PTTCH raises revenue goal to B150bn

       PTT Chemical Plc, the country's largest olefins maker, has increased its revenue forecast next year to 150 billion baht from an earlier estimate of 120 billion,said Veerasak Kositpaisal, president and CEO.
       The revision is due mainly to petrochemical product prices rising to US$1,200 per tonne, higher than its earlier prediction of $800 to $900 a tonne.It also expects average crude prices will not exceed $80 per barrel.
       The company will also have additional polymer production plants and an extra 1 million tonnes of olefins from a new cracking unit that will start operation in the first quarter of next year.
       The new plants will gradually start producing 400,000 tonnes of linear lowdensity polyethylene, 300,000 tonnes of low-density polyethylene and 500,000 tonnes of high-density polyethylene.
       "Luckily, these new plants are not included in the 76 affected projects suspended by the court in Map Ta Phut, so they can go on as scheduled," he said.
       Despite a new polymer plant opening in the Middle East, which will add more than 5 million tonnes to the market next year, a revived regional economy should absorb the new supply, he said.
       PTTCH signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday with SMC Cor-poration Ltd, a local moulding machinery producer, in a bid to co-develop high-efficiency plastic pallets.
       The partners will co-develop plastic products to better serve demand and seek ways to cut losses in the production process.
       "Using their plastic moulding machinery will accelerate the development of products to meet our clients' requirements," said Mr Veerasak.
       "Instead of starting a price war during fierce competition, research and development is a better option for sustainable business development."
       PTTCH reported lower third-quarter sales by 1% to 23.46 billion baht from 23.64 billion a year earlier, while net profit decreased 43% to 2.82 billion (1.88 baht a share) from 4.92 billion baht (3.29 baht a share) in line with sliding petrochemical prices.
       For the nine-month period, net profit was 4.56 billion baht (3.05 baht a share),a drop from 15.92 billion (10.94 baht a share) in the same period last year.Despite the decline, its shares only dropped 75 satang to 72.5 baht yesterday in trade worth 448.38 million.
       PTTCH's parent company, PTT Plc,reported a 5% drop in its third-quarter net profit to 16.99 billion baht, in line with forecasts, due to lower contributions from its exploration and refinery businesses.
       Nine-month consolidated net profit was 44.37 billion baht (15.69 baht a share), a decline of 40% from 73.9 billion (26.21 baht a share) in the same period last year.
       Results in the fourth quarter are expected to be hit by lower earnings from subsidiary PTTEP due to an oil leak at Montara field near Australia, analysts said. Next year's outlook will also depend partly on how the government resolves the dispute over the Map Ta Phut industrial estate, where the PTT Group is a major investor.
       Shares of PTT closed yesterday at 250 baht, up two baht, in trade worth 1.73 billion baht, while PTTEP closed at 144 baht, up 4.5 baht, in trade worth 1.8 billion baht.