Thai Beverage: A 5% Dividend Yield Hiding in Plain Sight?

Hi Folks, welcome back to Investment Income for Life. Today we're putting Thai Beverage ("ThaiBev") on SGX under the microscope. It is one of the region's largest beer-and-spirits conglomerates (Chang Beer, SangSom, and now F&N), and a name that keeps showing up in income portfolios. 2 years back, I was vested in ThaiBev. In a way I was lucky to have sold off all my shares when its market price was between S$0.55 per share to S$0.61 per share- I would have suffered  a huge loss if I had held it longer. At that time, I recalled the dividend yield were just 3.7% to 4.8%. Recently, I have begun to build back stakes into ThaiBev in view of the healthier balance sheet with debts pared down and the higher dividend yield of 5.2%-5.3% dividend yield at only a mere 60% payout ratio.

1. Dividend Per Share — Steady and Rising

ThaiBev's fiscal year runs to 30 September; dividends are declared in Thai Baht (interim in May, final in February):

Fiscal Year	Interim DPS (THB)	Final DPS (THB)	Total DPS (THB)
FY2023 (Oct'22-Sep'23)	0.15	0.45	0.60
FY2024 (Oct'23-Sep'24)	0.15	0.47	0.62
FY2025 (Oct'24-Sep'25)	0.15	0.47	0.62

Payout ratio crept up from ~54% (FY2023) to 61.4% (FY2025) as profit softened, but management held the absolute dividend flat rather than cut it — a shareholder-friendly signal.

2. Share Price and Dividend Yield

ThaiBev's share price has drifted lower over the past three years even as the payout held steady — pushing the dividend yield up nicely:

Period	Share Price Range (S$)	Approx. Dividend Yield
FY2023 (Oct'22-Sep'23)	0.550 - 0.720	~3.7%
FY2024 (Oct'23-Sep'24)	0.435 - 0.575	~4.8%
FY2025 (Oct'24-Sep'25)	0.445 - 0.595	~5.0%
Latest - 18 Sep 2026	~0.440	~5.2%

At ~S$0.44, ThaiBev trades near its 52-week low of S$0.41 — hence the yield climbing past 5%, among the more attractive on the SGX consumer-staples board.

3. Management Deserves Credit — Deleveraging in Progress

Net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA improved from 3.08x (FY2023) to 2.92x (FY2024), then ticked to 3.22x in FY2025 — almost entirely from consolidating Fraser & Neave (F&N), not distress borrowing:

Fiscal Year	Net Debt / EBITDA	Interest Coverage
FY2023 (Sep'23)	3.08x	-
FY2024 (Sep'24)	2.92x	7.31x
FY2025 (Sep'25)	3.22x	6.73x

Interest coverage stays healthy at ~6.7x, and management keeps refinancing cheaper — in July 2026 ThaiBev secured a THB6.5bn sustainability-linked loan from Krungsri Bank. Sensible treasury management, not leverage drift.

4. Upcoming Catalyst — The BeerCo IPO

ThaiBev has long floated spinning off BeerCo (Chang Beer, Sabeco) via a ~20% SGX listing. Shelved a few times on weak markets, the plan was revived to ride stronger global equity conditions — with talk of a separate spirits listing too. A successful IPO could unlock value, bring in a partner, and fund further deleveraging — a key catalyst into 2027.

5. Parting Thoughts

ThaiBev isn't a growth story, but the 5% plus dividend yield is decent pay while waiting, and management is tidying the balance sheet. BeerCo's IPO is the free option that could re-rate the stock. Not financial advice — do your own homework and due diligence as usual.

Ok folks, that's all from me today. Have a great week ahead!

Investment Portfolios Updates (2 Feb 2024) - S$613K and Projected Annualised Passive Income of S$46K.

While the valuation of my net investments had gone up relative to 2 months ago, my projected passive income has declined from S$50K to S$46K. Interest expenses from margin financing has gone up. In addition, I have revised downwards the projected yield from StocksCafe for Keppel Pacific Oak REIT as well as Prime REIT- the latter I have amended the expected dividend yield to be zero as it is in "deep shieet" from the looks of it still not releasing its financial results compared to its previous year end announcement date.

(Note: Please also refer to my other Family Portfolio which is projected to yield +S$20K of passive income per annum).

 1. Portfolio 1- Stocks held in SGX Central Depository 

(Note: This portfolio is designed to provide immediate dividends for use as it is under my own CDP account and the dividends credited goes directly to my bank account.)

I have taken up additional shares in Haw Par Corporation as well as entered a small position into CapitaLand Investment Limited. 

2. Portfolio 2- Margin purchased securities

(Note: My margin purchased securities has grown to a sufficient scale to sustain itself and can pay off annual financing charges as well as to gradually pay down the margin loan through dividends generated.) 

I have taken up new position in another REIT using margin financing. US Office REITs that I am holding (Keppel Oak and Prime REIT) are expected to perform badly this year given their weak financial position and close to breach of banking covenants. The only consolation for me is that their current pathetic valuation has now become immaterial to my overall gross portfolios.

3. Portfolio 3 (with Tiger Brokers)- Venture into higher risk as well as capital growth stocks here

(i) Keppel Corp share prices shot up with the announcement of a record year of profits as well as a good amount of final dividends. I had taken profit when its share price hit over S$7 and redeployed it into Ping An Insurance Group.

(ii) I continued to add in additional 200 shares into Alibaba as Jack Ma and Joe Tsai had also buy in US200Mil of shares. The million dollar question is will 7th Feb 2024 results announcement be a catalyst to break the death spiral of Alibaba stocks?

(iii) During this 2 months period, I have also added a position into Thai Beverage as it was trading near its 52 weeks low. Please refer to this video on why I added a position into Thai Beverage. 

(iv) I have continued to accumulate additional stakes into United Hampshire US REIT during the downturn when its price was hovering at US$0.37 per unit.

4. Portfolio 4 (Endowus & Other Investments)

I have added in a new self created balanced growth funds that is 50% equities (Fidelity Global Dividend Fund + Fidelity Asia Pacific Dividend Fund) and 50% bonds (PIMCO fixed income+ Allianz Global High Yield Fund) which will give an expected passive income yield of 4.8% per annum. 

I plan to continue building up my investments using Endowus as it enables diversification into bond funds.

Summary

I think that 2024 looks set to be another bad year for REITs due to the high interest rate environment which will affect most REITS and their distributions when their loans are due for renewal. Gone are the days of dirt cheap close to zero interest rates. Nonetheless, I am optimistic that the yearly rental escalation clauses should eventually negate the effects of higher financing costs for REITs. 

Thai Beverage Share Price Rallied From 52 Weeks Low and Further Potential Catalyst For Its Share Price.

Good news! The Thailand government has announced tax cut on alcoholic and entertainment venues to boost tourism for a year. This is expected to benefit Thai Beverage, in particularly, its spirits business segment. Please refer to my latest YouTube Video on ThaiBev. Do stay till the end of the video for some sharing on a key potential price catalyst. Do subscribe to my Youtube Channel for exclusive updates there.

Thai Beverage Share Price Dropped To 52 Weeks Low- Is It A Good Time To Accumulate Units?

Thai Beverage has dropped from its 52 week high of S$0.725 per share to S$0.490 per share recently. Is it undervalued by the market and is it a good time to buy? Please see below for my video on YouTube channel. Going forward, I will be posting various exclusive investment contents only onto my YouTube channel. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel also to get the latest content for sharing.

SREITS Charging Up But Local Banks Going Down- 三十年河东；三十年河西。

The Singapore stock market rally after US Fed remarks signalling rate cuts in 2024. The resultant SGX run up seems to be more SREIT driven. Our local banks have not been performing well recently due to anticipation of lesser profits from weakening net interest margin. I thought that it is interesting that SREITs and our local banking stocks are having quite an inverse relationship in share price performance and makes a good playbook for future inflationary combat references. When SREITS are plunging due to ever increasing interest rates, local banks stock price went to all-time high- now it has turned the other way round. 

1. SREITs Rally and Exceptions Update-Manulife US REIT and Keppel DC REIT

I am not sure whether the current rally is sustainable given that there is still grave market uncertainty. Gold price for example is expected to continue surging in 2024 due to macro-environmental risk factors.  Market is just too volatile these days.

-Manulife US REIT ("MUST") shot up close to 7% today (15 Dec 2023) with the successful conclusion of its EGM whereby unit-holders voted an overwhelming 95%-97% for all the 3 inter-connected resolutions to pave the way for the recapitalisation rescue plan. I have sold off all my 9,900 units speculative trade after making a decent amount to have a meal at Jumbo Seafood. 

Previously (July 2023), I have realised my losses in MUST when it was hovering around US$0.105 level and re-deployed the funds mostly into Keppel Pacific Oak REIT. Too much risk involved in holding MUST made me decide to throw in the towel then.  

 

-Keppel DC REIT ("KDC") buck the trend on 15 Dec 2023 by dropping -9% in a single day due to the sudden announcement that its China Guangdong tenant (Guangdong Bluesea Data Development) has defaulted on its rental payment at the end of November 2023. This represents close to a 10% drop in distribution if the China tenant decided to just declare bankruptcy.

2. Bargain Deals Still Around Despite Recent Rally in Stock Market

I have took up close to S$20K of position in Thai Beverage ("ThaiBev") when its price keep dropping till S$0.50 per share level (and even below for a while recently) after its "disappointing" results announcement. Personally, I thought that it is a fairly decent set of numbers. FY2024 and FY2025 should turn out better for ThaiBev given the dominance of its market share in Thailand as well as in Vietnam and the increase in tourists visit from the economic recovery. Its dividend distribution remain unchanged and is giving a 4.5% dividend yield right now at a close to 52 weeks low pricing. I will probably share more details in another post if I have time. 

I think many analysts are overall still optimistic over the future of ThaiBev. Besides ThaiBev, there are also a couple of other interesting undervalued businesses (Non-REITs) that I am closely monitoring and will be deploying another S$10K of funds to buy into their stocks by year end. I will share more details after Christmas period.

Parting Thoughts

For those like myself who are more into dividend focused investing approach, the rally in SREITS does not have much impact. I intend to hold most of my current SREIT portfolio and will not be selling them. Instead I will be investing future dividends and excess funds into Non-REIT equities as well as bond funds via Endowus to diversify my over-concentration in SREITs,

Thai Beverage First Half Profits Increased Relative to Last Year But Share Price Plummet by 10%- Oversold?

Thai Beverage share price plummeted by almost 10% the following day after the release of their 2nd quarter financial performance (ending 31 March 2019) to as low as S$0.735 per share from S$0.825 per share. This seems to be a knee jerk reaction to the unfavourable results for 2nd quarter relative to the previous financial period. However, the fact of the matter is that if I recall correctly, Thai Beverage is coming off from an abnormally highly skewed profit base for Q2 2018 which was mainly before the additional excise tax came in for alcholic drinks hence agents and retail outlets were stocking up as much as possible before the new measurement and price increase in April 2018 by Thai Beverage.

A better gauge of their financial performance should be for at least 6mths. Thai Beverage 1st half results were still 11.3% better overall than prior financial period albeit the decline for the 2nd quarter. I think that it is too soon to write off the good performance and to decide that Thai Beverage will underperform for the 2nd half of its financial year. Revenue for Beer is still on a rising trend. 

2nd quarter results-Revenue still improving.

Normalised net profit due shareholders is still up by 11.3% for first 6 months (excluding non-recurring M&A expenses)

Even before the release of the results, I saw an increase in short selling activities. Looks like magically, some shareholders already glanced into their crystal ball and knew that the 2nd quarter results will show a decline relative to the prior year financial period and the market will react very negatively. Sometimes, I just can't help but wonder whether there are any leakages of key financial data before the announcement to the market despite SGX stringent rules governing such disclosure. As of the recent 2nd quarter results announcement, I  was still holding on to 41,000 shares at an average cost of S$0.630 per share. Since the beginning of this year, I have gradually sold off part of my original 81,000 shares in order to take profit after the recovery from the bearish market sentiment in Q4 2018.

During the 1 day plunge in the share price of Thai Beverage following the release of the results, I had taken profits off 10,000 units of Starhill Global REIT and used the proceeds to accumulate 10,000 shares of Thai Beverage at S$0.740 a piece. My view is that it is still too early to conclude that Thai Beverage results will deteriorate and a better benchmark would be to wait 1 more quarter. Based on the 1st half excellent financial performance, I think that the shares of Thai Beverage were oversold. In addition, due to the global economic uncertainty, Thai Beverage remains a good diversification of one's portfolio with exposure to the South East Asia wine/beer market as well as the F&B (KFC) fast food segment in Thailand.