นสพ.คอม - SET chairman: businesses should adjust asset holdings

<body> <h1>SET chairman: businesses should adjust asset holdings</h1> <p> SET chairman: businesses should adjust asset holdingsSET chairman: businesses should adjust asset holdings(Bangkok Post.com) The private sector needs to rely on itself in order to survive and can’t expect much from the government, Stock Exchange of Thailand chairman Pakorn Malakul Na Ayudhya said.Mr Pakorn said businesses need to analyze their cash flow and cash needs within the next two years, and they should quickly borrow from banks if needed because banks are likely to tighten up lending. He added businesses need to prioritize their investments and carry out only those deemed important to their survival. Crisis should be turned into opportunity, said the SET chairman, referring to several stocks that depreciated in value and have low P E ratio. Mr Pakorn said these shares pay out more dividends than interest from savings, thus businesses might sell excess assets to invest in such shares instead.Prasert Bunsumpun, President of PTT Plc, said the world economy has a bigger problem now than at the start of the Asian economic crisis in 1997 and Thai businesses should prepare to handle troubles that lay ahead. PTT would not be expanding investments in the refinery and petrochemical businesses, as it viewed both would decline heavily for more than two years. The company would try to reduce costs and maintain liquidity in the face of future uncertainties, said Mr Prasert.Kan Trakulhoon, president and CEO of Siam Cement Group, indicated that although Thailand and its private sector currently have a much better financial profile than during the economic crisis of 1997, the global financial crisis at present involves the world s most prominent economies. He believes Thai exports would be affected and would eventually encounter negative expansion. The SCG group aims to issue more corporate bonds than it needs in 2009 in order to increase liquidity to 20 billion baht from the usual level of 4-5 billion baht. This would ensure the company could survive in all situations, said Mr Kan. He also noted the opportunity for acquiring good firms at low prices is at hand, as the share values of many companies have declined 50-70%. </p> </body>