Thai Industry Sections Where Profit Rank Beats Revenue Rank 2026
In short
Professional, scientific and technical services ranks 16th of 21 Thai industry sections by average revenue per company but climbs to 9th by average profit per company, a gain of seven places, as of 17 July 2026. Wholesale and retail trade shows the mirror image, ranking 5th by revenue but only 10th by profit, a loss of five places. Nine of the 21 sections rank higher on profit than on revenue, nine rank lower, and three do not move at all. Company scale does not guarantee that scale turns into profit.
Which industry sections rank higher on profit than on revenue?
Professional, scientific and technical services ranks 16th of 21 Thai industry sections by average revenue per filing company, at 11.26 million baht, as of 17 July 2026 (DBD, 2026). Ranked instead by average profit per company, it jumps to 9th, at 1.49 million baht, a gain of seven places, the largest climb of any section. Human health and social work climbs too, from 9th on revenue to 5th on profit, a gain of four places. Wholesale and retail trade shows the opposite pattern. It ranks 5th by revenue per company, at 94.60 million baht, yet falls to 10th by profit per company, at just 1.16 million baht, a loss of five places, the steepest drop in the table. Administrative and support falls four places, from 12th to 16th. Nine of the 21 sections rank higher on profit than on revenue, nine rank lower, and three, water and waste, transportation and storage, and other services, hold the exact same rank in both columns.
Rank gap by industry section: revenue rank minus profit rank
- Professional, scientific and technical7
- Human health and social work4
- Education3
- Households3
- Financial and insurance2
- Mining and quarrying2
- Information and communication2
- Real estate2
- Accommodation and food service1
- Water and waste0
- Transportation and storage0
- Other services0
- Electricity and gas-1
- Extraterritorial organizations-1
- Manufacturing-3
- Agriculture-3
- Public administration-3
- Construction-3
- Arts and entertainment-3
- Administrative and support-4
- Wholesale and retail trade-5
Figures in rank positions gained or lost.
A positive bar means the section ranks better on profit per company than on revenue per company. A negative bar means the reverse.
Revenue rank vs profit rank across all 21 sections
| Industry section | Avg revenue per company | Avg profit per company | Revenue rank | Profit rank | Rank gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional, scientific and technical | 11.26M baht | 1.49M baht | 16 | 9 | +7 |
| Human health and social work | 39.93M baht | 4.35M baht | 9 | 5 | +4 |
| Education | 6.42M baht | 0.81M baht | 18 | 15 | +3 |
| Households | 0.31M baht | 0.04M baht | 21 | 18 | +3 |
| Financial and insurance | 133.02M baht | 32.67M baht | 3 | 1 | +2 |
| Mining and quarrying | 132.69M baht | 17.62M baht | 4 | 2 | +2 |
| Information and communication | 36.01M baht | 2.00M baht | 10 | 8 | +2 |
| Real estate | 11.90M baht | 0.89M baht | 15 | 13 | +2 |
| Accommodation and food service | 16.35M baht | 0.90M baht | 13 | 12 | +1 |
| Water and waste | 43.03M baht | 3.04M baht | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Transportation and storage | 42.87M baht | 2.62M baht | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Other services | 6.35M baht | 0.02M baht | 19 | 19 | 0 |
| Electricity and gas | 142.05M baht | 15.60M baht | 2 | 3 | -1 |
| Extraterritorial organizations | 6.18M baht | -0.62M baht | 20 | 21 | -1 |
| Manufacturing | 174.90M baht | 7.40M baht | 1 | 4 | -3 |
| Agriculture | 41.98M baht | 1.04M baht | 8 | 11 | -3 |
| Public administration | 17.86M baht | 0.86M baht | 11 | 14 | -3 |
| Construction | 14.99M baht | 0.33M baht | 14 | 17 | -3 |
| Arts and entertainment | 11.17M baht | -0.11M baht | 17 | 20 | -3 |
| Administrative and support | 16.68M baht | 0.70M baht | 12 | 16 | -4 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 94.60M baht | 1.16M baht | 5 | 10 | -5 |
Sections ranked by average revenue per filing company and by average profit per filing company, as of 17 Jul 2026. A positive rank gap means the profit rank is a smaller, better number than the revenue rank.
Why the rank gap matters more than either ranking alone
A revenue rank on its own hides how much of that revenue survives to become profit for the average firm. Professional, scientific and technical services runs on billed expertise rather than shipped volume, so a comparatively modest 11.26 million baht of average revenue still converts into 1.49 million baht of average profit per company. Wholesale and retail trade runs the opposite mechanics. It moves 94.60 million baht of average revenue per company, more than eight times the revenue of professional services. Yet it keeps only 1.16 million baht of profit per company, less than professional services earns from a much smaller revenue base, since thin markups on high volume leave little after the cost of goods sold. Thailand's wholesale and retail trade sector expanded 6.1 percent in 2025 (NESDC, 2026), continuing to add companies and turnover, so its revenue rank understates nothing about its size. What the revenue rank hides is return. A lender, a supplier setting credit terms, or a graduate weighing job offers who reads only the revenue table would misjudge both sectors in opposite directions. The rank gap corrects that, and it is the more honest single number for judging which sector rewards the company inside it, not just the sector as a whole.
Definitions
- Average revenue per company
- A section's total reported revenue divided across only the companies in that section that filed a financial statement, not the section's full entity count.
- Average profit per company
- The same filer-only calculation as average revenue per company, using net profit in place of revenue.
- Rank gap
- Revenue rank minus profit rank for a section. A positive gap means the section ranks better on profit than on revenue. A negative gap means the reverse.
- Filing company
- A company that submitted a financial statement in the current DBD dataset. Companies that never filed are counted in a section's entity count but excluded from its averages.
- Industry section
- One of the 21 lettered TSIC classification groups the Department of Business Development assigns to every registered company, from A agriculture through U extraterritorial organizations.
Assumptions
- Averages use only companies that filed a financial statement, not every registered company in the section.
- Public administration, households and extraterritorial organizations carry fewer than 40 companies each, so their ranks are shown for completeness but should not be read as stable trends.
- Financial and insurance firms recognize revenue differently from a trading company, which affects how their averages compare with other sectors.
- The underlying registry table refreshed on 17 July 2026, ten days after the routine's usual anchor date, so totals here differ slightly from an earlier data pull and reflect the newer figures.
Methodology
Revenue rank and profit rank are computed from the avg_revenue and avg_net_profit columns of the DBD registry's market_section_insight aggregate, one row per TSIC industry section, as of 17 July 2026. Both columns divide sector totals by the number of companies in that section that filed a financial statement, not the section's full entity count, so the ranks measure the typical filing company rather than the typical registered company. Rank gap is revenue rank minus profit rank, computed across all 21 lettered sections and re-sorted independently for each measure. Figures rest entirely on filed statements, so sections with a small filer base carry more noise than large ones.
How we verified this
- Re-sorted all 21 sections by avg_revenue descending: professional, scientific and technical placed 16th at 11,257,031 baht per company and wholesale and retail trade placed 5th at 94,599,324 baht per company.
- Re-sorted all 21 sections by avg_net_profit descending: professional, scientific and technical placed 9th at 1,491,261 baht per company and wholesale and retail trade placed 10th at 1,164,068 baht per company.
- Rank gap recomputed as revenue rank minus profit rank: professional, scientific and technical is 16 minus 9, equal to positive 7, and wholesale and retail trade is 5 minus 10, equal to negative 5.
- Counted the sign of the rank gap across all 21 sections: 9 positive, 9 negative, 3 zero, summing to 21.
- Summed companies_with_data across all 21 sections to 1,262,750 filing companies, in line with the registry's national filer count for this data pull.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council. (2026). Thai economic performance in Q4 of 2025 and the outlook for 2026. https://www.nesdc.go.th/en/download/press-release-47/?ddl=99987
Frequently asked questions
What is the rank gap between revenue rank and profit rank?
It is a section's revenue rank minus its profit rank, both measured by the average per filing company. A positive number means the section ranks better on profit than on revenue. A negative number means the reverse.
Which Thai industry section gains the most rank places moving from revenue to profit?
Professional, scientific and technical services, climbing from 16th to 9th of 21 sections, a gain of seven places, as of 17 July 2026.
Which section loses the most rank places?
Wholesale and retail trade, falling from 5th to 10th of 21 sections, a loss of five places.
How many of the 21 sections keep the same rank in both measures?
Three: water and waste, transportation and storage, and other services each hold the identical position on both the revenue ranking and the profit ranking.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thai Industry Sections Where Profit Rank Beats Revenue Rank 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thai-industry-sections-where-profit-rank-beats-revenue-rank-2026
Data & corrections
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Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
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This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.