(Bangkok Post) -- Higher sales and margins pushed up the first-quarter profits of PTT Aromatics and Refinery Plc (PTTAR) and PTT Chemical Plc (PTTCH), whose shareholders endorsed their merger last month.
PTTCH, Southeast Asia's largest olefins maker, posted a net profit of 6.18 billion baht, up 95% from the same period in a year earlier. Revenues rose 49% to 35.37 billion baht.
The company said it benefited from higher olefins production volume from the PTT Polyethylene Co (PTTPE) cracker, which started commercial operations last December. As well, it saw gains from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and ethanolamines (EA) production at Thai Ethanolamines Co (TEA) which started operations in January 2011, and the low-density polyethylene (LDPE) unit of PTTPE, which started commercial operations in February this year.