Two main issues were discussed at the analyst meeting yesterday. 1)
PTT has planned to sell its entire shareholding of 27.22% in BCP in order
to reduce its monopoly in the refinery business. However, if the share
selling does occur, BCP still believes that it would not affect its business
operation since their current business relationship is mostly in a form of
technology and knowledge exchanges and combining raw material
orders for lower production cost, which have had insignificant benefit for
the current operation of BCP. 2) Regarding the penetration into an
upstream business of petroleum production and exploration which has
been objected by shareholders and investors, PTT explained that the
investment would help strengthen domestic crude oil supply for BCP’s
refinery in the long run. It is preliminarily believed that PTT will join with
a company that has an expertise and experience in this business.
However, with the B5bn cash in hand, BCP’s cash flow from operation of
B5bn a year on average, and low net D/E ratio of only 0.22x, PTT has a
potential to invest in the business without an impact on BCP’s financial
status.