Category

Consumer

Brief Consumer: JKN: 4Q18 Earnings Grew Both YoY and QoQ and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. JKN: 4Q18 Earnings Grew Both YoY and QoQ

1. JKN: 4Q18 Earnings Grew Both YoY and QoQ

Jkn%20update%203

The company’s 4Q18 net profit was at Bt46m (+298%YoY and +8%QoQ). The result was in line with our 2018 forecast and accounted for 97% of our full-year forecast.

  • A YoY surge in earnings was due to a 30% increase in revenue to Bt360m, mainly from export revenue (50% revenue contribution in 3Q18 from 0% in 4Q17). A QoQ gain was caused a reduction in extra expenses for holding an annual event ‘JKN mega showcase’ in early August.
  • 2019 earnings outlook is still decent on the back of 1.) higher revenue contribution from export market especially South East Asia (26% of revenue in 2018), 2.) CNBC studio commencement in 2Q19, and, 3.) revenue recognition from new channel subscribers (No.5, Thairath, Spring news, True4U, Nation and MONO)

We maintain our forecast and BUY rating for JKN with a target price of Bt8.80 based on 14.8xPE’19E mean of the Asia ex-Japan Consumer Discretionary Sector.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: TRADE IDEA – Melco (200 HK) Stub: Lose a Little Sleep in Macau and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. TRADE IDEA – Melco (200 HK) Stub: Lose a Little Sleep in Macau
  2. BabyTree(1761.HK) FY18 Results: E-Com Further Hit by ‘integration’ with Alibaba; India Foray Timely
  3. European Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods Stocks Are Heating Up — Add Exposure
  4. Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality
  5. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail

1. TRADE IDEA – Melco (200 HK) Stub: Lose a Little Sleep in Macau

Capture50

Visitors to Macao will notice the gaudy designs of new properties like Studio City and the City of Dreams owned by Melco. Few will know that the Melco of today traces its roots back almost 100 years when it was named The Macau Electric Lighting Company. Melco was listed in Hong Kong in 1927 when it was still managing the electricity supply service for the island of Macau, which it had done since 1906. After the CEM was established in 1972 to supply power in Macau, Melco changed its name to Melco International Development Limited and became a subsidiary of Stanley Ho’s real estate holding company, Shun Tak Holdings (242 HK). With the burden of supplying electricity off its shoulders, the company did what any logical Hong Kong firm would do when its business disappears, it bought real estate.

To this day, Melco International Development (200 HK) still maintains ownership of one of these classic Hong Kong destinations which I will take a closer look at in my note. In the rest of this insight I will:

  • finish the historical overview of Melco
  • present my trade idea and rationale
  • give a detailed overview of the business units of Melco International
  • recap ALL of my stub trades on Smartkarma and the performance of each 

2. BabyTree(1761.HK) FY18 Results: E-Com Further Hit by ‘integration’ with Alibaba; India Foray Timely

Parenting%20apps%20india%201

BabyTree (1761.HK)’s reported results for FY2018 continues to be impacted by the ‘shift in e-commerce strategy’ post collaboration with Alibaba Group Holding (BABA US) (also a key investor).  China’s leading parenting community platform that went public in November 2018 has announced a revenue decline of 4% during 2H2018; its e-commerce revenues were down 70% as its being ‘integrated’ with Alibaba. This is expected to be completed by 2Q2019. While the details of the collaboration (and revenue share, if any) are not given, Management has stated that Alibaba will manage the back-end e-commerce at a reduced cost and better efficiency while it will ‘manage’ users. Despite the fall in revenues, gross profits were up 18% helped by growth in advertisement revenues which now account for 85% of the total. Advertising as a revenue source has limited long term growth and valuation potential compared to e-commerce. The stock is up 25% since results announcement on March 27th, likely enthused by Net profit for FY2018 at Rmb526.2 mn and EPS of Rmb0.29 (implied current Year P/E of 23x). Key risk will be failure to revive e-commerce revenues post ‘integration’.

BabyTree also announced its first global foray – it has invested USD8mn in Healofy, amongst the top 3 leading parenting apps in India currently. India’s online Parenting app segment has numerous players and revenue generation/growth may not be easy in the near term for Healofy. However,  our analysis suggests that India’s overcrowded parenting app segment is now witnessing consolidation and this funding could probably help Healofy solidify its ranking amongst top 3 parenting platforms in India. In this context, BabyTree’s foray into India seems well timed. Healofy could potentially follow BabyTree’s operating model and fit into Alibaba Group Holding (BABA US) ‘s India e-commerce strategy (Refer our earlier report Alibaba’s India Game Plan – More than Meets the Eye; Investor Day Analysis (Part II) ).  

In the detailed report that follows, we briefly comment on BabyTree’s reported 2018 results and also present a quick overview of India Parenting App segment – key players, investors and why we think it may be on a consolidation mode. 

3. European Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods Stocks Are Heating Up — Add Exposure

Untitled

We continue to believe that equities in Europe and the UK are bottoming with the STOXX Europe 600 index breaking topside its 14-month downtrend. Helping lead the turnaround is the Personal & Household Goods supersector. We believe outperformance is set to continue and several stocks are actionable at current levels within our int’l Group CD-28 Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods, Europe: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (MC-FR), Christian Dior SE (CDI-FR), Kering SA (KER-FR), Hermes International SCA (RMS-FR), adidas AG (ADS-DE), Moncler SpA (MONC-IT), PUMA SE (PUM-DE), and Bjorn Borg AB (BORG-SE). Add exposure.

4. Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality

Screen%20shot%202019 04 02%20at%209.25.22%20am

In its final report into a fatal accident involving a Tesla Model S being driven in Autopilot Mode by one Joshua Brown, the NHTSA included the controversial finding that having Autopilot engaged reduced accident rates by 40%. Now, after battling both the NHTSA and Tesla for almost two years to get access to the underlying dataset, independent US-based consulting firm QCS has published a detailed report casting serious doubt on the methodology, statistics and science behind this 40% safer claim. 

Meanwhile on March 2’nd 2019, in a carbon copy of the circumstances which claimed the life of Joshua Brown almost three years ago, another Tesla driver lost his life when his Model 3 crashed into a semi-trailer as it legitimately crossed his line of travel to make a right-hand turn at an uncontrolled intersection. At the time of the accident, it was unknown whether Autopilot was engaged or not. If it transpires that it was engaged, it will represent a serious blow to Tesla’s credibility not least in part due to the company’s claims that its self-driving technology is continuously learning and improving based on the experiences and data collected on a daily basis from its ever-growing fleet of vehicles on the road.

Until now, on the one-month anniversary on this latest fatality, Tesla’s silence on the matter remains deafening.  

5. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail

Screenshot%202019 04 02%20at%204.31.59%20pm

In the middle of last week, Russia’s largest chain of hypermarkets Lenta Ltd (LNTA LI)  announced that it was aware that there were ongoing discussions between Luna (TPG’s holding entity, which owns 34.13% of Lenta’s capital) and Alexey Mordashov’s Severgroup, for Luna to sell its stake in Lenta to the Russian conglomerate. A day later, Lenta announced the company was aware of discussions between Severgroup and the EBRD (7.40% holder). 

Reuters reported last night that Severgroup had reached an agreement to buy a 41.9% stake, excluding treasury shares, in Lenta from those two sellers, for a total of US$721mm, or US$18 per share or US$3.60 per GDR. That implies a price of US$1.75bn for the whole company. 

Later last night, Lenta announced on its website (full press release here) a cash offer for all the shares had been proposed. The Offer has a pre-condition dealing with the above-mentioned transactions being approved by those who need to approve.

The Offer Price is an 8.11% premium to the last trade on 26 March – the undisturbed price, and a premium of 9.76% to the 6mo average price of US$3.28 for the GDRs. 

There may be something interesting to do here.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: JKN: 4Q18 Earnings Grew Both YoY and QoQ and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. JKN: 4Q18 Earnings Grew Both YoY and QoQ
  2. Sea Ltd: Follow-On Public Offering an Opportunistic Fundraising?

1. JKN: 4Q18 Earnings Grew Both YoY and QoQ

Jkn%20update%203

The company’s 4Q18 net profit was at Bt46m (+298%YoY and +8%QoQ). The result was in line with our 2018 forecast and accounted for 97% of our full-year forecast.

  • A YoY surge in earnings was due to a 30% increase in revenue to Bt360m, mainly from export revenue (50% revenue contribution in 3Q18 from 0% in 4Q17). A QoQ gain was caused a reduction in extra expenses for holding an annual event ‘JKN mega showcase’ in early August.
  • 2019 earnings outlook is still decent on the back of 1.) higher revenue contribution from export market especially South East Asia (26% of revenue in 2018), 2.) CNBC studio commencement in 2Q19, and, 3.) revenue recognition from new channel subscribers (No.5, Thairath, Spring news, True4U, Nation and MONO)

We maintain our forecast and BUY rating for JKN with a target price of Bt8.80 based on 14.8xPE’19E mean of the Asia ex-Japan Consumer Discretionary Sector.

2. Sea Ltd: Follow-On Public Offering an Opportunistic Fundraising?

Se4 public

  • We evaluate the attractiveness of Sea Ltd’s (SE US) US$1 bn follow-on public offering announced last Fri.
  • This offering is a typical opportunistic fundraising as its ADR price has recently surged.
  • At assumed deal price of US$21, SE post deal would trade at 4.6x 2019E P/adjusted sales (excl. 1P e-commerce sales), vs. peers average of 5.2x.
  • We would recommend investors to go for the deal if it is priced at US$20 or lower.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: BabyTree(1761.HK) FY18 Results: E-Com Further Hit by ‘integration’ with Alibaba; India Foray Timely and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. BabyTree(1761.HK) FY18 Results: E-Com Further Hit by ‘integration’ with Alibaba; India Foray Timely
  2. European Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods Stocks Are Heating Up — Add Exposure
  3. Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality
  4. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail
  5. Map Aktif Follow-On Offering – Lace up for a Potential Long Run

1. BabyTree(1761.HK) FY18 Results: E-Com Further Hit by ‘integration’ with Alibaba; India Foray Timely

Mobile%20internet%20access%20india%20china%202018

BabyTree (1761.HK)’s reported results for FY2018 continues to be impacted by the ‘shift in e-commerce strategy’ post collaboration with Alibaba Group Holding (BABA US) (also a key investor).  China’s leading parenting community platform that went public in November 2018 has announced a revenue decline of 4% during 2H2018; its e-commerce revenues were down 70% as its being ‘integrated’ with Alibaba. This is expected to be completed by 2Q2019. While the details of the collaboration (and revenue share, if any) are not given, Management has stated that Alibaba will manage the back-end e-commerce at a reduced cost and better efficiency while it will ‘manage’ users. Despite the fall in revenues, gross profits were up 18% helped by growth in advertisement revenues which now account for 85% of the total. Advertising as a revenue source has limited long term growth and valuation potential compared to e-commerce. The stock is up 25% since results announcement on March 27th, likely enthused by Net profit for FY2018 at Rmb526.2 mn and EPS of Rmb0.29 (implied current Year P/E of 23x). Key risk will be failure to revive e-commerce revenues post ‘integration’.

BabyTree also announced its first global foray – it has invested USD8mn in Healofy, amongst the top 3 leading parenting apps in India currently. India’s online Parenting app segment has numerous players and revenue generation/growth may not be easy in the near term for Healofy. However,  our analysis suggests that India’s overcrowded parenting app segment is now witnessing consolidation and this funding could probably help Healofy solidify its ranking amongst top 3 parenting platforms in India. In this context, BabyTree’s foray into India seems well timed. Healofy could potentially follow BabyTree’s operating model and fit into Alibaba Group Holding (BABA US) ‘s India e-commerce strategy (Refer our earlier report Alibaba’s India Game Plan – More than Meets the Eye; Investor Day Analysis (Part II) ).  

In the detailed report that follows, we briefly comment on BabyTree’s reported 2018 results and also present a quick overview of India Parenting App segment – key players, investors and why we think it may be on a consolidation mode. 

2. European Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods Stocks Are Heating Up — Add Exposure

Untitled

We continue to believe that equities in Europe and the UK are bottoming with the STOXX Europe 600 index breaking topside its 14-month downtrend. Helping lead the turnaround is the Personal & Household Goods supersector. We believe outperformance is set to continue and several stocks are actionable at current levels within our int’l Group CD-28 Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods, Europe: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (MC-FR), Christian Dior SE (CDI-FR), Kering SA (KER-FR), Hermes International SCA (RMS-FR), adidas AG (ADS-DE), Moncler SpA (MONC-IT), PUMA SE (PUM-DE), and Bjorn Borg AB (BORG-SE). Add exposure.

3. Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality

Screen%20shot%202019 04 02%20at%209.25.22%20am

In its final report into a fatal accident involving a Tesla Model S being driven in Autopilot Mode by one Joshua Brown, the NHTSA included the controversial finding that having Autopilot engaged reduced accident rates by 40%. Now, after battling both the NHTSA and Tesla for almost two years to get access to the underlying dataset, independent US-based consulting firm QCS has published a detailed report casting serious doubt on the methodology, statistics and science behind this 40% safer claim. 

Meanwhile on March 2’nd 2019, in a carbon copy of the circumstances which claimed the life of Joshua Brown almost three years ago, another Tesla driver lost his life when his Model 3 crashed into a semi-trailer as it legitimately crossed his line of travel to make a right-hand turn at an uncontrolled intersection. At the time of the accident, it was unknown whether Autopilot was engaged or not. If it transpires that it was engaged, it will represent a serious blow to Tesla’s credibility not least in part due to the company’s claims that its self-driving technology is continuously learning and improving based on the experiences and data collected on a daily basis from its ever-growing fleet of vehicles on the road.

Until now, on the one-month anniversary on this latest fatality, Tesla’s silence on the matter remains deafening.  

4. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail

Screenshot%202019 04 02%20at%205.33.39%20pm

In the middle of last week, Russia’s largest chain of hypermarkets Lenta Ltd (LNTA LI)  announced that it was aware that there were ongoing discussions between Luna (TPG’s holding entity, which owns 34.13% of Lenta’s capital) and Alexey Mordashov’s Severgroup, for Luna to sell its stake in Lenta to the Russian conglomerate. A day later, Lenta announced the company was aware of discussions between Severgroup and the EBRD (7.40% holder). 

Reuters reported last night that Severgroup had reached an agreement to buy a 41.9% stake, excluding treasury shares, in Lenta from those two sellers, for a total of US$721mm, or US$18 per share or US$3.60 per GDR. That implies a price of US$1.75bn for the whole company. 

Later last night, Lenta announced on its website (full press release here) a cash offer for all the shares had been proposed. The Offer has a pre-condition dealing with the above-mentioned transactions being approved by those who need to approve.

The Offer Price is an 8.11% premium to the last trade on 26 March – the undisturbed price, and a premium of 9.76% to the 6mo average price of US$3.28 for the GDRs. 

There may be something interesting to do here.

5. Map Aktif Follow-On Offering – Lace up for a Potential Long Run

Financial%20highlights

CVC is looking to raise about US$353m through the sale of about 648m Map Aktif Adiperkasa PT (MAPA IJ) shares in the follow-on offering.

Map Aktif (MAPA) is a sports, leisure, and kids retailer in Indonesia. It is a subsidiary of Mitra Adiperkasa (MAPI IJ).  The selldown might not be totally unexpected as CVC planned to exit its investment by 2020. However, post this selldown it will still have 192m share left.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: Sea Ltd: Follow-On Public Offering an Opportunistic Fundraising? and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. Sea Ltd: Follow-On Public Offering an Opportunistic Fundraising?
  2. 7-Eleven in India: Standard Franchise Model Would Require Minor Tweaks in India

1. Sea Ltd: Follow-On Public Offering an Opportunistic Fundraising?

Se4 public

  • We evaluate the attractiveness of Sea Ltd’s (SE US) US$1 bn follow-on public offering announced last Fri.
  • This offering is a typical opportunistic fundraising as its ADR price has recently surged.
  • At assumed deal price of US$21, SE post deal would trade at 4.6x 2019E P/adjusted sales (excl. 1P e-commerce sales), vs. peers average of 5.2x.
  • We would recommend investors to go for the deal if it is priced at US$20 or lower.

2. 7-Eleven in India: Standard Franchise Model Would Require Minor Tweaks in India

Capture%201

  • 7-Eleven partners up with Future Retail in an effort to enter the growing Indian Market
  • Indian E-Commerce giants pose a significant threat to 7-Eleven’s plans
  • 7-Eleven’s recent shift focuses more on developing markets.
  • Lack of profitability in India could require changes to the standard franchise agreement in order to attract franchisees

On 28th February 2019, Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP), the operator of the world’s largest convenience store chain 7-Eleven, announced that the company has signed a master franchise agreement with Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail, the operator of the Indian large format store chain Big Bazaar, to expand the 7-Eleven convenience stores into India. Future Retail and Seven & I Holdings expect the first 7-Eleven convenience store in India to be opened in Mumbai in 2019.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: 7-Eleven in India: Standard Franchise Model Would Require Minor Tweaks in India and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. 7-Eleven in India: Standard Franchise Model Would Require Minor Tweaks in India

1. 7-Eleven in India: Standard Franchise Model Would Require Minor Tweaks in India

Capture%201

  • 7-Eleven partners up with Future Retail in an effort to enter the growing Indian Market
  • Indian E-Commerce giants pose a significant threat to 7-Eleven’s plans
  • 7-Eleven’s recent shift focuses more on developing markets.
  • Lack of profitability in India could require changes to the standard franchise agreement in order to attract franchisees

On 28th February 2019, Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP), the operator of the world’s largest convenience store chain 7-Eleven, announced that the company has signed a master franchise agreement with Kishore Biyani’s Future Retail, the operator of the Indian large format store chain Big Bazaar, to expand the 7-Eleven convenience stores into India. Future Retail and Seven & I Holdings expect the first 7-Eleven convenience store in India to be opened in Mumbai in 2019.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: European Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods Stocks Are Heating Up — Add Exposure and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. European Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods Stocks Are Heating Up — Add Exposure
  2. Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality
  3. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail
  4. Map Aktif Follow-On Offering – Lace up for a Potential Long Run
  5. Pan Pacific/Don Quijote: Bringing Joy into Shopping

1. European Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods Stocks Are Heating Up — Add Exposure

Untitled

We continue to believe that equities in Europe and the UK are bottoming with the STOXX Europe 600 index breaking topside its 14-month downtrend. Helping lead the turnaround is the Personal & Household Goods supersector. We believe outperformance is set to continue and several stocks are actionable at current levels within our int’l Group CD-28 Apparel, Accessory & Luxury Goods, Europe: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (MC-FR), Christian Dior SE (CDI-FR), Kering SA (KER-FR), Hermes International SCA (RMS-FR), adidas AG (ADS-DE), Moncler SpA (MONC-IT), PUMA SE (PUM-DE), and Bjorn Borg AB (BORG-SE). Add exposure.

2. Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality

Screen%20shot%202019 04 02%20at%209.25.22%20am

In its final report into a fatal accident involving a Tesla Model S being driven in Autopilot Mode by one Joshua Brown, the NHTSA included the controversial finding that having Autopilot engaged reduced accident rates by 40%. Now, after battling both the NHTSA and Tesla for almost two years to get access to the underlying dataset, independent US-based consulting firm QCS has published a detailed report casting serious doubt on the methodology, statistics and science behind this 40% safer claim. 

Meanwhile on March 2’nd 2019, in a carbon copy of the circumstances which claimed the life of Joshua Brown almost three years ago, another Tesla driver lost his life when his Model 3 crashed into a semi-trailer as it legitimately crossed his line of travel to make a right-hand turn at an uncontrolled intersection. At the time of the accident, it was unknown whether Autopilot was engaged or not. If it transpires that it was engaged, it will represent a serious blow to Tesla’s credibility not least in part due to the company’s claims that its self-driving technology is continuously learning and improving based on the experiences and data collected on a daily basis from its ever-growing fleet of vehicles on the road.

Until now, on the one-month anniversary on this latest fatality, Tesla’s silence on the matter remains deafening.  

3. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail

Screenshot%202019 04 02%20at%205.33.39%20pm

In the middle of last week, Russia’s largest chain of hypermarkets Lenta Ltd (LNTA LI)  announced that it was aware that there were ongoing discussions between Luna (TPG’s holding entity, which owns 34.13% of Lenta’s capital) and Alexey Mordashov’s Severgroup, for Luna to sell its stake in Lenta to the Russian conglomerate. A day later, Lenta announced the company was aware of discussions between Severgroup and the EBRD (7.40% holder). 

Reuters reported last night that Severgroup had reached an agreement to buy a 41.9% stake, excluding treasury shares, in Lenta from those two sellers, for a total of US$721mm, or US$18 per share or US$3.60 per GDR. That implies a price of US$1.75bn for the whole company. 

Later last night, Lenta announced on its website (full press release here) a cash offer for all the shares had been proposed. The Offer has a pre-condition dealing with the above-mentioned transactions being approved by those who need to approve.

The Offer Price is an 8.11% premium to the last trade on 26 March – the undisturbed price, and a premium of 9.76% to the 6mo average price of US$3.28 for the GDRs. 

There may be something interesting to do here.

4. Map Aktif Follow-On Offering – Lace up for a Potential Long Run

Fcf

CVC is looking to raise about US$353m through the sale of about 648m Map Aktif Adiperkasa PT (MAPA IJ) shares in the follow-on offering.

Map Aktif (MAPA) is a sports, leisure, and kids retailer in Indonesia. It is a subsidiary of Mitra Adiperkasa (MAPI IJ).  The selldown might not be totally unexpected as CVC planned to exit its investment by 2020. However, post this selldown it will still have 192m share left.

5. Pan Pacific/Don Quijote: Bringing Joy into Shopping

Capture%201%20v1

  • Japanese Retail is in a secular decline: There are areas in retail that are worse affected than the rest
  • Falling foot traffic: The biggest problem for Japanese retail
  • Don Quijote’s recent history and growth potential
  • Attracting shoppers from multiple store formats helps Don Quijote to expand its target market
  • Don Quijote is least affected from slowdown in Chinese tourist spending
  • FamilyMart UNY store conversions to contribute to revenue and EBIT growth over the next five years
  • New store openings to cap at 25 per year because of UNY store conversions
  • Valuation: Market unjustly penalized Don Quijote for the UNY acquisition
  • Change in retail landscape to help make Don Quijote the “DON” in Japanese retail

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality
  2. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail
  3. Map Aktif Follow-On Offering – Lace up for a Potential Long Run
  4. Pan Pacific/Don Quijote: Bringing Joy into Shopping
  5. Last Week in GER Research: Lyft, Rakuten, Lynas, Yunji IPO, Xinyi IPO and Ruhnn IPO

1. Tesla. Autopilot Safety Claims Roundly Debunked As Deafening Silence Follows Latest Fatality

Screen%20shot%202019 04 02%20at%209.25.22%20am

In its final report into a fatal accident involving a Tesla Model S being driven in Autopilot Mode by one Joshua Brown, the NHTSA included the controversial finding that having Autopilot engaged reduced accident rates by 40%. Now, after battling both the NHTSA and Tesla for almost two years to get access to the underlying dataset, independent US-based consulting firm QCS has published a detailed report casting serious doubt on the methodology, statistics and science behind this 40% safer claim. 

Meanwhile on March 2’nd 2019, in a carbon copy of the circumstances which claimed the life of Joshua Brown almost three years ago, another Tesla driver lost his life when his Model 3 crashed into a semi-trailer as it legitimately crossed his line of travel to make a right-hand turn at an uncontrolled intersection. At the time of the accident, it was unknown whether Autopilot was engaged or not. If it transpires that it was engaged, it will represent a serious blow to Tesla’s credibility not least in part due to the company’s claims that its self-driving technology is continuously learning and improving based on the experiences and data collected on a daily basis from its ever-growing fleet of vehicles on the road.

Until now, on the one-month anniversary on this latest fatality, Tesla’s silence on the matter remains deafening.  

2. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail

Screenshot%202019 04 02%20at%205.33.39%20pm

In the middle of last week, Russia’s largest chain of hypermarkets Lenta Ltd (LNTA LI)  announced that it was aware that there were ongoing discussions between Luna (TPG’s holding entity, which owns 34.13% of Lenta’s capital) and Alexey Mordashov’s Severgroup, for Luna to sell its stake in Lenta to the Russian conglomerate. A day later, Lenta announced the company was aware of discussions between Severgroup and the EBRD (7.40% holder). 

Reuters reported last night that Severgroup had reached an agreement to buy a 41.9% stake, excluding treasury shares, in Lenta from those two sellers, for a total of US$721mm, or US$18 per share or US$3.60 per GDR. That implies a price of US$1.75bn for the whole company. 

Later last night, Lenta announced on its website (full press release here) a cash offer for all the shares had been proposed. The Offer has a pre-condition dealing with the above-mentioned transactions being approved by those who need to approve.

The Offer Price is an 8.11% premium to the last trade on 26 March – the undisturbed price, and a premium of 9.76% to the 6mo average price of US$3.28 for the GDRs. 

There may be something interesting to do here.

3. Map Aktif Follow-On Offering – Lace up for a Potential Long Run

Placement%20specifics

CVC is looking to raise about US$353m through the sale of about 648m Map Aktif Adiperkasa PT (MAPA IJ) shares in the follow-on offering.

Map Aktif (MAPA) is a sports, leisure, and kids retailer in Indonesia. It is a subsidiary of Mitra Adiperkasa (MAPI IJ).  The selldown might not be totally unexpected as CVC planned to exit its investment by 2020. However, post this selldown it will still have 192m share left.

4. Pan Pacific/Don Quijote: Bringing Joy into Shopping

Capture%206

  • Japanese Retail is in a secular decline: There are areas in retail that are worse affected than the rest
  • Falling foot traffic: The biggest problem for Japanese retail
  • Don Quijote’s recent history and growth potential
  • Attracting shoppers from multiple store formats helps Don Quijote to expand its target market
  • Don Quijote is least affected from slowdown in Chinese tourist spending
  • FamilyMart UNY store conversions to contribute to revenue and EBIT growth over the next five years
  • New store openings to cap at 25 per year because of UNY store conversions
  • Valuation: Market unjustly penalized Don Quijote for the UNY acquisition
  • Change in retail landscape to help make Don Quijote the “DON” in Japanese retail

5. Last Week in GER Research: Lyft, Rakuten, Lynas, Yunji IPO, Xinyi IPO and Ruhnn IPO

Below is a recap of the key analysis produced by the Global Equity Research team. This week, we update on Lyft Inc (LYFT US) now that it is below its IPO price and remind of the potentially muted impact for strategic holder Rakuten Inc (4755 JP). On the M&A front, Arun digs into the conditional deal for Lynas Corp Ltd (LYC AU) from Wesfarmers Ltd (WES AU). With regards to IPO research, we initiate on e-commerce player Yunji Inc. (YJ US) and solar company Xinyi Energy Holdings Ltd (1671746D HK) while we update on the IPO valuation of Ruhnn Holding Ltd (RUHN US)

In addition, we have provided an updated calendar of upcoming catalysts for EVENT driven names below. 

Best of luck for the new week – Arun, Venkat and Rickin

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: Rakuten (4755 JP): Lyft IPO’s Big Lift Unlikely to Lead to a Sustained Re-Rating and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. Rakuten (4755 JP): Lyft IPO’s Big Lift Unlikely to Lead to a Sustained Re-Rating

1. Rakuten (4755 JP): Lyft IPO’s Big Lift Unlikely to Lead to a Sustained Re-Rating

Softbank

Lyft Inc (0812823D US) has kicked off its IPO by posting its S-1 filing last Friday. Rakuten Inc (4755 JP) is Lyft’s single largest shareholder with a 13.05% stake. Rakuten has invested around $700 million to acquire its current Lyft stake and stands to make 3-4 times its investment if Lyft achieves its rumoured IPO valuation range of $20-25 billion.

Lyft’s IPO valuation range was first reported by Reuters on 20 February 2019. On the back of the news, Rakuten’s shares have so far risen around 10%. Notably, at the IPO valuation range, the Lyft stake would account for 20-25% of Rakuten’s current market cap. While the Lyft IPO will prove to be a big winner for Rakuten from an ROI perspective, we believe that from a valuation perspective, the upside is modest.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.



Brief Consumer: Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail and more

By | Consumer

In this briefing:

  1. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail
  2. Map Aktif Follow-On Offering – Lace up for a Potential Long Run
  3. Pan Pacific/Don Quijote: Bringing Joy into Shopping
  4. Last Week in GER Research: Lyft, Rakuten, Lynas, Yunji IPO, Xinyi IPO and Ruhnn IPO
  5. Notes from the Silk Road: Xtep Int’l Holdings (1368 HK): Time to Run (Away) For Now

1. Severgroup Puts in a Cheeky Bid for Lenta – TPG and EBRD Bail

Screenshot%202019 04 02%20at%205.33.39%20pm

In the middle of last week, Russia’s largest chain of hypermarkets Lenta Ltd (LNTA LI)  announced that it was aware that there were ongoing discussions between Luna (TPG’s holding entity, which owns 34.13% of Lenta’s capital) and Alexey Mordashov’s Severgroup, for Luna to sell its stake in Lenta to the Russian conglomerate. A day later, Lenta announced the company was aware of discussions between Severgroup and the EBRD (7.40% holder). 

Reuters reported last night that Severgroup had reached an agreement to buy a 41.9% stake, excluding treasury shares, in Lenta from those two sellers, for a total of US$721mm, or US$18 per share or US$3.60 per GDR. That implies a price of US$1.75bn for the whole company. 

Later last night, Lenta announced on its website (full press release here) a cash offer for all the shares had been proposed. The Offer has a pre-condition dealing with the above-mentioned transactions being approved by those who need to approve.

The Offer Price is an 8.11% premium to the last trade on 26 March – the undisturbed price, and a premium of 9.76% to the 6mo average price of US$3.28 for the GDRs. 

There may be something interesting to do here.

2. Map Aktif Follow-On Offering – Lace up for a Potential Long Run

Placement%20specifics

CVC is looking to raise about US$353m through the sale of about 648m Map Aktif Adiperkasa PT (MAPA IJ) shares in the follow-on offering.

Map Aktif (MAPA) is a sports, leisure, and kids retailer in Indonesia. It is a subsidiary of Mitra Adiperkasa (MAPI IJ).  The selldown might not be totally unexpected as CVC planned to exit its investment by 2020. However, post this selldown it will still have 192m share left.

3. Pan Pacific/Don Quijote: Bringing Joy into Shopping

Capture%2010

  • Japanese Retail is in a secular decline: There are areas in retail that are worse affected than the rest
  • Falling foot traffic: The biggest problem for Japanese retail
  • Don Quijote’s recent history and growth potential
  • Attracting shoppers from multiple store formats helps Don Quijote to expand its target market
  • Don Quijote is least affected from slowdown in Chinese tourist spending
  • FamilyMart UNY store conversions to contribute to revenue and EBIT growth over the next five years
  • New store openings to cap at 25 per year because of UNY store conversions
  • Valuation: Market unjustly penalized Don Quijote for the UNY acquisition
  • Change in retail landscape to help make Don Quijote the “DON” in Japanese retail

4. Last Week in GER Research: Lyft, Rakuten, Lynas, Yunji IPO, Xinyi IPO and Ruhnn IPO

Below is a recap of the key analysis produced by the Global Equity Research team. This week, we update on Lyft Inc (LYFT US) now that it is below its IPO price and remind of the potentially muted impact for strategic holder Rakuten Inc (4755 JP). On the M&A front, Arun digs into the conditional deal for Lynas Corp Ltd (LYC AU) from Wesfarmers Ltd (WES AU). With regards to IPO research, we initiate on e-commerce player Yunji Inc. (YJ US) and solar company Xinyi Energy Holdings Ltd (1671746D HK) while we update on the IPO valuation of Ruhnn Holding Ltd (RUHN US)

In addition, we have provided an updated calendar of upcoming catalysts for EVENT driven names below. 

Best of luck for the new week – Arun, Venkat and Rickin

5. Notes from the Silk Road: Xtep Int’l Holdings (1368 HK): Time to Run (Away) For Now

Xtep International (1368 HK) has announced a placing and top-up subscription of new shares event, creating a capital base which is 9% larger. 

XTEP states that they have considered various ways of raising funds and consider that it would be in their best interests to raise equity funding through the placing and the subscription. 

With the share price down 16% since the placement, we examine what this means for the company’s fundamentals and shareholders. We believe the results will prove to be mixed for management and shareholders alike. We highlight how we expect the stock ranking to react, given we the placement was only a few days back and this is yet to reflect. This special situation analysis may surprise you with the conclusions.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.