ThaiBev

ThaiBev - here goes my thoughts on Thai Beverage.

Thai Beverage has grown tremendously over the years from making many acquisitions to now being the largest beverage group in Thailand and also the leading beverage group in Southeast Asia.
 Thai Beverage is a company operating in four different segments, namely, Spirits, Beer, Food, and Non-Alcoholic Beverages. One of their iconic acquisitions in recent years was the acquisition of Frasers and Neave, a large beverage group in Singapore. With this acquisition, Thai Beverage has cemented it's position as a leading beverage group in Southeast Asia.quote:Jeremyowtaip

Also, Thai Beverage not only expanded in size of operations through many acquisitions made, it has also diversified it's businesses to now owning four business segments namely spirits, beers, non-alcoholic beverages and food & restaurants. Another iconic acquisition made by them recently was the acquisition of all KFC franchisees in Thailand from Yum Brand to own a substantial stake in the food and restaurant business in Thailand.

I looked at their past decade trend in financials and my first impression even before I zoomed in on the specifics of each important metric is that I am 'wowed' by their trend in financials. Let us dissect this acquisition beast which have grown tremendously over the years to look at their interesting growth in the various metrics.

I will present their compounded annual growth rates (CAGRs) of the various important metrics below for the past decade from 2007 to 2017:
Total revenues CAGR = 7.26%
Gross profits CAGR = 6.95%
Operating profits CAGR = 5.6%
Net profits (adjusted for one-off items) CAGR = 9.7%
Total assets CAGR = 9.34%
Shareholders' equity CAGR = 9.21%
Operating cash flows CAGR = 6.05%
Free cash flows CAGR = 4.48%

Next, I will present a snap shot of some more metrics a decade ago in 2007 and recent in 2017:
Cash conversion cycle (days) = 138.57 (2007) vs 97.13 (2017)
Gross profit margin = 29.51% (2007) vs 30.58% (2017)
Net profit margin (adjusted for one-off items) = 10.33% (2007) vs 12.8% (2017)
Return on assets = 12.58% (2007) vs 13.4% (2017)
Return on equity = 19.32% (2007) vs 19.6% (2017)
Debt to equity ratio = 0.45 (2007) vs 0.47 (2017)

I will now discuss Thai Beverage's trend of financials over the past decade in the few important aspects of profitability, efficiency, liquidity and leverage to see how they have performed.

First on to their profitability. We see that the total revenues, gross profits, operating profits and net profits have all grown at mostly high single digits compounded growth rates over the past decade. Thai Beverage may not be a fast grower commanding strong double digits compounded growth rates, but it has grown at a respectable high single digits compounded growth rates in these metrics. If we look at the gross profit margins and net profit margins a decade ago and now, the margins are maintained and in fact net profit margin has become better. I took a deeper look at the trend for these two profit margins and indeed the margins have maintained well over the past decade with no sudden drops in between. This shows us that Thai Beverage does boasts of a stable and resilient profitability in it's overall businesses over time.

Next on to their efficiency. Thai Beverage's return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) have maintained well one decade ago and in recent 2017. In fact, I looked at their one decade trend in these two returns metrics and they have maintained well at current levels of ROA (above 10%) and ROE (above 15%). We must realise that it is not easy to maintain the ROA and ROE in any business while it is growing it's assets and shareholders' equity through time. To be able to maintain the same level or even increase the level of ROA and ROE would mean the business has high efficiency. Thai Beverage just demonstrated their high efficiency in their businesses. If they can continue to maintain these same levels of returns, I will be even much more impressed with them.

Now on to their liquidity. We see that Thai Beverage just got much better at their cash conversion cycle. The number of days in their cash conversion cycle has decreased significantly over the past decade meaning that it takes them much lesser time in number of days to convert cash on hand into even more cash through their operations. Also, their operating cash flows and free cash flows have grown over the past decade generating more cash flows albeit their free cash flows have grown at a lower compounded growth rate. Their free cash flows over the past decade have been on average about four times their capital expenditures in any single year. They are definitely generating hell lots of free cash flows from their businesses with such relatively low capital expenditures requirement. It is no wonder with their strong liquidity and cash flows that they have the means to maintain a high dividend payout ratio of at least 50% of their net profits..

Next on to their financial leverage. Thai Beverage's debt to equity ratio has maintained at 0.45 to 0.47 level over one decade period. However, lately, there were concerns of chalking up too much debts to make four recent acquisitions (see link below). The debt to equity ratio of Thai Beverage from their most recent 1Q results ended 31 Dec is now around 1.76. Good gracious! They have just leveraged themselves higher at slightly more than 3 times their historical average leverage level. The big question now on every shareholder's mind should be whether they have just chewed more than they can swallow? Will they choke on so high a leverage or are we simply getting too overly worried?

I did an estimation of how long their free cash flows at current level (assuming their free cash flows do not increase anymore) will pay back all their debts. It will take them approximately 9.6 years to pay back all their existing debts (both short term and long term debts) by their existing free cash flows. I think Thai Beverage will likely roll over some of the debts by refinancing while repaying some debts along the way to reduce their current high leverage. If we examine their current assets versus current liabilities, current assets stand at about 79 billion Baht while current liabilities stand at about 90 billion Baht. Thus, with another 24 billion Baht from their existing free cash flows, immediate working capital needs should be adequate for them. We must not forget also that the new acquisitions will also contribute to their cash flows and create another additional buffer for their liquidity needs.

All in, I think we should not fret out on their high leverage at the moment but continue to monitor their progress at this stage of their expansion to give them time to work things out to reduce their leverage gradually which they have the strong cash flows generation and enough resources to manage this high leverage.

Valuation wise is tricky at the moment with these new acquisitions and high leverage now taken to work out how the future growth in EPS will be like. Perhaps a few more quarters will paint a better picture on how the new acquisitions will impact their earnings and cash flows for working out any fair valuation for them. At the moment, I will just observe this beverage giant going forward for new developments on their earnings and cash flows.

Article from Bangkok Post: ThaiBev riding Asean acquisition wave 

As per mentioned in my comment, I have no fair value for Thai Bev until I can see how their earnings and cash flows for next few quarters change after these recent acquisitions.

However, just for interest sake, I did an estimation of their enterprise value per share using figures from SGX Stock Facts (assuming the figures presented there are accurate). It works out to be $1.79 per share. Enterprise value (EV) is often thought of as a more robust measurement than market capitalisation of the true value of a company in the event of a take over of the company.

Thus, if we look at the current share price, it is definitely trading below the EV per share. As I have mentioned, EV though being a more robust measurement of the true value of an enterprise will only be potentially realised upon a take over of the enterprise. I will thus refrain from commenting whether the share price is really cheap now based on an ongoing business basis and not being viewed as a near term potential take over target. I will wait a while more to see how things work out for them (in view of recent changes to their leverage and substantial acquisitions made) based on this full year's results before being able to work out a fair value per share on an ongoing business growth in earnings basis.

Jeep wise, maybe not so soon for me until I can work out a fair value for them. But, I have a hunch with the current drop in their share price, it does present a very tempting bargain proposition for many investors.

Yup TII, I think they must already know how much leverage they could have managed on their risk scenario and ROI analysis for them to be so confident to take on these 4 acquisitions within a short time. Afterall, they have been on a track record of many acquisitions done before and never had liquidity issues before. But having said that, history may not be 100% a guarantee of future. I think it is better to observe their performance for a while going forward how they manage their current leverage and how the acquisitions contribute to their overall profitability, cash flows and ROI before commenting on whether they might have chewed off too much than they can swallow. As of now, I am cautiously positive based on their existing profitability, cash flows and cash level that they might not have reached a stress breaking point yet with these acquisitions. We shall see going forward.

Yup! The lower price to jeep, the better! No hurry yet until things pan out clearer for them. If already vested, no worry too as I think they are strong enough to manage this current leverage .

Cash flows are key going forward for Thai Bev. I think the huge amount of goodwill and the interest payment for the loans may drag down the reported earnings. How much will depend on how strong are the cash flows from the new and existing businesses.

Being such a large corporation, their finance team must have run through extensively on the risk scenario and ROI analysis, for them to be so confidence to buy these 4 acquisitions within a short time span. All The Best!

From TA point of view, It is still on a downtrend mode patterns.

Last Friday touched the low of 81 cents with slightly higher volume transacted which could see further selling down pressure. If the recent low of 80.5 cents has been broken down then it may likely side down towards 75 cents with extension to 70 cents.

dyodd.