
Glow Group generate and supply electricity to Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) under Thailand's SPP (Small Power Producer) and IPP (Independent Power Producer) programs, as well as electricity, steam, industrial water and services to large industrial customers principally located in the Map Ta Phut area and nearby.
GDF SUEZ Energy Europe & International is Glow Energy’s major shareholder and is a division of the GDF SUEZ Group, one of the largest international industrial and services groups in the world.
For more information about GDF SUEZ please visit the companies’ website at www.gdfsuez.com.. For more information about the Glow Group please go to www.glow.co.th
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
EC SEEKS COURT RULING ON MANIT SHARE TRADING
The Election Commission will seek a Constitution Court ruling on whether to disqualify Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi from office for holding shares in companies related to the media or state concessions.
Election Commission secretary-general Suthipol Thaweechaikarn said of 29 MPs the EC had referred for a Constitution Court ruling on whether to disqualify them for holding shares in prohibited businesses, four were ministers: Deputy Transport Minister Kuakul Danchaiwijit, Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat, Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart and Manit.
The EC panel found that of the four, only Manit held prohibited shares on the day he assumed his ministerial post on December 20 last year. The three others sold the shares before taking up their posts.
Manit held 500 shares in True Corp from December 24, 2002- October 7, 2009 and 4 million shares in TPI Polene from January 21, 2004. He traded some shares 17 times, the latest on December 23 last year.
Suthipol said the EC believed Manit had violated Articles 265 and 267, resulting in disqualification and removal from his ministerial post, in accordance with Article 182 (7).
He denied the EC intended to harass Manit but it needed to check on whether holding prohibited shares should result in him being disqualified as minister.
Manit said he respected the EC's decision but would not resign till the Constitution Court issued its ruling.
He admitted he held 500 True shares, however since there were only a few hundred he did not sell them before assuming the post.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said it would be too soon to decide whether to reshuffle the Cabinet following the EC decision. He said the government would rather wait till the Constitution Court announced its decision.
Election Commission secretary-general Suthipol Thaweechaikarn said of 29 MPs the EC had referred for a Constitution Court ruling on whether to disqualify them for holding shares in prohibited businesses, four were ministers: Deputy Transport Minister Kuakul Danchaiwijit, Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat, Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart and Manit.
The EC panel found that of the four, only Manit held prohibited shares on the day he assumed his ministerial post on December 20 last year. The three others sold the shares before taking up their posts.
Manit held 500 shares in True Corp from December 24, 2002- October 7, 2009 and 4 million shares in TPI Polene from January 21, 2004. He traded some shares 17 times, the latest on December 23 last year.
Suthipol said the EC believed Manit had violated Articles 265 and 267, resulting in disqualification and removal from his ministerial post, in accordance with Article 182 (7).
He denied the EC intended to harass Manit but it needed to check on whether holding prohibited shares should result in him being disqualified as minister.
Manit said he respected the EC's decision but would not resign till the Constitution Court issued its ruling.
He admitted he held 500 True shares, however since there were only a few hundred he did not sell them before assuming the post.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said it would be too soon to decide whether to reshuffle the Cabinet following the EC decision. He said the government would rather wait till the Constitution Court announced its decision.
NO LINKS YET FOUND BETWEEN SUSPECTS AND STOCK TRADERS
No connections have turned up between the two former and present securities staff arrested for posting provocative information on websites and large stock investors and foreign brokerages.
"After initial investigations, no links were found between the two suspects and the two foreign brokerages: UBS Securities Singapore and Credit Suisse Securities (Hong Kong)," Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) secretary-general Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala said yesterday.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) will continue looking for any relationships among the two suspects' 10 stock-trading clients.
Thiranan Vipuchanan, 43, who has reportedly worked as a securities executive, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport on her return from a trip to Europe. Katha pajajiriyapong, 37, employed by KT Zmico Securities, was arrested in the Silom Road area on Sunday.
Both were charged with violating the Computer Act, which prohibits the dissemination of incorrect information that could threaten national security or alarm the public. Their information was passed around during the SET Index crash from October 14-15.
On October 14, Credit Suisse Securities (Hong Kong) was swamped with Bt3 billion worth of net sales of stock and UBS Securities Singapore with Bt1.3 billion in net sales. Other net sellers were mutual funds and private funds, including an individual Thai investor with Bt218 million in net sales.
The following day, UBS Securities Singapore recorded Bt1.3 billion in net purchases, making it the biggest net buyer. Other net buyers were foreign investors, mutual funds and an individual Thai investor with net buys of Bt145 million, making that investor the ninth-largest net buyer.
Thirachai said the SEC did not find anything unusual about the stock trading of those two large foreign investors or any involvement with the rumour-mongering.
The SEC has handed its report on the stock trades of these investors to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).
"The DSI has now set up an investigating team, including representatives of the SEC," Thirachai said.
The SEC asked for more information about stock trading from UBS SECURITIES and received further details about trading orders. Thailand's SEC will no longer need to coordinate with Singapore's SEC for more information as planned.
However, the SEC has not yet received complete information regarding stock trading by Credit Suisse Securities (Hong Kong) from October 14-15, Thirachai said.
The SEC will not consider cancelling Katha's marketing licence just becasue he is under investigation by police.
SET chairman Sompol Kiatphaibool said the exchange was checking into possible violations of the SEC Act by the suspects.
"Although there is no record of Thiranan and Katha engaging in stock trading from October 14-15 trading orders have been uncovered that were made by Katha to 10 other investors," he said.
The SET will continue searching for any association between the two suspects and the 10 investors and any gains they may have made from trading on the harmful rumours.
Since Thiranan has been away from the securities industry for a long time, there was no information in the SET database about her trades, Sompol said.
"After initial investigations, no links were found between the two suspects and the two foreign brokerages: UBS Securities Singapore and Credit Suisse Securities (Hong Kong)," Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) secretary-general Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala said yesterday.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) will continue looking for any relationships among the two suspects' 10 stock-trading clients.
Thiranan Vipuchanan, 43, who has reportedly worked as a securities executive, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport on her return from a trip to Europe. Katha pajajiriyapong, 37, employed by KT Zmico Securities, was arrested in the Silom Road area on Sunday.
Both were charged with violating the Computer Act, which prohibits the dissemination of incorrect information that could threaten national security or alarm the public. Their information was passed around during the SET Index crash from October 14-15.
On October 14, Credit Suisse Securities (Hong Kong) was swamped with Bt3 billion worth of net sales of stock and UBS Securities Singapore with Bt1.3 billion in net sales. Other net sellers were mutual funds and private funds, including an individual Thai investor with Bt218 million in net sales.
The following day, UBS Securities Singapore recorded Bt1.3 billion in net purchases, making it the biggest net buyer. Other net buyers were foreign investors, mutual funds and an individual Thai investor with net buys of Bt145 million, making that investor the ninth-largest net buyer.
Thirachai said the SEC did not find anything unusual about the stock trading of those two large foreign investors or any involvement with the rumour-mongering.
The SEC has handed its report on the stock trades of these investors to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).
"The DSI has now set up an investigating team, including representatives of the SEC," Thirachai said.
The SEC asked for more information about stock trading from UBS SECURITIES and received further details about trading orders. Thailand's SEC will no longer need to coordinate with Singapore's SEC for more information as planned.
However, the SEC has not yet received complete information regarding stock trading by Credit Suisse Securities (Hong Kong) from October 14-15, Thirachai said.
The SEC will not consider cancelling Katha's marketing licence just becasue he is under investigation by police.
SET chairman Sompol Kiatphaibool said the exchange was checking into possible violations of the SEC Act by the suspects.
"Although there is no record of Thiranan and Katha engaging in stock trading from October 14-15 trading orders have been uncovered that were made by Katha to 10 other investors," he said.
The SET will continue searching for any association between the two suspects and the 10 investors and any gains they may have made from trading on the harmful rumours.
Since Thiranan has been away from the securities industry for a long time, there was no information in the SET database about her trades, Sompol said.
Magazine on a major mission
The Brits have Which?, Australians have Choice , and Americans have Consumer Report - to safeguard them from substandard products and poor services.
In Thailand, the seven-member editorial team of Chalard Sue (Smart Buyer)magazine is pursuing a similar mission tothose magazines in developed countries to arm Thai consumers with must-know facts before they buy goods and services.
The 16-year-old magazine, the publication arm of the Foundation for Consumers, is the first and only magazine in the country dedicated to protecting consumer rights. It also claims to be the only advertisement-free magazine in the
media business.
"An ad-free policy is crucial for a consumer magazine which needs to be 100% free of business influence tomaintain its credibility and neutrality," said the editorial chief of Smart Buyer,Thusanee Nanudorn.
In the initial years, the magazine was distributed to health officials nationwide free of charge, in the hope the officials would share the information in the magazine with local villagers.
The magazine, with a circulation of 6,000, is now available through subscriptions and Nai-in bookstands.
Every month, editorial staff are sent to buy goods and send them for testing at independent laboratories to find out if their quality matches what the manufacturers claim or advertise.
They test them all - from orange juice, school bags, Bluetooth earphones to toilet paper.
Many findings have become the talk of the town. For example, the testing of orange juice sold in local markets found many brands contained dangerously high levels of sugar, while ready-to-eat cup rice porridge had alarmingly high amounts of sodium.
And when the team bought toilet paper rolls and spread them out, they found the length of the tissue was shorter than stated on the product's label.
More product tests are in the pipeline,such as caffeine levels in popular coffee brands, the safety of Teflon pans, and the quality of detergent powder.
The results will be revealed in upcoming issues of the 80-baht magazine.
Product testing is not cheap, and the Smart Buyer's editorial staff do not do it just for fun.
"Product testing is the highlight of our magazine and we have a long list of products waiting for testing," Ms Thusanee said."The test results will help consumers decide what they should or should not buy," she said.
Each test costs between 50,000-200,000 baht because they have to buy products of various brands to compare. The lab services also cost a lot of money.
The budget for product testing comes from various sources, including subscription fees, and financial support from the Foundation for Consumers and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
Although the magazine has to shoulder huge production costs for each issue, it has no plan to sell advertising space,said Ms Thusanee.
"Smart Buyer would not have survived this long if had had to rely on advertisements which would have undermined the magazine's credibility," she said.
Apart from results of product tests and comparisons of price and quality between different brands, the magazine also provides readers with articles from experts in various fields, such as medicine,cosmetics and consumer law.
Although the magazine's content is controversial, putting it at risk of being sued by service providers or product manufacturers, the publication has never faced any lawsuits.
"After the release of each issue, our editorial staff receive only a few calls from manufacturers asking about test results and some complaints about how the findings will affect a product's image,"said Ms Thusanee.
"No one sues us because our information is reliable and based on scientific experiments," she said."The manufacturers may fear that lawsuits will further hurt product sales."
The 72-page publication currently has slightly more than 3,000 subscribers which is still lower than expected.
Despite the lower-thanexpected reader numbers, the spirit of the editorial team remains high.
"We believe our readership will grow," she said."The growing number of readers will not only salvage the magazine, but also strengthen Thai consumers."
Ms Thusanee conceded that working as a consumer watchdog had made her life more complicated because knowing too much about the dangers or poor quality of goods and services had left her with a limited choice.
"Our editorial staff have made a number of wrong decisions or consumed food products that are hazardous to their health or of low nutritional value. We aren't such smart buyers all the time.
In Thailand, the seven-member editorial team of Chalard Sue (Smart Buyer)magazine is pursuing a similar mission tothose magazines in developed countries to arm Thai consumers with must-know facts before they buy goods and services.
The 16-year-old magazine, the publication arm of the Foundation for Consumers, is the first and only magazine in the country dedicated to protecting consumer rights. It also claims to be the only advertisement-free magazine in the
media business.
"An ad-free policy is crucial for a consumer magazine which needs to be 100% free of business influence tomaintain its credibility and neutrality," said the editorial chief of Smart Buyer,Thusanee Nanudorn.
In the initial years, the magazine was distributed to health officials nationwide free of charge, in the hope the officials would share the information in the magazine with local villagers.
The magazine, with a circulation of 6,000, is now available through subscriptions and Nai-in bookstands.
Every month, editorial staff are sent to buy goods and send them for testing at independent laboratories to find out if their quality matches what the manufacturers claim or advertise.
They test them all - from orange juice, school bags, Bluetooth earphones to toilet paper.
Many findings have become the talk of the town. For example, the testing of orange juice sold in local markets found many brands contained dangerously high levels of sugar, while ready-to-eat cup rice porridge had alarmingly high amounts of sodium.
And when the team bought toilet paper rolls and spread them out, they found the length of the tissue was shorter than stated on the product's label.
More product tests are in the pipeline,such as caffeine levels in popular coffee brands, the safety of Teflon pans, and the quality of detergent powder.
The results will be revealed in upcoming issues of the 80-baht magazine.
Product testing is not cheap, and the Smart Buyer's editorial staff do not do it just for fun.
"Product testing is the highlight of our magazine and we have a long list of products waiting for testing," Ms Thusanee said."The test results will help consumers decide what they should or should not buy," she said.
Each test costs between 50,000-200,000 baht because they have to buy products of various brands to compare. The lab services also cost a lot of money.
The budget for product testing comes from various sources, including subscription fees, and financial support from the Foundation for Consumers and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
Although the magazine has to shoulder huge production costs for each issue, it has no plan to sell advertising space,said Ms Thusanee.
"Smart Buyer would not have survived this long if had had to rely on advertisements which would have undermined the magazine's credibility," she said.
Apart from results of product tests and comparisons of price and quality between different brands, the magazine also provides readers with articles from experts in various fields, such as medicine,cosmetics and consumer law.
Although the magazine's content is controversial, putting it at risk of being sued by service providers or product manufacturers, the publication has never faced any lawsuits.
"After the release of each issue, our editorial staff receive only a few calls from manufacturers asking about test results and some complaints about how the findings will affect a product's image,"said Ms Thusanee.
"No one sues us because our information is reliable and based on scientific experiments," she said."The manufacturers may fear that lawsuits will further hurt product sales."
The 72-page publication currently has slightly more than 3,000 subscribers which is still lower than expected.
Despite the lower-thanexpected reader numbers, the spirit of the editorial team remains high.
"We believe our readership will grow," she said."The growing number of readers will not only salvage the magazine, but also strengthen Thai consumers."
Ms Thusanee conceded that working as a consumer watchdog had made her life more complicated because knowing too much about the dangers or poor quality of goods and services had left her with a limited choice.
"Our editorial staff have made a number of wrong decisions or consumed food products that are hazardous to their health or of low nutritional value. We aren't such smart buyers all the time.
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