Wren, I believe the news below also relates to the "parent." Since this was published over 3 weeks ago, it does not appear to have had any influence on the share price, which seems to be stuck on my quote service at around 50 cents.
I couldn't buy any shares at that price on a limit order when I tried last week but this morning, I was able to get 4,000 shares at 9/16ths. This is a long term investment in an IRA. I expect that this stock will continue to languish until some US analyst decides to initiate coverage. There is so much untapped potential in the Asian market that it is just a matter of time before it comes back into favor. At least, that's what I'm hoping. Meanwhile, I think that the CP Group is a relatively early technology adopter of Internet advances, compared to other countries in the region, so they should start realizing some of the costs savings from business to business operations.
Viv
CPF to pay quarterly dividend, The Nation (Thailand; SOMLUCK SRIMALEE; 08-18-2000
CHAROEN Pokphand Foods (CPF) yesterday will start making interim dividend
payments on a quarterly basis in order to boost its stocks' appeal. The
policy change will take effect immediately, Adirek Sripratak, senior executive
vice president of the CP Group's flagship food company, said yesterday.
The move makes CPF the second company, after Bangkok Insurance, to change
its dividend-payment policy to attract investors in a sluggish stock market.
Its share price closed up Bt5 to Bt55.5 yesterday. The change follows a
resolution by the company's board of directors' to make such payments on
the condition that the company is profitable enough to do so, according
to its filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). However, the annual
and interim dividend payments may be adjusted in line with operating results,
financial position and future investment projects, as well as the overall
economic situation.
The company told the SET that its board had also approved paying interim
cash dividends from its first-half net profit at Bt2.50 per share. CPF's
board agreed to pay shareholders an annual dividend of about 50 per cent
of net profit after any applicable income tax deductions, legal reserves
and interim dividend payments. This policy will be effective from this
year's third quarter. Adirek said he expects CPF to meet the Bt55 billion
revenue projection by year-end, a 10 per cent gain year-on-year. "It would
show enough net profit to pay dividends to investors. We want to benefit
them faster than other listed companies," he added. The company has enough
cashflow to finance expansion in the next two years after it successfully
raised Bt2 billion in new capital at the end of last year, Adirek said.
The new investment plan calls for CPF to build three new factories to produce
animal feed. This would increase the company's production capacity to 3.6
million tones per year from 3 million tones, he said. Regarding the company's
planned merger with Star Marketing Co Ltd, CP Meiji Co Ltd and CP Inter
Food Co Ltd, Adirek said the process is under way, with a financial advisor
conducting an asset evaluation. The process should be completed by the
fourth quarter, he said. Meanwhile, raw material prices for animal feed
are likely to fall in the second half, Adirek said. Stronger competition
for exports lies ahead, especially in the US and Europe, while demand in
the domestic market may be slow, he said. "But rising export revenues from
the weakening baht should help offset falling revenues in the domestic
market," Adirek said. Animal feed accounts for 40 per cent of CPF's total
revenue. In the first six months of this year, CPF's net profit declined
20 per cent to Bt1.68 billion from Bt2.16 billion in the same period last
year. Its sale revenues for the period totaled Bt26.72 billion. Adirek
said the lower net profit was due to a fall in the domestic price of meat.
But the price should go up in the second half due to falling supply, he
added.
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SOMLUCK SRIMALEE, CPF to pay quarterly dividend, NATION. , The Nation (Thailand), 08-18-2000 |
