Siam Cement Plc (SCC) may post record low earning in 7 years in the fourth quarter due to lower market demand for petrochemical products, Asia Plus Securities warned.

The broker company estimated that Siam Cement will have operating profits of 543 million baht in the fourth quarter, down 91 percent from the previous quarter due to continuing decline in the global crude oil price, which resulting to a 44 percent lower prices of petrochemical products such as polyethylene and polypropylene from the previous quarter and 52 percent lower than the same quarter last year.

Asia Plus projected that sales of SCC’s concrete in both domestic and export markets will also decline by 18 percent from the last quarter due to the global economic recession.

However, SCC’s shares are suggested holding in the long run due to its attractive dividends payout ratio of 6.67 percent, which is expected at 2.5 baht per share for the second half of the year after it announced dividends of 5.5 baht per share in the first half.