HK/China Equity Long-Short

Osbert Tang, CFA

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>The new share placement of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/anta-sports-products-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10261:1" rel="noopener">Anta Sports Products (2020 HK)</a> has caught the market by surprise, but we think long-term story for the company should not be affected.</li>
<li>With proceeds to be used for repayment of outstanding debts, expansion in China and pursuing SE Asia markets, we should not overlook the benefits to be generated. </li>
<li>An IPO of Amer Sports is clearly brewing and this represents an important catalyst. Anta's 26.4x and 20.9x FY23 and FY24 PERs do not look stretched relative to earnings growth. </li>
</ul>


The new share placement of Anta Sports Products (2020 HK) has caught the market by surprise, but we think long-term story for the company should not be affected.
With proceeds to be used for repayment of outstanding debts, expansion in China and pursuing SE Asia markets, we should not overlook the benefits to be generated. 
An IPO of Amer Sports is clearly brewing and this represents an important catalyst. Anta's 26.4x and 20.9x FY23 and FY24 PERs do not look stretched relative to earnings growth. 


Anta Sports (2020 HK): Our View After Placement

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

Anta Sports Products / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/anta-sports-products-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10261:1" rel="noopener">Anta Sports Products (2020 HK)</a>  aims to raise around US$1.5bn in its top-up placement. </li>
<li>Anta hasn’t specified what it aims to do with the money that it's looking to raise, furthermore, it's already net cash.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.</li>
</ul>



Anta Sports Products (2020 HK)  aims to raise around US$1.5bn in its top-up placement. 
Anta hasn’t specified what it aims to do with the money that it's looking to raise, furthermore, it's already net cash.
In this note, we will talk about the placement and run the deal through our ECM framework.


Anta Sports Placement - A Large Deal to Digest with Unknown Use of Proceeds but Track Record Is Good

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>Even though we are trimming our FY22E net profit forecasts, we believe the sector has already bottomed out in 1Q23E, supported by: 1) decent YTD retail sales growth, 2) turn around in inventory level and retail discounts.</li><li>While we expect a more conservative FY23E guidance by the brands, we do see decent upside surprises from GP margin improvements, helped by better retail discounts and cheaper input costs, etc.</li><li>Therefore, for brands with a higher DTC mix, we believe brands like Anta (2020 HK) and Topsports (6110 HK) are going to outperform.</li></ul><p><em>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.</em></p>

Even though we are trimming our FY22E net profit forecasts, we believe the sector has already bottomed out in 1Q23E, supported by: 1) decent YTD retail sales growth, 2) turn around in inventory level and retail discounts.While we expect a more conservative FY23E guidance by the brands, we do see decent upside surprises from GP margin improvements, helped by better retail discounts and cheaper input costs, etc.Therefore, for brands with a higher DTC mix, we believe brands like Anta (2020 HK) and Topsports (6110 HK) are going to outperform.Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

China Sportswear Sector – We expect prudent guidance but decent margins

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>2023 gameplan remains unchanged; we see limited upside from here for ACWI-US, and we expect a rangebound year of trading on ACWI-US with $93 capping upside and $75-77 capping downside</li>
<li>We also remain overweight Europe/UK, we want to add exposure on pullbacks to China/Hong Kong/EM, and overweight non-U.S. equities (MSCI ACWI ex-US) relative to MSCI ACWI</li>
<li>We highlight buy ideas within Technology, Communications, and Consumer Discretionary. The UK/Europe and Hong Kong/China continue to make up the majority of our buy recommendations</li>
</ul>


2023 gameplan remains unchanged; we see limited upside from here for ACWI-US, and we expect a rangebound year of trading on ACWI-US with $93 capping upside and $75-77 capping downside
We also remain overweight Europe/UK, we want to add exposure on pullbacks to China/Hong Kong/EM, and overweight non-U.S. equities (MSCI ACWI ex-US) relative to MSCI ACWI
We highlight buy ideas within Technology, Communications, and Consumer Discretionary. The UK/Europe and Hong Kong/China continue to make up the majority of our buy recommendations


Major Top on U.S. Dollar; Overweight Non-U.S. And Europe/UK; Buys in Tech, Comm., Discretionary

<ul>
<li>While China's U-turn on COVID policy is expected to bring consumption rebound in 2023, the near-term surge in infections will weigh negatively on retail sales in Dec and Jan.</li>
<li>Residents are spending more time at home in the first wave, with subways and shopping malls empty. We think this will cast negativity on 4Q22 and 1Q23 consumer discretionary profit.</li>
<li>It is prudent to take some monies off the table, particularly F&amp;B stocks like <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/haidilao-international-holding-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27044:1" rel="noopener">Haidilao (6862 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/xiabuxiabu-catering-mgt-chn-hldgs-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:76:1" rel="noopener">Xiabuxiabu (520 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/helen-s-international-holdings" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:34113:1" rel="noopener">Helen's (9869 HK)</a> which have almost doubled from trough.</li>
</ul>


While China's U-turn on COVID policy is expected to bring consumption rebound in 2023, the near-term surge in infections will weigh negatively on retail sales in Dec and Jan.
Residents are spending more time at home in the first wave, with subways and shopping malls empty. We think this will cast negativity on 4Q22 and 1Q23 consumer discretionary profit.
It is prudent to take some monies off the table, particularly F&amp;B stocks like Haidilao (6862 HK), Xiabuxiabu (520 HK) and Helen's (9869 HK) which have almost doubled from trough.


China COVID Policy: Near-Term Pains for Consumer Discretionary

China

Topsports International Holdings Limited operates as a sports shoes and apparel retailer. The Company sells sports shoes, sports shirts, and other products. Topsports International Holdings markets its products throughout China.

Topsports International Holdings (6110 HK)

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Topsports International Holdings (6110 HK)

Anta Sports (2020 HK): Our View After Placement

With proceeds to be used for debt repayment, expansion in China and pursuing SE Asia markets, we should not overlook long-term benefits. News flow...

Osbert Tang, CFA

Anta Sports Placement - A Large Deal to Digest with Unknown Use of Proceeds but Track Record Is Good

Anta Sports Products (2020 HK) aims to raise around US$1.5bn in its top-up placement. In this note, we talk about the deal dynamics and run the...

Sumeet Singh

China Sportswear Sector – We expect prudent guidance but decent margins

While we expect a more conservative FY23E guidance by the brands, we do see decent upside surprises from GP margin improvements, helped by better...

CMB International

Major Top on U.S. Dollar; Overweight Non-U.S. And Europe/UK; Buys in Tech, Comm., Discretionary

The $DXY broke below 5-year support at $103, signaling a major top in place. This is bullish for risk assets, and is another sign suggesting the...

Vermilion Research

China COVID Policy: Near-Term Pains for Consumer Discretionary

Near-term negative impact of China's U-turn in COVID policy on consumer discretionary has been underestimated by the market. It is prudent to take...

Osbert Tang, CFA

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