Ptt's 2007 Sales

[Mid]

PTT's 2007 Sales, Profit May Fall on Strong Baht (Update1)

By Beth Jinks and Haslinda Amin

June 29 (Bloomberg) -- PTT Pcl, Thailand's biggest energy company, said profit this year may fall from a record as gains in the baht erode the value of its dollar-denominated sales of fuels and petrochemicals.

The baht's 11 percent rise against the dollar in the past 12 months will pare profit because PTT calculates its revenue in U.S. dollars and reports earnings in baht, Chief Financial Officer Pichai Chunhavajira said. The Bangkok-based company will probably post ``slightly better'' earnings in U.S. dollar terms, beating last year's record sales and net income, he said.

bloomberg.com

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New 'fair trade' law to prevent PTT from fixing petroleum prices

YUTHANA PRAIWAN

PTT Plc will find it more difficult to intervene in the market and keep retail pump prices below cost after an amendment to the trade competition law takes effect, says Tiraphot Vajrabhaya, the chairman of Shell Thailand.

The Internal Trade Department is in the process of amending the law to promote fairer competition in many industries, including those dominated by state-controlled companies or enterprises.

The Post Publishing Public Co

[samran]

mid - it will depend on if the new legislation will ever come up with a flexible formula for defining what a 'market' is, in a meaningful way, and then if the legislation will be able to define what is 'market power' constitutes and what defines 'abuse of market power' and whether the test for an abuse of market power is jusdged by 'substantial' lessening of competition or nothing else.

I think the legistlation won't go that far, and hence, is dead in the water before it is even progulmated.

[Mid]

work in progress ...........................................??

rethorical .

[samran]

work in progress ...........................................??

rethorical .

the current version of the act is so full of holes you can drive a truck through them. Totally unenforceable. The new act may only have holes which you can drive a family wagon through.

A committee needs to be established under the Thai system to define what constitues a 'market'. Until you define the market place, there is no way of knowing if anti-competitive acts have been undertaken in said market place. Common law juristicticions tend to use the advice of economic experts in court to define the market in the first place, and then use hard core analysis to define if a company has market power in a partuclar market. The thai way has been do use a blunt number like 25% market share to define if one has market power, which in and of itself doesn't take into account barriers to entry, price elasticity, the availablity of substitute products, etc etc etc.....

Bit like the sometimes debate we have here in TV of if King Power is a monoplist. My view is that while they may be the only duty free shop at the airport, they don't have a monpoly on the products they sell and where and when punters can buy them.

[Mid]

Thailand Star Petroleum May Raise 20 Billion Baht in Share Sale

By Suttinee Yuvejwattana

Updated: New York, Jul 01 00:59London, Jul 01 05:59Tokyo, Jul 01 13:59

Shareholders will sell a 30 percent stake in Star Petroleum and its stock will be listed on the nation's exchange by the end of the year, as part of an agreement with the government when the company was formed, PTT Pcl President Prasert Bunsumpun said late yesterday.

PTT, the country's biggest energy company and a shareholder of Star Petroleum, has been planning a sale of Star for more than two years and combining it with other refinery operations as part of a reorganization of its units and affiliates to make them more efficient.

incestuous comes to mind ..........

there's always the bastard child .