MCS is a steel-fabricating company that benefits from lower raw-material prices.

Chairman Naiyuan Chi told reporters yesterday that MCS expected to book a better result again this year, thanks to higher sales volume, improved operating margin and an expected foreign-exchange gain.

“We’re looking ahead to next year, since we have our hands full [with work] this year,” he said.

Export

MCS expects to export 50,000 tonnes of steel from its Thai plant this year at a price of about 240,000 yen (Bt76,800) per tonne.

It also expects to sell more than 10,000 tonnes from its Xiamen plant in China, and about 7,000-8,000 tonnes from its Japanese factory. Last year, it sold a total of 48,000 tonnes.

The company is also poised to gain from the appreciation of the yen from Bt27 per 100 yen to about Bt31 at present.

Its gross profit margin is likely to increase from 21 per cent last year.

MCS is negotiating to buy a factory and land from its Japanese partner in MCS Nasu, its joint venture in Japan in which it has a 66-per-cent interest.

The acquisition would turn MCS from a lessee to a lessor of the assets, which would give it more flexibility in managing the assets, while saving rent of 60 million yen per year.

To diversify its markets, MCS is talking with potential US customers to ship steel to the United States, beginning with one or two projects this year.

MCS’s stock closed down 5.2 per cent at Bt11 yesterday, while the SET Index dipped 1.9 per cent.