THAICOM Facing Headwinds in Q1 2020

Nonthaburi, Thailand, May 5, 2020–Thaicom Public Company Limited announced its financial results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2020. The Company’s net profit for Q1/2020 was Baht 198 million, a significant improvement as compared to the net loss of Baht 33 million for Q1/2019 and Baht 1,969 million for Q4/2019. Thaicom reported revenues from sales and services for Q1/2020 of THB 965 million, down 26% from Q1/2019, mainly due to the decrease of revenue from broadband customers churned during 2019, also from the Thaicom 5 satellite deorbit. 

Compared with Q4/2019, the revenue increased by 0.9%, mainly contributed by the increase of revenue from broadband service.

The revenue loss from Thaicom 5 customers who could not be migrated to other satellites under the Company’s services is estimated to be approximately Baht 200 million per annum, which was recognized since March 2020 onwards.

The COVID-19 crisis had no impact yet on the company’s Q1/2020 performance. The transponder services provided to broadcast customers and internet service providers remained unaffected as well. However, a prolonged crisis may indirectly influence results in the future if the company’s customers are affected.

The net profit for Q1/2020 partially increased due to extra items including the gain from foreign exchange of Baht 238 million. Excluding extra items, the normalized profit from operation was Baht 105 million for Q1/2020, an improvement as compared to the loss of Bath 4 million for Q1/2019 and Baht 271 million for Q4/2019, due to the decrease in depreciation from the deorbiting of the Thaicom 5 satellite on 26 February 2020.and the impairment of other satellites in 2019, as well as effective cost management.

With Thaicom 5 deorbited, the utilization rate of the company’s remaining conventional satellites Thaicom 6, Thaicom 7 and Thaicom 8 was adjusted from a total capacity of 111 transponders to 71 transponders as at the end of 2019. The committed utilization for the conventional satellites was 65 percent as at the end of Q1/2020. For broadband business, the utilization rate of the Thaicom 4 satellite was 21 percent, down from 23 percent as at the end of 2019, mainly due to the decrease of bandwidth demand from international customers.