Seafood giant Thai Union Group PCL reported a second-quarter net profit of THB 1.2 billon, a 14.2% year-on-year increase led by a sustained recovery in its Ambient, PetCare, and Value-added categories.
The company said sales momentum continued throughout the April–June period, growing 3.6% from a year earlier to THB 35.3 billion. Its gross profit margin remained solid at 18.5%, the second highest ever, largely thanks to a recovery of PetCare due to its focus on high-margin products, improvements in the Value-added category, and following a full rightsizing in the Frozen category in the second-quarter of 2024.
With the core performance remaining strong in the second-quarter, the company declared an interim dividend of THB 0.31 per share for the first-half of 2024, with a dividend payout ratio of 59%.
“The ongoing recovery of our Ambient, PetCare and Value-added businesses resulted in a strong performance during the second quarter,” said Thiraphong Chansiri, CEO of Thai Union Group. “Maintaining the solid momentum from the first-quarter was particularly pleasing, and I’m confident that after successfully navigating the challenges we faced in 2023, we are on the path towards sustainable growth.”
During the second-quarter, sales in the Ambient business continued to grow, rising 1.4% year-on-year to THB 17.4 billion, with higher demand in the US, Canada and the Middle East. The gross profit margin for the category stood at 18.9% because of low raw material prices of existing inventory and higher tuna prices. The PetCare business delivered a 40.6% increase in sales to THB 4.5 billion compared to the second quarter of 2023 due to higher selling prices, higher sales from premium products and pent-up demand in Europe and the US. The gross profit margin for PetCare reached an all-time-high of 31.3% in Q2 2024.
Value-added category sales increased by 15.5% to THB 2.6 billion, while it recorded a gross profit margin of 26.5%. However, sales for the Frozen business declined 5.7% year-on-year to THB 10.8 billion because of soft demand in the US. However, the gross profit margin of the Frozen business recovered year-on-year to 10.7% due to lower raw material prices and ongoing improvements in the feed business.
In terms of geographical diversity, second-quarter sales in the US and Canada accounted for 40% of total sales, followed by 32.3% from Europe, 10.3% from Thailand and 17.3% from others.
The company successfully executed a share buyback programme in the first-half year of 2024, repurchasing 200 million shares. In addition, it reduced its registered capital by 200 million shares, effective 25 July 2024, from its share buyback programme executed in 2023.
During the second quarter, i-Tail Corporation was included in the SET50 Index of the Stock Exchange of Thailand for the first time since its IPO in December 2022 and was the only new company from the Food & Beverage industry in the index.
“Thai Union remains fully focused on delivering growth, innovation and sustainability. I am confident that as we continue to implement our Strategy 2030, it will position us not only for long-term growth but support our vision to become the world’s leading marine health and nutrition company,” Chansiri said.
