(Reuters) -Singapore-listed Thai Beverage reported a 3.2% fall in its first-half profit on Friday, as a dip in its spirits business continued to weigh on the company’s bottom-line.
Thai Beverage has been struggling to increase profits amid weak consumer spending, rising costs and occasional dips in its top-performing segments in the post-pandemic years.
The company is one of Southeast Asia’s largest beverage makers, with their business consisting of four segments – spirits, beer, non-alcoholic and food.
The spirits business, which contributed more than 75% to the company’s earnings, saw a near 11% fall in profit amid an increase in raw material costs as well as brand investments and marketing expenses.
The beer business, however, logged an over 40% rise in its half-year earnings as an uptick in sales volume helped in navigating challenging overseas market conditions, the company said.
Thai Beverage, which owns brands such as Chang beer and Grand Royal whisky, said profit attributable was 14.71 billion baht ($446.2 million) for the six-month period ended March 31, compared with 15.19 billion baht a year earlier.
It declared an interim dividend of 0.15 baht per share, the same as a year earlier.
Since last year, the billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi-chaired firm has been divesting real estate assets to emerge as a purely drinks and food company.
($1 = 32.9900 baht)
(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee and Jasmeen Ara Shaikh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
