Chairman Address

The year 2023 continued to be a year of challenges for the Polyester Film industry. The new capacities commissioned in China and India over the last 2-3 years, created a situation of oversupply and heightened competition, thereby putting pressure on margins of all Polyester film producers, across the Globe. This, coupled with other factors, such as the Global economic slowdown, rising interest rates, inflationary pressures, the Red Sea shipping crisis and tightening of demand in certain downstream businesses, due to continued destocking across the value chain, has collectively resulted in an overall sharp decline in the company's profitability in this year.

In comparison to the previous year, sales at 20.9 Billion THB have decreased by 21%, due to decline in selling prices (in line with decline in some key raw material prices) and also due to decline in film sales volumes by 7%. Normalized Net profits of 0.7 Billion THB, after adjusting for the foreign exchange losses, is a decline of 67%.

Thanks to our geographically well diversified manufacturing presence and wide spread customer base, attractive product offering with a high share of specialty products and our continued focus on cost and operational efficiencies, the Company was able to outperform most of its industry peers and deliver a relatively healthy financial performance. The Company continues to focus and invest in expanding its specialty films’ capabilities and capacity and remains confident of seeing positive impact on the bottom line in the years to come.

Sustainability has always been a very key element of our business strategy and we have been driving many such initiatives, even before any regulatory impositions were put in place in several countries. The various investments made by the Company i.e. the investment in the recycling subsidiary in Thailand, Ecobelle limited in 2012 followed by its expansion into recycling post-consumer PET and Polyolefin waste in 2022 and the recent investments in chemical recycling capability at Turkey and Thailand demonstrate the Company’s continued commitment to Sustainability & Innovation. The Company strives to be the preferred and chosen partner to all its customers jointly working to develop sustainable and innovative solutions and to co-create a better future for tomorrow.

Notwithstanding the tight market situation and the continuing pressure on the margins, the Directors have approved a dividend of THB 0.24 per share for the year 2023-24 @ 35% of the Company’s consolidated profits on normalized basis.

The Company’s balance sheet remains quite robust, with a low gearing ratio and sufficient liquidity, which gives the Company room to operate comfortably even under stressful market conditions, as seen in the recent past. The Company continues to be resilient and confident on the long-term prospects of this industry and shall continue to evaluate its new investment opportunities for base films and downstream, especially around new and emerging markets and take appropriate decisions at the right time.

On behalf of the Board, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the shareholders, business partners and the employees of the Company for supporting the Company through the various ups and downs witnessed in more than 2 decades of its operations.