The Thai economy in 2024 expanded by only 2.7%, increasing from 1.9% in 2023. The government and private sector construction investment value in 2024 was reported at 1.4 trillion Baht, increasing by about 4% from 2023, resulting from a gradual increase in the investment budget in the government construction projects. However, the budget reimbursement and the execution of new construction projects are still experiencing delays, while the private sector’s investment has remained stable from the commercial construction in major provinces where the tourism industry is continuously expanding. The bidding competition among major and medium-sized contractors for both government and private projects has been intense. In the meantime, core construction materials’ costs such as steel, concrete, electrical cords, copper, aluminum and building installation equipment have increased, resulting in negative impact on the construction contractors’ operating performance.
In 2024, the Company participated in the bid rounds for several government and private sector projects, and won 12 projects in total, equivalent to the project value of 5.11 billion Baht, which is lower than the target given the carried over backlog from 2023 of more than 15.1 billion Baht. Therefore, after realizing revenue in 2024 of 8.76 billion Baht, the backlog at the beginning of 2025 amounted to 10.74 billion Baht that will be realized in 2025 and the upcoming years. Furthermore, the Company intends to participate in large-scale infrastructure bid rounds with major construction contractors in Thailand and overseas, as well as taking on assignments from the major private sector organizations. It is expected that the additional projects to be acquired in 2025 should be approximately 14.5 billion Baht.
Even though the Company’s operating results in 2024 did increase, the loss was quite significant and the bidding success for construction projects did not meet the target. The Company’s total revenue was reported to be 9.62 billion Baht, increasing by 2.8% compared to 2023, with the revenue of 9.35 billion Baht. In this regard, 96.3% of the revenue was generated from the construction business, and the rest was from other sources. The Company reported a gross loss of 4.4%, compared with the gross profit of 7.2% in 2023, resulting from the increase in core construction materials’ costs such as steel, concrete, electrical cords, as well as increased labor costs; both for direct labor and subcontractors. There was also an increase in rework costs from subcontractors and preliminary costs for construction projects. The Company reported an operational loss of 665.6 million Baht, compared to the profit of 518.1 million Baht in 2023, and the loss before income tax of 1.10 billion Baht, compared to the profit of 178.5 million Baht, caused by higher administrative and financial expenses by about 1% of the revenue. The major cause is driven by longer collection period for the government construction projects, leading to the loss of 909.26 million Baht in 2024, as opposed to the profit of 93.32 million Baht in 2023.
In 2024, the Company’s total assets decreased by 6.8% from 15.94 billion Baht in 2023 to 14.85 billion Baht, mainly from the decrease in current assets. The current assets were reported to be 12.07 billion Baht (81.3%) and non- current assets of 2.78 billion Baht (18.7%), decreasing by 10.1% from 13.43 billion Baht in 2023 to 12.07 billion Baht in 2024, mainly from the decrease in the cost of works to be completed in accordance with the construction contracts. The majority of which are government projects. Meanwhile, the Company’s total liabilities decreased by 1.3% from 13.58 billion Baht in 2023 to 13.39 billion Baht in 2024. The current liabilities were 12.97 billion Baht, increasing slightly by 0.12% from 12.96 billion Baht in 2023.
The Company’s financial cost has increased due to higher use of short-term loans from 5.27 billion Baht in 2023 to 5.47 billion Baht in 2024, increasing by 3.8% despite a decrease in debenture interest. There was a noticeable decline in shareholders’ equity from 2.37 billion Baht in 2023 to 1.46 billion Baht in 2024, caused by an increase in accumulative loss of 1.21 billion Baht, compared to 304.4 million Baht in 2023, leading to an increase in D/E ratio from 5.7x in 2023 to 9.2x. Meanwhile, the gearing ratio increased from 2.55x to 4.10x in 2024, which is still within the acceptable range of financial institutions providing support to the Company.
The Company has made improvements to the work procedures for increased efficiency and effectiveness, focusing on delivering quality and timely commitment to customers, keeping operational costs within the budget and timely collection of construction fees. Moreover, departmental strategies have been identified to follow the ESG framework, with the emphasis on environmental conservation in the project sites, in terms of waste and pollution that may impact the operators or surrounding communities. The focus is placed on safety, hygiene and good environment, through a selection of materials that have the least impact on the environment, especially stressing on the participation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG). There are waste sorting projects on every site to induce recycling initiative. The Company is committed to clear goals in improving operational procedures and getting certified of the ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 by the middle of 2025. Furthermore, the Company encourages human capital and labor development by adhering to the human rights framework, fostering knowledge and competencies on construction techniques and system installation, which form a major part that makes the Company’s performance outstanding to customers and the public. The Company has been placing emphasis on value chain, with exchange of knowledge and experiences, as well as provision of innovation support for construction and new construction materials. All these improvements and execution form a significant foundation for the Company’s sustainable prosperity in years to come.
The Company has established subcommittees to supervise the operations in different aspects within the corporate governance framework, to ensure that potential risks are maintained at a low level, allowing for the identification of corrective measures, improvements and mitigation of transactional risks in an effective manner.
On this occasion, the Company would like to extend appreciation to all stakeholders, customers, suppliers, the management and staff members, government bodies and private sector organizations for providing support to the Company and playing a part in allowing the Company to succeed as aspired throughout the past 34 years.
