DC platform: Road to higher-margin traffic

Research evidence excerpt

DC platform: Road to higher-margin traffic

Macquarie Equity Research Gulf Development

Within the Power Sector, we continue to prefer GULF. There are several broad reasons for

this: 1) it has the strongest BS vs peers, providing growth optionality; 2) it records predictable

and strong CF from its IPP contracted business + associates giving it room to use leverage

to add shareholder value with reduced risk; 3) it is building a moat that is hard to replace -

gas infrastructure (LNG terminal, distribution), power generation at scale, DC ambitions, and

Telco layer - note these segments jointly compound; 4) it has a history of securing a large

% of auctions in Thailand. The bull case for GULF is deploying capital at massive scale (long-

runway of growth with both PDP + Thailand DC ambitions) with cheap debt (GULF's debt is

3.5% vs BGRIM's 4.2% including preps).

Investor pushback: The stock is trading at a high valuation multiple for a utility company

with 2-3% dividend yield. We are of the view that GULF should not be looked at as a utility

company but as a growth platform company, which is supported by stable, predictable and

high quality cash flow, enabling it to comfortably lever up and drive sustainable growth at

scale. GULF has consistently delivered double-digit earnings growth, and we believe it can

continue to do so over time.

Figure 3 - GULF is building a moat that compounds on itself

Source: Company data, June 2026

Data Centre Ambitions: Official DC target is 1GW by 2030 (vs 300–400MW prior

announcement), framed against 4–6GW of expected Thai DC demand over 5-10 years, of

which GULF targets 20%. GULF builds against secured offtake. Three sites, all customer-

secured before build: Site 1 25MW operational; Site 2 38MW online end of the year (40%