Thai Union Group PCL reported a 10.3% decline in sales to THB 29.8 billion for the first quarter of the year, due to a 6.9% decline in organic sales growth, softer Ambient, Frozen and Value-added categories, and a stronger Thai Baht against key currencies. Continued cost discipline helped maintain a healthy balance sheet, with the Group’s Gross Profit Margin rising to 18.8% – a record for the first quarter.
In Q1 2025, net profit, excluding transformation costs associated with the implementation of Strategy 2030 – Thai Union’s bold roadmap to deliver strong growth and transform the Group into the world’s leading marine health and nutrition company, increased by 8.9% year-on-year to THB 1.3 billion. While the reported net profit was reported at THB 1 billion. Thai Union maintained a solid net-debt-to-equity ratio at a healthy 1.0x.
“Despite a challenging macro backdrop, we continued to strengthen our core businesses, invest for long-term growth and deliver healthy profitability,” said Thiraphong Chansiri, CEO of Thai Union Group. “When we embarked on our transformation journey, we knew increasing our agility, efficiency and speed was essential. In today’s world that is never more true. We have laid solid foundations, which are now serving us well and delivering value which will only increase further in the future.”
The PetCare business continued to grow in the first quarter, with sales increasing 5.5% year-on-year to THB 4.2 billion while its gross profit margin was 24.5%. Ambient sales declined by 14.0% to THB 14.7 billion from a year earlier due to a high baseline last year with exceptional demand from the Middle East, and a decline in private label sales across Europe as customers delayed purchases amid rising fish prices. The GPM for Ambient stood at 19.4%. For the Frozen business, sales were 12.2% lower year-on-year at THB 8.4 billion because of softer shrimp sales impacted by an exceptional increase in shrimp prices in the U.S. Frozen GPM improved to 12.4% from 11.8% a year earlier. Sales for the Value-added decreased 3.1% year-on-year to THB 2.4 billion.
With the global business environment remaining volatile, Thai Union continues to closely monitor and assess the potential impact on the Group if the U.S. Government implements the reciprocal tariffs rates. Thai Union has anticipated the tariff changes and proactively built-up inventory across all categories in the U.S., with 4-6 months of sales in finished goods currently in the market, mitigating short-term risk. The Group continues to leverage its global processing and sourcing footprint to minimize potential disruption from the tariffs. With 15 processing facilities in 13 countries, such as Ghana, Seychelles, Poland, USA, and Vietnam. Thai Union is well-positioned to react to any potential developments in the tariff environment.
In the first quarter, the Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. (JCR) affirmed Thai Union’s foreign currency issuer credit rating at A with a stable outlook due to its strong brand power and high earnings stability. The credit rating is the same level as the sovereign credit rating of Thailand from JCR. The local currency long-term issuer credit rating by JCR was also assigned at A with a stable outlook.
In line with our commitment to sustainability, Thai Union has secured a landmark USD 150 million Blue Loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the first-ever Blue Loan by the multilateral bank to a seafood company in Thailand. Proceeds will be used to scale Thai Union’s sustainable shrimp procurement in Thailand – a key pillar of its SeaChange® 2030 global sustainability strategy.
