บทวิเคราะห์ (Research)

TOP’s board of directors approved an increase in the investment cost for the Clean Fuel Project (CFP) by Bt63.0bn (US$1,776mn) plus estimated interest expenses during construction of Bt17.9bn (US$505mn), bringing the total project cost to Bt241.5bn (US$7,151mn) and total interest expenses to Bt37.2bn (US$1,078mn). The board also approved the convening of the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on February 21, 2025, to propose and seek approval for the increase in the investment cost of the CFP project. We cut our 2025F target price to Bt30.00, from Bt56.00, based on unchanged 6.0x EV/EBITDA to reflect the additional cash outflow during 2025-2028 from the increase in the investment cost for the CFP by US$1,776mn plus estimated interest expenses during construction of US$505mn. We downgrade TOP to Neutral, from Outperform, due to the delay in the construction of the CFP project.