Dusit International, a company listed on the SET, has confirmed that the internal conflict within its major shareholder, Chanut and Children Co, owned by the heirs of the company’s founder, should not really be a big deal for the company’s operations or result in a trading suspension on the market. Last month, Chanut and Children Co, which holds close to half of the company’s shares, decided not to approve the company’s financial statement for 2024.
This caused a delay in the shareholder meeting, which was supposed to happen on April 25 but got pushed to May 28. As a result, the company couldn’t submit its first-quarter statement on time. But don’t worry, folks, Group Chief Executive Suphajee Suthumpun came to the rescue by calling for an urgent board meeting to approve the first-quarter financial results. These results were then submitted and certified by an auditor approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), saving the company from getting a trading suspension (SP) status.
However, shareholders still need to give the thumbs up for the appointment of that auditor during the annual general meeting on May 28. “The whole shareholder drama shouldn’t really affect how the company runs,” Suphajee reassured everyone. As the Group Chief Executive, she holds the highest executive position and works for the benefit of all shareholders, following the policies approved by the board of directors, which includes members of the founder’s family.
In 2024, Dusit managed to make some decent moolah with a revenue of 11.2 billion baht, marking a 74.8% increase from the previous year. They also raked in an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of 1.65 billion baht, a whopping 91.4% rise. However, they still ended up with a net loss of 237 million baht, mostly due to those pesky loan interest payments. Suphajee is still optimistic about the future, aiming for strong revenue growth, even though hitting that 30–35% growth target seems unlikely due to factors like global geopolitical tensions messing with the tourism sector.
The company is gunning for an EBITDA margin of 16 to 18% and hopes to turn that net loss into a net profit. In the first quarter of 2025, Dusit pulled in a revenue of 2.38 billion baht and an EBITDA of 513 million baht. Their residential project at Dusit Central Park seems to be a hit, with 88% of the units already sold, bringing in around 15.5 billion baht. Suphajee has been holding down the fort as Chief Executive of Dusit International since 2016.
