Moody's affirms Thai Beverage's 'Baa3' issuer rating

MOODY'S Investors Service has affirmed Thai Beverage Public Company's "Baa3" issuer rating, while changing the rating outlook from "negative" to "stable".

Annalisa DiChiara, Moody's senior vice-president, said: "The 'Baa3' rating affirmation and change in rating outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' reflects the resiliency of ThaiBev's operations, underpinned by its leading market position in the domestic alcohol segment - particularly for spirits - which has continued to support its solid cash flow generation."

In addition, Moody's expects the company to continue to pare down debt, lowering its leverage to below 4x within the next 12-18 months.

For the financial year ended September 2020, Thai Beverage's gross revenues fell 5 per cent year-on-year to 253 billion baht (S$11.2 billion) on the back of lower sales volumes for beer and non-alcoholic beverages. However, sales volumes for its spirits segment edged up 0.2 per cent over the same period, and it reported a 9 per cent increase in Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) to 28.5 billion baht.

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