Berli Jucker Plc , the retail flagship of tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's TCC Group, said its quarterly net profit more than doubled, due to foreign exchange gains and the consolidation of Big C Supercenter.
Berli posted a net profit of 1.8 billion baht for July-September, up 118% from a year earlier. It also booked a foreign exchange gain of 1.08 billion baht after a loan repayment, the company said in a statement
Third-quarter revenue jumped 241% to 38 billion baht, mainly due to consolidation of Big C's performance.
Berli raised about $6 billion from the sale of new shares and bonds to repay the short-term debt raised with banks to fund its $6.2-billion-baht acquisition of hypermarket chain Big C in May.
It holds 97.94% of Big C after winning a hotly contested tender offer for French retailer Casino's 58.6% stake in February.
Its interest-bearing debt-to-equity ratio rose to 1.4 times in the third quarter versus 0.7 times the same period a year earlier due to the Big C deal, Berli said.
Big C, the country's second largest hypermarket operator, reported a 14.6% rise in net profit of 1.54 billion baht in the third quarter, due to improved margins and resilient rental and service income growth.
Analysts expect Berli's profit to rise sharply in 2017 as it will fully benefit from the Big C acquisition, which gives Berli access to large-format retail business and well-invested supply chain.
Berli, which operates a wide range of trading, packaging to healthcare supply chain, is already the third largest grocery retailer in Southeast Asia in terms of retail sales, according to the company data.
It competes with CP All, controlled by billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont's Charoen Pokphand Group, and Tesco's Thai unit.
Berli shares (BJC) were down 2.84% to 51.25 baht in the morning session on Friday, after a surge of nearly 4% on Thursday ahead of the earnings announcement. Big C shares (BIGC) were 0.49% higher to 207 baht.