KCE Electronics Public Company Limited (SET: KCE) has announced its 2021 consolidated financial statement through the Stock Exchange of Thailand as follows;
| Yearly | 2021 | 2020 |
| Net Profit (Loss) Million Baht |
2,426.28 | 1,126.79 |
| Earning Per Share (Baht) | 2.06 | 0.96 |
| % Change | 115.33 | |
KCE reported a net profit of 2,426 million baht in 2021, increased 115% from a net profit of 1,126 million baht in 2020. The increase was mainly due to a revenue growth in 2021 as well as an increase in gross margin.
Consolidated sales revenue in Thai baht terms increased from 11,527.2 million baht in 2020 to 14,937.8 million baht in 2021, representing a growth of 29.59% Y-o-Y, while sales revenue in USD terms increased by 25.93% Y-o-Y to USD468.6 million.
The Y-o-Y increase in revenue was due mainly to a 23.35% increase in sales volume of PCBs, as production output continued to ramp up following an aggressive booking of customer orders and a change in product mix, particularly of special grade products. A continual rise in the price of copper since the beginning of the year had led to an increase in selling prices of products that took effect in May 2021. In addition, the weakened THB against the US dollar in the period resulted in a gain in revenue recognition in Thai Baht terms of 393.63 million baht in Y-o-Y. Nevertheless, sales revenue was adversely impacted by unrealized consignment sales of 470.1 million baht, an ongoing backlog of orders at the end of the year, the chip shortage, and a delay in shipments caused by the shortage of shipping containers.
The outbreak of the third wave of COVID-19 led to lockdown restrictions, which had a major impact on the company’s operations in the third quarter and caused a delay in machine installation of an increase in capacity of HDI.
In 2021, the cost of sales decreased considerably to 73.4% from 78.2% in 2020, which resulted in the gross profit margin increasing to 26.6% of sales from 21.8% the previous year.
The widened gross profit margin followed a full production capacity utilization, which reflected a firm recovery of order bookings Q-o-Q and in the entire year. However, in 3Q21 there were some operational difficulties caused by COVID-19 infections among line staff. KCE’s plant in Ayutthaya had to shut down for 10 days in late June to early July. Even though the business gradually returned to normal in September, this resulted in a continued higher cost of goods in the second half of 2021.
Meanwhile, new selling prices that took effect in May 2021 that helped compensate for the high cost of goods sold in relation to the increased price of copper and the Thai baht’s depreciation, all supported the widening of gross profit margin.
