A source within the regulator said the ERC yesterday had a preliminary discussion on the submitted appeal. The regulator’s board also instructed officials to gather information for the board’s consideration at its next meeting.

As the board meets every Wednesday, it is expected that the board will vote next Wednesday on whether to accept GPSC’s grounds for appeal.

However, the source said that if the board finds that GPSC has not presented any new information for its appeal, the board will not propose any consideration to proceed to a vote on the matter.

The ERC in October blocked plans by GPSC to buy 69.11 per cent of the shares in Glow. In a unanimous resolution, the regulator ruled that the proposed transaction could stifle competition in the energy business, violating provisions in the Energy Business Law of 2550.

The GPSC board resolved on June 19 to approve the company’s plan to acquire directly and indirectly 69.11 per cent of the total issued shares of Glow from Engie Global Developments and make a tender offer for the rest of Glow’s securities. The company entered into a share-purchase agreement with the seller on June 20. The sale and purchase of shares were to proceed only after the fulfilment of conditions including the approval of the transaction by the ERC.

According to a Fitch Ratings release yesterday, the ratings on GPSC remain on Rating Watch Negative (RWN) after the company said it submitted an appeal against the ERC’s order that blocked GPSC’s acquisition of Glow.

Fitch said that GPSC’s ratings will remain on RWN pending the outcome of the appeal. If GPSC ultimately proves unsuccessful in challenging the ERC’s decision and the transaction does not go ahead, Fitch expects GPSC’s ratings to be unchanged, given that the company’s financial and business profiles are broadly consistent with those prior to entering into the acquisition.

Should the appeal be successful, the ratings of GPSC would remain on RWN pending further progress on the acquisition. Fitch expects to review the RWN once the transaction is completed and there is a greater clarity on the long-term funding and post-transaction capital structure.

Fitch initially placed GPSC’s ratings on RWN on June 22, based on the expectation that GPSC’s financial profile would deteriorate, as leverage could worsen to levels that are not in line with its “A+(tha)” ratings. The acquisition would be initially funded by bridging facilities, which would mature one year from the deal’s completion.

If the company wins its appeal, it plans to complete various transactions, including the issuance of a debenture and an equity injection, which would affect its long-term capital structure.

Boon, in an interview with The Nation, said the property developer had been posting only moderate growth since its establishment in 2008 until 2014, a period in which it launched an average of one or two residential projects a year. But that pattern changed in 2015, when the company embarked on an aggressive investment schedule by stepping up the pace of project launches in a bid to push total yearly revenue growth into the double digits.

At the end of 2017, the company recorded total revenue of Bt2.04 billion and net profit of Bt155.5 million, jumping 70 per cent and 146.51 per cent, respectively, from 2016. The growth rates have accelerated this year, with total revenue of Bt2.25 billion and net profit of Bt244 million booked for the first nine months – representing gains of 170.97 per cent and 897.88 per cent, respectively, from the same period of last year.

Boost from pipeline

“We expect our total revenue to achieve the targeted Bt2.4 billion at the end of this year, given the company’s total backlog of properties that have already been sold and are awaiting transfer to the buyers,” he said.

“As part of a total backlog worth Bt570 million, some of the sale proceeds that will come in as projects are completed will booked as |company in the last quarter of this year.”

The company’s inventory, which comprises units in completed projects that are awaiting sale, is worth about Bt1.53 billion. The proceeds from home purchases are credited immediately to the company’s revenue, Boon said.

For 2019, the company is targeting total revenue of Bt2.8 billion, marking an expected rise of 20 per cent from this year – thanks to plans to launch at least seven residential projects worth more than Bt6 billion that year, Boon said.

In 2020, the company expects its total revenue will come in between Bt3 billion and Bt3.5 billion, helped by plans to launch at least eight housing projects worth about Bt7 billion that year. It plans to repeat that effort in 2021.

The busy launch schedule is expected to drive total revenue to at least Bt4.5 billion for that year, Boon said.

Under the company’s business plan for achieving the 2021 goal, it will focus on customers from both the domestic and overseas markets, he said.

Up to 10 per cent of its customers come from overseas, including those from mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. By 2021, the company expects that foreign buyers will account for 25 per cent of its total sales, Boon said.

“We are confident that Thailand’s economy will maintain its growth in line with the government’s increased investment to develop the country’s infrastructure,” he said.

“The new infrastructure will open up opportunities for property firms to develop residential projects at new locations, which will emerge as new central business districts following the expansion in the mass transit routes.

“This presents a challenge for property firms to drive business growth, including for our firm.”