hi David, I would say no direct correlations. rationale is that samchem distributes chemicals, lubricants and specialty chemicals from petrochem companies like exxonmobil, basf, shell, petronas, shin-etsu and etc. low oil price means low napthta price which is the feedstock for most petrochem companies, it's the first product from first cracking of crude oil. e.g. polyurethane that samchem sells is obtained after multiple cracking of naptha.

low crude oil means low naptha, means high margins for petrochem. prices of the chemicals produced doesn't fluctuate that much unless there is a supply and demand issue, or higher naptha price resulting in petrochem companies adjusting their selling price. when that happens, it affects samchem's cogs. another element that has a direct impact on samchem is the exchange rates, usd/myr, usd/vnd and indo rph/usd. usd strengthening helps the net profit of samchem.

supply and demand can be affected by (1) disruptions at petrochem companies (2) increase in fiscal budgets for countries where samchem is selling it's products. eg Vietnam high speed rail project which is under review now. if Viet gov decided to proceed with the scaled down cost of the project, then, we should see increase of sales from vietnam. same goes to Malaysia and Indonesia.

closer to samchem, it marked the entry to 1bil revenue last year after 10 years; cagr of 14% which is quiet impressive. as samchem distributes chemicals instead of producing and selling, the capex wouldn't be much. hence, controls of working capitals is important. last two years free cash flow was hit by working capital - higher inventories and receivables. going into this year, it is noted that better controls is seen from it's recent qr. there are signs that it will return to positive fcf

have to monitor it's next two qr performance still. imo - current price is selling near 40% margin of safety at 0.55 and 0.46 at 50% margin of safety. it has 0.03 cents dividend which is not too bad and the intrinsic value to me is at 0.73 cents using some conservative figures. it's a bit lengthy comments and just my opinions and could be wrong. Hope it helps with your research.

ooh ok, tzyh cheng. I am using slightly different debt to equity calculations. as it involves risk, I am more concerned with long term debt. short term debt is understood as part of the business and less sensitive to changes in interest rates compared to long term debt. hence, I prefer to look at long term debt which can be a risk to the business. if you go to page 28, I am using total non-current liabilities / total equity. that gives me a quick assessment of long term risk.

different ways of looking at debt to equity for the state of it's financial health. some may even go deeper into current and quick ratios, consolidated versus standalone statement of financial position as per ias27 and ifrs10 requirements. won't go there as that is the topics for the professionals, CFA. they are the experts in this field.

you are welcome, pan. Let's wait for it's upcoming quarters. it will be good to see how it's doing. whether the $1 bil revenue mark is a fluke or for real. if it is real, imo - it's undervalued and hopefully the mgmt will continue to work hard to unlock it's value. most undervalued counters started moving up strongly while this is still stagnant. manage the downside well. Just my opinions, could be wrong and hope it helps.