President's Message
Mr. Yeap Swee Chuan
President and CEO
AAPICO Hitech Public Company Limited
2025 was a very challenging year. Our greatest setback was the Portuguese auto part operations, which performed badly, and much below their profit target budget despite having a stable revenue. We expect a very strong turn around in profitability in Portugal with all the strong actions taken, and visible improvements are expected to be seen in 2026 The total revenue reduced by about 3 percent from 2024 to 2025 by 27,002 million THB to 26,167 million THB respectively. In Thailand, there was slight decline of car production units from 1,468,997 units to 1,455,569 or 0.9 percent decline. In both Thailand and Malaysia, the dealership revenue had significant decline as well by 7.0 and 9.4 percent respectively. However, fortunately, the auto parts demand was better in Portugal and Malaysia resulting in the lower overall sale decline of 3.1 percent. We were expecting a small recovery in 2026 for the business as a whole but based on very recent turbulence in the world and wars, we are rather concerned on the cost impact of logistics and raw material as to how it will impact our business and profitability.
Thailand Operations
There was a slight reduction of 0.9 percent in car production in 2025 vs 2024 to 1,455,569 units. As a result, our Thai auto operations performed close to the budget. There was an increase of 8.5 percent in domestic car sales to 621,166 units due to strong imports of EV cars into Thailand with strong government incentives. Export sales continue to decline by 8.2 percent to 935,750units. Our dealership business as a whole improved their results despite a market decline.
China Operations
The China operations had a revenue decline of 5.2 percent. Although the market is big, the request for price reductions is severe. Being a well-managed company, we expect the China operations to continue to deliver good returns to the group and performed slightly below budget
Malaysia operations
Our joint venture with Proton is improving and we are expanding capacities with large orders coming from Proton. This JV is expected to further improve in 2026. The JV factory with Purem producing exhaust systems is performing better and profitable, starting to deliver the larger volumes starting end 2025. The dealership performance remained stable. Following the recent opening of two electric vehicle showrooms, dealerships in Malaysia will continue to improve in sale and profitability.
Portugal Operations
The current weak link to the Group is our Portuguese operations. Top management changes have been made, and we expect significant improvements in performance going forward. The sale order is strong. However, the cost control and productivity need to be improved. The new team is showing good results, and we expect 2026 to be a better year with no more losses.
United States
We have formed a 50 percent joint venture with Sodecia to build a large greenfield plant in South Carolina to supply chassis frame to Volkswagen Group. A new vehicle named SCOUT is being planned for the American market. Groundbreaking has been done and the preparations are proceeding to be ready to supply by 2028. The American market is a protected market, and we expect this joint venture to perform well
Commitment to ESG
At AAPICO, sustainability is an integral part of our long-term business strategy. We are committed to integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles into our strategy and operations to drive responsible and resilient growth. During the year, we continued to advance our environmental initiatives by increasing the use of renewable energy and adopting cleaner technologies to improve operational efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, we promoted responsible business practices across our value chain by integrating sustainability criteria into our supplier management processes, encouraging alignment with our standards on governance, environmental management, and social responsibility. Looking ahead, we remain committed to strengthening our ESG performance while balancing business growth with environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Through these efforts, we aim to create long-term value for our stakeholders and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Looking ahead
We expected 2025 to be a better year. However, the war in Ukraine still continued with no end in sight. The Trump tariffs disturbed the global business structure and created turbulence and uncertainty. The tense situation in the middle east added strain to the world economy. All such happenings build mistrust between nations. Supply chain is being disrupted. 2025 had many negative head winds and affected businesses. 2026 has started with the Iran war and added the most serious impact to the economy in terms of significant increase in fuel prices. We hope the Iran war will come to an end soon. If that do happen, we may see some better days ahead for all countries and for all businesses. In closing, I wish to thank all associates, business partners, board of directors and shareholders for their continued support. My team and I will continue to work towards improving the operations and lead the company to greater heights in good governance.
Get In Touch
Address
99 Moo 1 Hitech Industrial Estate, Tambol Ban lane, Amphur Bang Pa-in, Ayutthaya, Thailand 13160
Phone
+66 (0) 3535 0880
