Many analysts consider Minor International Pcl. (SET: MINT) among blue-chip top picks as the low seasonality performance in the first quarter was already priced in and it is now a good time to accumulate MINT on the back of the rest of the year’s “promising” outlook, following strong performance in April.
Bualuang Securities see MINT as its early call ahead of 2Q23 tourist high season in Europe. “2Q23 earnings will expand YoY (with rises across all business units) and QoQ (tourism’s high season for NH Hotel),” according to its report published in April.
The analyst sees “stronger profits” in 2Q boosted by the upcoming highest tourism season in Europe, where the majority of MINT’s Hotels, particularly under the NH brand, which are the group’s major revenue contributor, are located.
With strong leisure demand and MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) travels, together with the return of Chinese tourists, Minor Hotels’ outlook for the rest of the year is considered “strong”. The company’s current occupancy rate in Thailand is robust with over 70%, much higher than the same period of last year at 45%. While Thailand’s occupancy looks set to climb up further, occupancy in Europe is also expected to soar to over 70% – 75% for the remainder of the year from 60% in 1Q23.
“Although the first quarter was our low season particularly in Europe, the activities in April and business on the book throughout the remainder of the year look very promising and give us more confidence that we’d likely see strong growth for the rest of the year,” said Chaiyapat Paitoon, CFO of Minor International.
For Minor Food, following revitalization program of several brands including Swensen’s, Sizzler and Bonchon, sales during the recent Songkran holiday saw a new record high of an average of 100 million baht a day, with 12% increase from the same period of 2019, which is well above the pre-Covid level. This has led to an anticipation of strong numbers for the quarter, especially with upcoming long school holidays and numerous public holidays.
