Italian-Thai Development, one of the country’s biggest construction company, said yesterday that it expected a second-quarter net profit similar to the previous quarter’s 197 million baht. But it expected third-quarter performance to be "not good", due to the impact of rising oil prices, according to president Premchai Karnasuta. "The impact will be seen in our third-quarter performance, which should not be good," he said, without giving specific forecasts.

Mr Premchai said the company might delay a planned $200-million bond issue from the third quarter due to the country’s political crisis. "We may postpone the issue as the current political situation may not give good ratings," he said.