Delta Electronics (Thailand), the country's largest electronics company by market capitalisation, targets double-digit revenue growth next year thanks to its manufacturing expansion and product diversification.
President and director Jackie Chang said despite a global tech derating and a softened macroeconomic outlook, Delta's cumulative financial performance over the first nine months of 2023 has been "very strong, beating the market consensus".
"In addition to our record-high financial results, we achieved capacity expansion across Thailand, India and Europe alongside smart manufacturing implementation to upgrade our existing production lines," he told the Bangkok Post.
Most of the uplift in Delta's business this year is from electric vehicle power electronics, given the company's added capacity and customer push for delivery of backlog stretched from last year.
"Regarding our new business development, we made significant inroads towards transforming to an integrated solutions provider for Southeast Asian regional markets," said Mr Chang.
In the third quarter of this year, Delta posted total revenue of nearly 40.5 billion baht, up 29.2% year-on-year, with net profit surging 32% to 5.43 billion.
In the first nine months this year, revenue totalled 109 billion baht with a net profit of 13.7 billion.
"Towards the end of this year, we saw some signs of demand softening, but we still project a double-digit growth pace in our budget plan next year," he said.
Potential bright spots are in selective sub-sectors of Delta's businesses, including new opportunities related to artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing solutions, and energy infrastructure solutions in line with the global transformation towards electrification, e-mobility and green energy.
"Delta is making new investments in production capacity at the Wellgrow Industrial Estate in Chachoengsao," said Mr Chang.
"We expect further manufacturing relocations to Thailand, which provides an additional upside to our baseline forecasts."
On Dec 1, Delta informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) it intends to spend 3 billion baht constructing two new factories in Wellgrow. Construction starts this month and is scheduled for completion in June 2025.
He said while demand may sag for many consumer electronics products, there are many other applications for electronics manufacturers that have diversified to develop broad product portfolios.
"I believe the real opportunity for the electronics industry is our key role in sustainability and future technology. There are plenty of new verticals too, such as LED, high-power computing for AI and Internet of Things, that will replace legacy systems and certainly offer plenty of opportunities for growth," said Mr Chang.
"Our investment strategy in new technologies and diversification of our business and product/solution portfolio means we are always positioned to reap benefits from global trends, like AI and digitalisation, that are reshaping the electronics industry."
The SET on Monday announced the constituents for the SET50 and SET100 indices for the first half of 2024. Delta remains in the SET50, easing investor concerns that it would be removed from the list.
The company also qualified as a constituent of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) 2023 for the third year, recognising its excellent environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, he said.
Delta remains the only Thai company in the ITC electronic equipment, instruments and components industry segment in the 2023 DJSI and is on the DJSI world list.
"As a listed company, ESG underpins our long-term sustainable development strategy. Our numerous energy-efficiency projects aim to meet our 100% renewable electricity target for global operations by 2030," said Mr Chang.
"We are also collaborating with partners to drive talent development and good corporate governance in Thailand."