The price of Carabao Group (CBG) shares rose more than five per cent in morning trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Monday as the energy drink company’s second-quarter profit increased by 20.1 per cent year-on-year, driven by a 27 per cent rise in foreign income.

CBG’s share price hit a high of 134.50 baht ($4.32) in the morning session, up 6.76 per cent from the previous close, before falling to 131 baht.

CBG’s shares gained positive sentiment from a strong second-quarter performance that generated revenue of 4.508 billion baht, up 20.1 per cent year-on-year. Income from the company’s products rose by 13.6 per cent year-on-year.

On the domestic front, CBG’s income dropped slightly by 1.7 per cent as sales in the energy drink market fell 13.4 per cent.

However, CBG’s foreign sales rose by 27 per cent to 2.219 billion baht, 81 per cent or 1.8 billion baht of which came from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) and seven per cent from China.

Increasing sales in CLMV countries, especially Myanmar, boosted the company’s profit to 890 million baht, up 69.7 per cent year-on-year.

A stock analyst at Taiwan-owned Yuanta Securities (Thailand) Co Ltd expected CBG’s net profit to hit a new high in the remaining quarters of this year as the income from sales of its C+Lock drink and exports to CLMV countries were not included in the company’s forecast.

He said: “In this year’s fourth quarter, production at CBG’s bottling plants will increase by 40 per cent to 4.2 million bottles per day, while production at its canning plants will increase by 30 per cent to 5.7 million cans per day. This will enable the company to boost income from foreign countries.”

“Meanwhile, CBG’s paper packaging costs will fall due to the company’s new packaging factory.”

The analyst added that his securities company has increased CBG’s stock target price to 130-140 baht per share, advising investors to buy this stock as the upside gain was around three to 10 per cent.

“We expect the company’s stocks to gain positive sentiment from its positive performance.” he said.

“Investors will sell stocks to take profit when the price moves to around 135 baht per share,” he forecast.

THE NATION (THAILAND)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK