PTT, AoT dish out biggest bonuses

National oil and gas firm PTT Plc and Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) emerged as the state enterprises paying the largest staff bonuses for last year’s operations, both at a rate of 7.5 months, says an informed source at the Finance Ministry.

The all-time high bonus for state enterprises, paid by AoT for 2013’s operating performance, has yet to be broken.

The high bonus payments are in line with the enterprises’ earnings, the source said.

Several other state enterprises announced that they would pay as much as seven months’ salary as a bonus to their employees for 2017 earnings, the source said, adding that GH Bank is among them.

The state-owned housing l ender posted a net profit of 11.8 billion baht, and the State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo) gave the bank relatively high marks.

Government Savings Bank (GSB) announced a six-month bonus, up from 5.3 months the year before.

The source said the top five state enterprises by contributions to state coffers in 2017 were the Government Lottery Office (GLO) at 30.9 billion baht, PTT at 26.3 billion, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) at 21.7 billion, GSB at 13.1 billion and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) at 11.4 billion.

The source said that some of the top profit-making state enterprises, such as the GLO, do not use profits to determine the bonus payout.

The GLO’s bonus payment is capped by law at 3.75 months.

In the case of Egat and the PEA, bonus payments are insignificant after the profits are divided by the number of staff, the source said, adding that Egat is expected to pay a 3.6-month bonus and the PEA two months.

Chanvit Nakburee, Sepo’s deputy director and spokesman, said that nearly all state enterprises delivered a higher profit last year, thanks to the improving economy and better efficiency.

SET-listed state enterprises’ staff bonus payments are based on their boards’ determination and Sepo’s scoring, Mr Chanvit said.