Land and Houses Public Company Limited

Land and Houses Public Company Limited, or LH, informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand that its board of directors, at a meeting on October 1, 2026, approved the payment of an interim cash dividend to common shareholders at 0.08 baht per share, paid out of the company's operating results for the first half of 2026, covering the period from January 1 to June 30, 2026. The company's shares have a par value of 1 baht each. The company has set the XD mark, the date on which buyers of the securities are not entitled to the dividend, for October 14, 2026, and has set the record date for shareholders entitled to receive the dividend for October 15, 2026, before paying the dividend to shareholders on October 29, 2026.

Mr. Thiraphong Chansiri, Chief Executive Officer of Thai Union Group Public Company Limited, or TU, said that the continued weakening of the baht is a clear positive factor, helping to support revenue from exports or overseas business, which accounts for roughly 88 to 89% of total revenue. The baht has weakened more than the company had previously estimated, further enhancing the competitiveness of the export sector in global markets. For its business outlook in the second half of 2026, TU expects continued growth on the back of an improved overall order picture, and it is maintaining its target of revenue growth of about 4 to 6% from the previous year, after generating revenue of approximately 65.8 billion baht in the first half of this year. As for the tariff discussions between the Thai and US governments, TU initially believes that the structure of import tariff rates in its main market, the United States, is unlikely to increase. On expansion strategy, the company continues to focus on overseas investment through its pet care business, via i-Tail Corporation Public Company Limited, and its economic animal food, or pet food, business, via Thai Union Feedmill Public Company Limited, which will expand investment in a project to build a shrimp feed production plant in Ecuador. Both groups are seen as drivers of new growth, or a new S-Curve, over the long term. Meanwhile, analysts at Land and Houses Securities Public Company Limited recommend buying TU with a target price of 14.75 baht, because the business has passed the bottom of its restructuring. The transitional expense burden that had pressured its EBIT margin down to 4.6% in 2025 has ended, and a clear recovery is expected in 2027.

TRIS Rating has affirmed the corporate rating and the senior unsecured debenture rating of Land and Houses Public Company Limited, or LH, at A with a Stable outlook, and has assigned a rating of A to its new bond issue of up to 6 billion baht with a maturity of up to 5 years. The company will use the proceeds to repay part of its debt and/or as working capital. TRIS expects LH's property business to gradually recover during 2026–2028, with residential sales projected to rise to 14–16 billion baht per year from 13 billion baht in 2025. Its backlog as of June 2026 stood at 10.4 billion baht, about 85% of which comes from the Wan Vayla Na Chaophraya condominium project, scheduled to begin transfers in the fourth quarter of 2026. On financial position, TRIS expects LH to control investment and sell one to three rental assets per year, using most of the proceeds to reduce debt, bringing its financial debt-to-equity ratio down from about 60% as of June 2026 to 50–55% over the next three years. For its 2026–2028 projections, TRIS expects LH's total revenue to recover to 23–26 billion baht per year, with an EBITDA margin of 33–43%. As of June 2026, the company held 5.7 billion baht in cash, 10.3 billion baht in undrawn credit lines, and investments in HMPRO, QH, LHFG and Q-CON with a combined market value of about 39 billion baht.

KGI Securities (Thailand) has maintained its "Equal Weight" investment rating on the property sector, assigning a "Buy" recommendation to SIRI and AP because they are the number one and number two market leaders in presales respectively, supported by strong core businesses, good dividend payouts, and solid backlogs and ready-to-sell projects. Meanwhile, SPALI, LH and PSH are rated "Hold", while ORI and QH are rated "Sell", with ORI because its recovery path remains challenging and QH because most of its profit comes from share of profit from associates rather than its core property business. Although the property business remains sluggish due to slowing revenue and low gross margin, AP is still growing strongly enough for its 1H69 profit to grow on the back of its core business, while SPALI, QH, SIRI and ORI have share of profit from associates helping to support net profit. PSH performed better than expected thanks to cost control and its steadily growing hospital business, and LH has a hotel business that accounts for about 50% of revenue and remains outstanding. It is expected that 3Q69F profit of AP, SPALI and SIRI will grow year on year in line with construction completion schedules and condominium transfers, while 4Q69 will be the quarter with the highest earnings of the year for AP, LH, ORI and SIRI, driven by the high season and a large number of new condominiums scheduled for ownership transfer. LH is likely to lead the group thanks to transfers of the "One Verandah" condominium worth 1.5 billion baht, which is already 57% sold, plus a large gain from the sale of the Grand Centre Point Surawong hotel worth 3 billion baht and apartments in the United States. The consumer confidence index in August 69 improved to 53.2 from about 50 in 2Q69 and 51.8 in July, while the property sector's aggregate profit in 1H69 accounted for 43% of the current full-year profit forecast of 19.4 billion baht, up 5% year on year, and the 2570F forecast of 20.6 billion baht, up 6.5% year on year.

Kasikorn Securities recommends buying shares of Land and Houses Public Company Limited, or LH, with a target price of 4.33 baht, after the company informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 13 August of the appointment of Mr. Achawin Asavabhokin as the new executive chairman, replacing Mr. Naphorn Sunthornchitcharoen, who will retire on 31 December 2026. Mr. Achawin will assume the position on 1 January 2027. The company also appointed Mr. Wit Tantawanwong as chairman of the board, replacing Mr. Naphorn in another role. The research team views this as slightly positive, as the change in top management is expected to mark the beginning of improvements in management style, strategy, and overall operating targets, which is important in a highly competitive market. Mr. Achawin currently serves as managing director, a position he has held since 1 January 2026, and previously was deputy managing director and chief financial officer of LH. The research team sees LH shares as attractive for an earnings recovery expected from the fourth quarter of 2026 onward, supported by the start of ownership transfers for the large condominium project One Bangkok Chao Phraya, worth 15 billion baht, of which 57% has been sold, the opening of the Grand Centre Point Voyage Pattaya hotel, and asset sales in Thailand and the United States. Factors that could support a re-rating of the stock include increased market confidence in the recovery of the residential business, especially from major developers, as well as LH's new business plans and strategies under the new executive chairman.

Land and Houses Securities, or LH Fund, is preparing to offer the LHAI-INFRA fund between 30 July and 5 August 2026. The fund will invest in units of the foreign mutual fund Tortoise AI Infrastructure ETF, averaging at least 80 percent of net asset value over the accounting year. The master fund is actively managed and aims to invest in stocks across the artificial intelligence infrastructure value chain, from energy, power systems, data centers, and cooling systems to servers, memory, storage, and networks, as well as data center developers and AI cloud providers. The fund's key strength is diversifying away from chip stocks and large-cap technology stocks into industrials, utilities, energy, and data center operators, which are essential infrastructure for the transition from the AI training era to AI inference and widespread real-world application.

Land and Houses Bank, or LH Bank, has confirmed that news reports concerning Mr. Anant Asavabhokin have no impact on its management or business direction, as Mr. Anant has not been involved in the bank's management for a long time. The shareholding structure is held through Land and Houses Public Company Limited, which holds a 30% stake in LH Financial Group, or LHFG. For this year's strategy, the bank still targets total loan growth of 10 to 12%, focusing on SME loans, retail loans, and home loans, while expanding its International Business, which is expected to grow by about 50%, driven by foreign direct investment, especially from high-tech industries in China and Taiwan relocating production bases to Thailand. In the first half of the year, the bank expanded its International Business by 27%, with main customers being entrepreneurs in electronic components, AI, and electronic circuit board industries. Many projects have completed factory construction and are entering production and export phases, leading to continued growth in demand for financial services such as international business loans, foreign exchange transactions, and trade finance. Fee income continues to be supported by financial transactions, sales of mutual funds investing in foreign technology sectors, and bancassurance. Meanwhile, income from foreign exchange transactions is also boosted by the expanding base of import and export customers amid baht volatility. For net interest margin, or NIM, the bank expects the policy interest rate to remain stable throughout the year and will continue to manage financial costs while increasing the proportion of high-yield loans to improve NIM in the second half, particularly in SME and retail loans. Regarding asset quality, the non-performing loan ratio, or NPL, stands at 2.56%, a slight increase due to pressure in the SME segment affected by economic conditions and higher operating costs. However, the bank expects provisioning in the second half to remain at a similar level or decline slightly after careful loan portfolio management. In addition, LH Bank targets sustainable loan issuance of 6 billion baht this year, having already achieved about 5.8 billion baht, and sets a long-term goal to increase the sustainable loan portfolio to 30 billion baht within five years to support businesses investing in machinery efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction. To support SMEs, the bank uses the FLY program to analyze industry potential for faster loan approvals, along with credit guarantee mechanisms from the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation, or TCG, to help manage risk and increase access to funding for small entrepreneurs. As for the baht direction in the third quarter, the bank assesses that it may weaken due to high oil prices, the low tourism season, and the interest rate differential between Thailand and the United States. However, the baht is expected to strengthen towards the end of the year, supported by the high tourism season and stronger economic activity.

Phillip Securities expects the Thai stock index to trade sideways in a range of 1,640 to 1,665 points, pressured by a 2026 forward P/E of 16.7 times, close to the average since 2020 of 17.1 times, and banking stocks may face sell-on-fact pressure after earnings announcements. However, the TISA project measures will help prevent the index from falling deeply, and a rotation of funds out of banking stocks into real sector stocks is expected for speculation on second-quarter 2026 earnings, which are anticipated to be strong. The investment strategy is divided into four main themes: speculation on second-quarter 2026 earnings in stocks such as AMATA, CPALL, DELTA, HANA, ITC, KCE, MRDIY, MTC, OSP, QH, SAWAD, SCC, STECON, and TIDLOR; energy stocks in BCP, PTT, PTTEP, SPRC, and TOP; speculation on government measures or projects in BJC, CENTEL, CK, CPAXT, CRC, DOHOME, ERW, GLOBAL, HMPRO, LH, MINT, and SCC; and hopes for investment inflows from China in ADVANC, GUNKUL, GULF, ROJNA, WHA, and WHAUP.