Despite the escalating political unrest in Thailand, UOB KayHian has continued to be optimistic on the prospects of alcohol beverage manufacture Thai Beverage (ThaiBev).
The brokerage believes the current political situation is now different compared to the political coup in 2014.
In particular, the direct effects are likely to be “minimal”, it says, though the risks of larger impact events are still present.
UOBKH says its checks revealed that there has not been significant direct impact as a result of the protests yet.
Consumer products have also not been banned, it adds.
Since July, Thai students have been staging regular protests with demands for the current Thai government to resign.
In recent weeks, the protests have escalated to subversive calls to limit the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
“Although the current political situation in Thailand may present potential uncertainty in consumer sentiment, we believe that with initiatives to spur domestic consumption still in place, current direct effects are not too significant,” UOBKH analyst Lucas Teng writes in a note dated Sept 28.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has begun its second wave of recovery with the reopening of entertainment venues.
This should bode well for ThaiBev’s subsidiary Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corp (Sabeco) as beer consumption is expected to get an uplift, says UOBKH.
The brokerage has maintained its “buy” rating for the stock with an unchanged target price of 78 cents.
As at 11.40 am, ThaiBev was up 0.5 cent or 0.8% at 60 cents with 3.7 million shares changed hands.
