Samart warns it may miss 2007 target

General news - Thursday December 13, 2007

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Samart warns it may miss 2007 target

The telecoms group Samart Corp said yesterday that its 2008 revenues should be higher than the 20 billion baht expected this year, helped by overseas expansion. However, 2007 revenues would miss the target of 25-26 billion baht due mainly to mobile handset sales by its Samart I-mobile subsidiary, said chief executive Watchai Vilailuck.

''Next year, we will rely more on overseas markets in both handsets and other new businesses,'' Mr Watchai said, adding the SIM subsidiary would expand in Asia, the Middle East and Iran.

SIM, which sells mobile handsets in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam, aimed to sell five million units of its I-mobile brand in 2008, up 25% from this year, Mr Watchai said.

Samart, 18.9% owned by Telekom Malaysia, is forecast to earn revenues of 20.8 billion baht this year, down 29% from last year, said two analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

They also forecast an average net profit of 511 million baht, down from 1.99 billion baht in 2006, when the firm booked a 1.3 billion baht gain from investment sales. Subsidiary Samart Telcoms (SamTel), which installs telecoms systems, would also help lift revenues as it would benefit from government spending on IT projects, Mr Watchai said.

Samart operates a wide range of services with SIM and SamTel generating more than 90% of last year's revenues.

Shares of Samart closed yesterday on the SET at 7.85 baht, up five satang, in trade worth 70.37 million baht. Samart I-Mobile was unchanged at 18 baht in trade worth 1.14 million baht, and SAMTEL was unchanged at 7.80 in thin trade worth 17,000 baht.

Bangkok Post