Category

Industrials

Brief Industrials: M1 Ltd (M1 SP): Axiata Throws in the Towel, Delisting Looms and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. M1 Ltd (M1 SP): Axiata Throws in the Towel, Delisting Looms
  2. THK (6481 JP): New Orders Down by Two-Thirds in 4Q, Near the Bottom of the Cycle

1. M1 Ltd (M1 SP): Axiata Throws in the Towel, Delisting Looms

After the market close last Friday, M1 Ltd (M1 SP) announced that the voluntary conditional offer (VGO) became unconditional as Keppel Corp Ltd (KEP SP) and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH SP) (KCL-SPH) has an interest in M1 of 76.4%. The offer became unconditional due to Axiata Group (AXIATA MK), the single largest shareholder with a 28.7% shareholding, accepting the offer.

KCL-SPH again extended the closing date of the offer from 18 February to 4 March 2019. M1’s shares are trading at S$2.04 per share, marginally below the VGO price of S$2.06 per share. We believe that the KCL-SPH should get the valid acceptances to complete the delisting and wholly own M1.

2. THK (6481 JP): New Orders Down by Two-Thirds in 4Q, Near the Bottom of the Cycle

Thk%20orders%20sales%20backlog

Sales and profits were above management’s guidance in FY Dec-18, with operating profit rising 36.9% on a 10.9% increase in sales. But new orders continuously declined and were down about two-thirds year-on-year in 4Q.

In view of the order flow, management is guiding for a 12% decline in sales and a 44% decline in operating profit in FY Dec-19, a forecast that is roughly in line with our own.

On the positive side, historical data indicates that new orders are at or near the bottom of the cycle. Anticipating a better investment climate after some resolution of the U.S.-China trade problem, we are forecasting an increase in sales and profits going into FY Dec-20.

The shares have rebounded by 41% since the beginning of January. At ¥2,720 (Friday, February 15, close), they are selling at 15.6x our estimate for FY Dec-19 and 13.8x our estimate for FY Dec-20E. These multiples look reasonably attractive in comparison with the company’s recent P/E range.

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Brief Industrials: China Tower. How Far Will It Rally? and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. China Tower. How Far Will It Rally?
  2. Hyundai Autoever IPO Bookbuilding: Surprising Results, Local Street Bets on Autoever/Glovis Merger
  3. Kosaido (7868 JP) – Reno Goes Bigger But TOB Price (This Time) Is Final So What Next?
  4. Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price
  5. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail

1. China Tower. How Far Will It Rally?

China tower since ipo with nsr target price move to buy on 10 dec china tower nsr 12 month target price chartbuilder

China Tower (788 HK) has rallied strongly in recent months and the question raised repeatedly in recent client meetings was “how much further is China Tower likely to rally?”. Chris Hoare sees China Tower’s position as unusual as the price moves are not driven by earnings upgrades or changed 5G expectations. Rather is is a sustained move post the IPO when the information in the market was incomplete and expectations were much lower. We were negative at the time of the IPO but changed our views as more information became available.  We remain positive on the scope for revaluation in China Tower given its rapid revenue growth and low valuations vs EM peers. While the recent results were somewhat disappointing, we see good upside as the market factors is lower capex and higher returns.

2. Hyundai Autoever IPO Bookbuilding: Surprising Results, Local Street Bets on Autoever/Glovis Merger

3

  • Subscription rate is 797 to 1. Offer price was fixed at ₩48,000, substantially higher than the upper end. Deal size is now ₩168.5bil. Company value is put at slightly higher than ₩1tril. Demands are spread out pretty well between long-term funds and hot money and local and foreign investors as well. All of the orders are universally placed at 75% of upper end or higher.
  • Local street is betting on Autoever/Glovis merger not long after this IPO. That is, HMG is still wanting the initial Glovis/Mobis merger plan. To better manage to win shareholder support, they must be thinking that bigger Glovis can be an answer. This means HMG should do whatever it takes to make Autoever bigger in the immediate future.
  • This is what local street is betting on and why they went really aggressive on this IPO. As witnessed in the bookbuilding results, this street mentalitywon’t be changed any time soon. We should expect even stronger prices after new shares are listed on Mar 28.

3. Kosaido (7868 JP) – Reno Goes Bigger But TOB Price (This Time) Is Final So What Next?

Screenshot%202019 03 18%20at%209.51.52%20pm

The quietly disputed Tender Offer MBO for Kosaido Co Ltd (7868 JP) continues on its merry way. 

Originally scheduled to close March 1st, near the end of February 2019, Bain Capital Japan’s acquisition vehicle (BCJ-34) extended the ¥610/share Tender Offer MBO deadline by 11 days from March 1st to March 11th. Of course, that was something of a moot point – by that time, the shares hadn’t traded at less than a 15% premium to terms for a week after well-known local activist Yoshiaki Murakami’s vehicle Reno KK and affiliates had taken a stake of just below 10%. 

On the 8th of March, BCJ-34 raised its Tender Offer Price by 14.8% to ¥700/share and extended the Tender Offer by almost two weeks to the 25th of March. It also lowered the amount which needs to be bought to 50.1% from 66.67%. In that amended filing the buyer included words 「公開買付者は、本開買付条件の変更後の本公開買付価格を最終的なものとし、今後、本公開買付価格を一切変更しないことの決定をしております。」which roughly translates to “The Offeror, having changed the terms, has made This Tender Offer Price final, and from this point onward, has decided to absolutely not raise the Tender Offer Price.”

That’s that, but since then, the shares have not traded as low as the newly raised Tender Offer Price.

With one week to go, Aoyama Fudosan yesterdat announced it had lifted its stake to 747,800 shares or 3.00% of shares out, which brings the combined Reno KK/Aoyama Fudosan stake to 11.71%. 

Given the 1.1mm shares traded since the 11th (i.e. shares which if Murakami-san had bought he would not have to report until the 19th (today)) and that the share price was up sharply in decent volume this afternoon, it would not be difficult to imagine a higher stake being reported in the days ahead.

Murakami-san is not going away. This is starting to look a bit like another Murakami situation of recent. And that one turned out well.

4. Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price

Zto sk mar17a

ZTO Express (ZTO US)‘s earnings will fail to meet the high expectations of sell-side analysts and investors who seeit as a cheap proxy for Chinese e-commerce activity.

China’s express sector revenue grew 43.5% YoY in 2016, the year ZTO went public. Last year, revenue growth was just half that (21.8%), and we expect the sector’s growth to continue to moderate over the next few years.

The express sector is also evolving in ways that will put downward pressure on profitability and require greater investment from the express companies.

We expect the profitability of ZTO’s express business to decline in the medium-term as the company adjusts to slowing demand and emerging sector trends. Our earnings estimates, which are far below consensus figures, reflect these challenges.

ZTO suffers from declining earnings quality and two accounting issues that we feel make it a risky, unattractive investment. Our 12-month target price for ZTO is US$13.31, based on 16 times our blended 2019-20 EPS estimates. We rate the stock Sell.

5. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail

On March 6th, a day before the Hitachi Ltd (6501 JP) Taiwan elevator business Tender Offer for just over a third of Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT) was expected to close, the closing date was extended to 22 April, notably because the acquiring entity had not yet received Taiwan Ministry of Economy Investment Commission approval for the foreign investment, and the Fair Trading Commission had not yet given the green light, so there was no hope of getting it done by the next day in accordance with Taiwan’s Public Acquisition of Public Company Shares Administrative Law Article 18 Para 2. The proposed purchase price was unchanged at NT$60. 

While there have been noises in the market that both Otis and Schindler, which are reported to hold roughly 5-6% each (last year’s shareholder list included UT Park View which United Technologies (UTX US)‘s 10-K showed was a wholly-owned sub) were willing to offer more than Hitachi’s offered NT$60 (and MOPS filings indicate the board approval meeting in end-January referenced a NT$63 potential bid), there was no competitive bid made public and to the authorities by five business days prior to the first bid close (which would have been 26 Feb) as per the same law Article 7 Para 2.

Since then, there have also been other ructions. While terms remain unchanged, it is worthwhile looking into what has been going on. This is still interesting and because of its various inputs, slightly disconcerting to some, and the modalities continue to surprise me.

Past coverage of this situation can be found at:
28 Oct 2018 – Going Up! Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT)
17 Jan 2019 – Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering Launches
26 Feb 2019 – Yungtay Noises Haven’t Produced a Result Yet

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 Industrials: Hyundai Autoever IPO Bookbuilding: Surprising Results, Local Street Bets on Autoever/Glovis Merger and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. Hyundai Autoever IPO Bookbuilding: Surprising Results, Local Street Bets on Autoever/Glovis Merger
  2. Kosaido (7868 JP) – Reno Goes Bigger But TOB Price (This Time) Is Final So What Next?
  3. Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price
  4. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail
  5. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments

1. Hyundai Autoever IPO Bookbuilding: Surprising Results, Local Street Bets on Autoever/Glovis Merger

3

  • Subscription rate is 797 to 1. Offer price was fixed at ₩48,000, substantially higher than the upper end. Deal size is now ₩168.5bil. Company value is put at slightly higher than ₩1tril. Demands are spread out pretty well between long-term funds and hot money and local and foreign investors as well. All of the orders are universally placed at 75% of upper end or higher.
  • Local street is betting on Autoever/Glovis merger not long after this IPO. That is, HMG is still wanting the initial Glovis/Mobis merger plan. To better manage to win shareholder support, they must be thinking that bigger Glovis can be an answer. This means HMG should do whatever it takes to make Autoever bigger in the immediate future.
  • This is what local street is betting on and why they went really aggressive on this IPO. As witnessed in the bookbuilding results, this street mentalitywon’t be changed any time soon. We should expect even stronger prices after new shares are listed on Mar 28.

2. Kosaido (7868 JP) – Reno Goes Bigger But TOB Price (This Time) Is Final So What Next?

Screenshot%202019 03 18%20at%2010.27.52%20pm

The quietly disputed Tender Offer MBO for Kosaido Co Ltd (7868 JP) continues on its merry way. 

Originally scheduled to close March 1st, near the end of February 2019, Bain Capital Japan’s acquisition vehicle (BCJ-34) extended the ¥610/share Tender Offer MBO deadline by 11 days from March 1st to March 11th. Of course, that was something of a moot point – by that time, the shares hadn’t traded at less than a 15% premium to terms for a week after well-known local activist Yoshiaki Murakami’s vehicle Reno KK and affiliates had taken a stake of just below 10%. 

On the 8th of March, BCJ-34 raised its Tender Offer Price by 14.8% to ¥700/share and extended the Tender Offer by almost two weeks to the 25th of March. It also lowered the amount which needs to be bought to 50.1% from 66.67%. In that amended filing the buyer included words 「公開買付者は、本開買付条件の変更後の本公開買付価格を最終的なものとし、今後、本公開買付価格を一切変更しないことの決定をしております。」which roughly translates to “The Offeror, having changed the terms, has made This Tender Offer Price final, and from this point onward, has decided to absolutely not raise the Tender Offer Price.”

That’s that, but since then, the shares have not traded as low as the newly raised Tender Offer Price.

With one week to go, Aoyama Fudosan yesterdat announced it had lifted its stake to 747,800 shares or 3.00% of shares out, which brings the combined Reno KK/Aoyama Fudosan stake to 11.71%. 

Given the 1.1mm shares traded since the 11th (i.e. shares which if Murakami-san had bought he would not have to report until the 19th (today)) and that the share price was up sharply in decent volume this afternoon, it would not be difficult to imagine a higher stake being reported in the days ahead.

Murakami-san is not going away. This is starting to look a bit like another Murakami situation of recent. And that one turned out well.

3. Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price

Zto sk mar17b

ZTO Express (ZTO US)‘s earnings will fail to meet the high expectations of sell-side analysts and investors who seeit as a cheap proxy for Chinese e-commerce activity.

China’s express sector revenue grew 43.5% YoY in 2016, the year ZTO went public. Last year, revenue growth was just half that (21.8%), and we expect the sector’s growth to continue to moderate over the next few years.

The express sector is also evolving in ways that will put downward pressure on profitability and require greater investment from the express companies.

We expect the profitability of ZTO’s express business to decline in the medium-term as the company adjusts to slowing demand and emerging sector trends. Our earnings estimates, which are far below consensus figures, reflect these challenges.

ZTO suffers from declining earnings quality and two accounting issues that we feel make it a risky, unattractive investment. Our 12-month target price for ZTO is US$13.31, based on 16 times our blended 2019-20 EPS estimates. We rate the stock Sell.

4. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail

On March 6th, a day before the Hitachi Ltd (6501 JP) Taiwan elevator business Tender Offer for just over a third of Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT) was expected to close, the closing date was extended to 22 April, notably because the acquiring entity had not yet received Taiwan Ministry of Economy Investment Commission approval for the foreign investment, and the Fair Trading Commission had not yet given the green light, so there was no hope of getting it done by the next day in accordance with Taiwan’s Public Acquisition of Public Company Shares Administrative Law Article 18 Para 2. The proposed purchase price was unchanged at NT$60. 

While there have been noises in the market that both Otis and Schindler, which are reported to hold roughly 5-6% each (last year’s shareholder list included UT Park View which United Technologies (UTX US)‘s 10-K showed was a wholly-owned sub) were willing to offer more than Hitachi’s offered NT$60 (and MOPS filings indicate the board approval meeting in end-January referenced a NT$63 potential bid), there was no competitive bid made public and to the authorities by five business days prior to the first bid close (which would have been 26 Feb) as per the same law Article 7 Para 2.

Since then, there have also been other ructions. While terms remain unchanged, it is worthwhile looking into what has been going on. This is still interesting and because of its various inputs, slightly disconcerting to some, and the modalities continue to surprise me.

Past coverage of this situation can be found at:
28 Oct 2018 – Going Up! Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT)
17 Jan 2019 – Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering Launches
26 Feb 2019 – Yungtay Noises Haven’t Produced a Result Yet

5. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments

Something of a slower week on Smartkarma this week (I contributed to that slowness by being away and under the weather when back) with about 120 insights published. A list of the insights to do with Japan and Korea this week are listed below.

There will be a couple more shortly. 

JAPAN

DateIPTitle
3/10Travis LundyOmron into the Nikkei 225, Pioneer Out
3/11David RubensteinHitachi High Tech’s Ace in the Hole
3/11Oshadhi KumarasiriJapan Tobacco: No Dire Consequences Despite Late Entry to Heated Tobacco
3/12Nicholas TannerNsk (6471) Conditions Have Deteriorated Significantly but Given Valuations, This Is Now in the Price
3/12Mio Kato, CFAToshiba: King Street Round Two
3/12Mio Kato, CFAChiyoda: Minor Updates About the Major Capital Infusion, Cost Overruns and Upcoming Orders
3/13Travis LundyShinetsu Buyback – Maybe More Than It Appears
3/13Supun WalpolaCyberAgent (4751 JP): Key Takeaways from Our Discussion with the IR Team
3/13Mio Kato, CFAZozo: Looks Like There’s a Dead Cat in This Bouncy Zozosuit
3/13Pelham SmithersESport Prize Money in 2019 Running at 2x 2018 Levels
3/13Michael CaustonLoyalty Points In Japan: More Loyalty, More Points and the Conduit to Cashless Payments
3/13Michael CaustonWho Will Win the Cashless Wars in Japan?
3/14Scott FosterYokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering
3/14Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMAAdvantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest
3/14Michael CaustonDonki (7532 JP) Becomes Japan’s 4th Biggest Retailer
3/15Kirk BoodryYahoo Japan Company Visit: Profit Erosion Has Bottomed and Mobile Payments (PayPay) Starts Strong
3/15Kirk BoodryDoCoMo Company Visit: Brief Comments on Mobile Competition and Payment Efforts
3/15Michael CaustonIsetan-Mitsukoshi Unveils Digital Strategy
3/16Jim HandyMoore’s Law May Not Be Dead, After All

Korea

DateIPTitle
3/10Sanghyun ParkHHI – DSME Acquisition: Current Situation & Trade Approach
3/11Thomas SchroederLG Corp Daily Cycle Pivot and Re Test of Base Line Support
3/11Douglas KimHomeplus REIT IPO: A Key Landmark Deal in the History of the Korean REIT Market
3/12Sanghyun ParkNongshim Stub Trade: Sub Moving Up on New Hit Product, Now at Near -2σ
3/12Douglas KimKorean Stubs Spotlight: A Pair Trade Between Hyosung Corp and Hyosung TNC
3/13Douglas KimKorea National Pension Fund Announces a List of 11 Companies They Oppose in Upcoming AGMs
3/14Sanghyun ParkReason Why Amazon Canceled DRAM Order from Samsung: Short-Term Impact on Samsung

For more detail, read on below the fold…

For me, the MUST READS of this weak are the cashless payment-related pieces by Kirk Boodry and Michael Causton shown at the bottom. 

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 Industrials: THK (6481 JP): New Orders Down by Two-Thirds in 4Q, Near the Bottom of the Cycle and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. THK (6481 JP): New Orders Down by Two-Thirds in 4Q, Near the Bottom of the Cycle

1. THK (6481 JP): New Orders Down by Two-Thirds in 4Q, Near the Bottom of the Cycle

Thk%20orders%20sales%20backlog

Sales and profits were above management’s guidance in FY Dec-18, with operating profit rising 36.9% on a 10.9% increase in sales. But new orders continuously declined and were down about two-thirds year-on-year in 4Q.

In view of the order flow, management is guiding for a 12% decline in sales and a 44% decline in operating profit in FY Dec-19, a forecast that is roughly in line with our own.

On the positive side, historical data indicates that new orders are at or near the bottom of the cycle. Anticipating a better investment climate after some resolution of the U.S.-China trade problem, we are forecasting an increase in sales and profits going into FY Dec-20.

The shares have rebounded by 41% since the beginning of January. At ¥2,720 (Friday, February 15, close), they are selling at 15.6x our estimate for FY Dec-19 and 13.8x our estimate for FY Dec-20E. These multiples look reasonably attractive in comparison with the company’s recent P/E range.

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 Industrials: Kosaido (7868 JP) – Reno Goes Bigger But TOB Price (This Time) Is Final So What Next? and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. Kosaido (7868 JP) – Reno Goes Bigger But TOB Price (This Time) Is Final So What Next?
  2. Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price
  3. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail
  4. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments
  5. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)

1. Kosaido (7868 JP) – Reno Goes Bigger But TOB Price (This Time) Is Final So What Next?

Screenshot%202019 03 18%20at%2010.27.52%20pm

The quietly disputed Tender Offer MBO for Kosaido Co Ltd (7868 JP) continues on its merry way. 

Originally scheduled to close March 1st, near the end of February 2019, Bain Capital Japan’s acquisition vehicle (BCJ-34) extended the ¥610/share Tender Offer MBO deadline by 11 days from March 1st to March 11th. Of course, that was something of a moot point – by that time, the shares hadn’t traded at less than a 15% premium to terms for a week after well-known local activist Yoshiaki Murakami’s vehicle Reno KK and affiliates had taken a stake of just below 10%. 

On the 8th of March, BCJ-34 raised its Tender Offer Price by 14.8% to ¥700/share and extended the Tender Offer by almost two weeks to the 25th of March. It also lowered the amount which needs to be bought to 50.1% from 66.67%. In that amended filing the buyer included words 「公開買付者は、本開買付条件の変更後の本公開買付価格を最終的なものとし、今後、本公開買付価格を一切変更しないことの決定をしております。」which roughly translates to “The Offeror, having changed the terms, has made This Tender Offer Price final, and from this point onward, has decided to absolutely not raise the Tender Offer Price.”

That’s that, but since then, the shares have not traded as low as the newly raised Tender Offer Price.

With one week to go, Aoyama Fudosan yesterdat announced it had lifted its stake to 747,800 shares or 3.00% of shares out, which brings the combined Reno KK/Aoyama Fudosan stake to 11.71%. 

Given the 1.1mm shares traded since the 11th (i.e. shares which if Murakami-san had bought he would not have to report until the 19th (today)) and that the share price was up sharply in decent volume this afternoon, it would not be difficult to imagine a higher stake being reported in the days ahead.

Murakami-san is not going away. This is starting to look a bit like another Murakami situation of recent. And that one turned out well.

2. Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price

Zto sk mar17a

ZTO Express (ZTO US)‘s earnings will fail to meet the high expectations of sell-side analysts and investors who seeit as a cheap proxy for Chinese e-commerce activity.

China’s express sector revenue grew 43.5% YoY in 2016, the year ZTO went public. Last year, revenue growth was just half that (21.8%), and we expect the sector’s growth to continue to moderate over the next few years.

The express sector is also evolving in ways that will put downward pressure on profitability and require greater investment from the express companies.

We expect the profitability of ZTO’s express business to decline in the medium-term as the company adjusts to slowing demand and emerging sector trends. Our earnings estimates, which are far below consensus figures, reflect these challenges.

ZTO suffers from declining earnings quality and two accounting issues that we feel make it a risky, unattractive investment. Our 12-month target price for ZTO is US$13.31, based on 16 times our blended 2019-20 EPS estimates. We rate the stock Sell.

3. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail

On March 6th, a day before the Hitachi Ltd (6501 JP) Taiwan elevator business Tender Offer for just over a third of Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT) was expected to close, the closing date was extended to 22 April, notably because the acquiring entity had not yet received Taiwan Ministry of Economy Investment Commission approval for the foreign investment, and the Fair Trading Commission had not yet given the green light, so there was no hope of getting it done by the next day in accordance with Taiwan’s Public Acquisition of Public Company Shares Administrative Law Article 18 Para 2. The proposed purchase price was unchanged at NT$60. 

While there have been noises in the market that both Otis and Schindler, which are reported to hold roughly 5-6% each (last year’s shareholder list included UT Park View which United Technologies (UTX US)‘s 10-K showed was a wholly-owned sub) were willing to offer more than Hitachi’s offered NT$60 (and MOPS filings indicate the board approval meeting in end-January referenced a NT$63 potential bid), there was no competitive bid made public and to the authorities by five business days prior to the first bid close (which would have been 26 Feb) as per the same law Article 7 Para 2.

Since then, there have also been other ructions. While terms remain unchanged, it is worthwhile looking into what has been going on. This is still interesting and because of its various inputs, slightly disconcerting to some, and the modalities continue to surprise me.

Past coverage of this situation can be found at:
28 Oct 2018 – Going Up! Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT)
17 Jan 2019 – Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering Launches
26 Feb 2019 – Yungtay Noises Haven’t Produced a Result Yet

4. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments

Something of a slower week on Smartkarma this week (I contributed to that slowness by being away and under the weather when back) with about 120 insights published. A list of the insights to do with Japan and Korea this week are listed below.

There will be a couple more shortly. 

JAPAN

DateIPTitle
3/10Travis LundyOmron into the Nikkei 225, Pioneer Out
3/11David RubensteinHitachi High Tech’s Ace in the Hole
3/11Oshadhi KumarasiriJapan Tobacco: No Dire Consequences Despite Late Entry to Heated Tobacco
3/12Nicholas TannerNsk (6471) Conditions Have Deteriorated Significantly but Given Valuations, This Is Now in the Price
3/12Mio Kato, CFAToshiba: King Street Round Two
3/12Mio Kato, CFAChiyoda: Minor Updates About the Major Capital Infusion, Cost Overruns and Upcoming Orders
3/13Travis LundyShinetsu Buyback – Maybe More Than It Appears
3/13Supun WalpolaCyberAgent (4751 JP): Key Takeaways from Our Discussion with the IR Team
3/13Mio Kato, CFAZozo: Looks Like There’s a Dead Cat in This Bouncy Zozosuit
3/13Pelham SmithersESport Prize Money in 2019 Running at 2x 2018 Levels
3/13Michael CaustonLoyalty Points In Japan: More Loyalty, More Points and the Conduit to Cashless Payments
3/13Michael CaustonWho Will Win the Cashless Wars in Japan?
3/14Scott FosterYokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering
3/14Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMAAdvantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest
3/14Michael CaustonDonki (7532 JP) Becomes Japan’s 4th Biggest Retailer
3/15Kirk BoodryYahoo Japan Company Visit: Profit Erosion Has Bottomed and Mobile Payments (PayPay) Starts Strong
3/15Kirk BoodryDoCoMo Company Visit: Brief Comments on Mobile Competition and Payment Efforts
3/15Michael CaustonIsetan-Mitsukoshi Unveils Digital Strategy
3/16Jim HandyMoore’s Law May Not Be Dead, After All

Korea

DateIPTitle
3/10Sanghyun ParkHHI – DSME Acquisition: Current Situation & Trade Approach
3/11Thomas SchroederLG Corp Daily Cycle Pivot and Re Test of Base Line Support
3/11Douglas KimHomeplus REIT IPO: A Key Landmark Deal in the History of the Korean REIT Market
3/12Sanghyun ParkNongshim Stub Trade: Sub Moving Up on New Hit Product, Now at Near -2σ
3/12Douglas KimKorean Stubs Spotlight: A Pair Trade Between Hyosung Corp and Hyosung TNC
3/13Douglas KimKorea National Pension Fund Announces a List of 11 Companies They Oppose in Upcoming AGMs
3/14Sanghyun ParkReason Why Amazon Canceled DRAM Order from Samsung: Short-Term Impact on Samsung

For more detail, read on below the fold…

For me, the MUST READS of this weak are the cashless payment-related pieces by Kirk Boodry and Michael Causton shown at the bottom. 

5. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)

Misae 3

In this report, we provide an analysis of our pair trade idea between Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) and Doosan Corp (000150 KS)Our strategy will be to be long Doosan Heavy Industries and be short Doosan Corp. Our base case strategy is to achieve gains of 7-9% on this pair trade over the next six months. 

In the past two years, Moon Jae-In administration’s energy policy has been to further reduce the reliance on nuclear power and increase reliance in renewable and coal power. The use of nuclear power in Korea is highly impacted by politics. There are a few stocks in Korea such as Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) where politics is very important. The conservative parties in Korea tend to favor the use of nuclear power. However, the ruling liberal party does not favor the use of nuclear power. 

Among the domestic issues, the decline in the nuclear power generation and greater use of coal based power generation have been cited as key reasons why the fine dust problems has increased in Korea in the past two years. In fact, more than 0.42 million Korean citizens have signed petitions in the past few weeks that would oppose the continued decline in the use of nuclear power generation. 

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 Industrials: HDC Holdings Goes Activist on Samyang Foods and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. HDC Holdings Goes Activist on Samyang Foods
  2. Last Week in GER Research: API/Sigma, M1, Eclipx/Mcmillan and Hansoh IPO
  3. M1 Ltd (M1 SP): Axiata Throws in the Towel, Delisting Looms
  4. THK (6481 JP): New Orders Down by Two-Thirds in 4Q, Near the Bottom of the Cycle

1. HDC Holdings Goes Activist on Samyang Foods

Samyang f

  • We have a really interesting and unusual situation in Korea right now with HDC Holdings (012630 KS) going activist on Samyang Foods (003230 KS). HDC Holdings is the second largest owner of Samyang Foods.
  • HDC Holdings is recommending that the company should exclude executive directors that have been sentenced to imprisonment on cases such as embezzlement and extreme negligence resulting in significant losses for Samyang Foods. This is an agenda which will be discussed in the Samyang Foods’ AGM next month on March 22nd.
  • HDC Holdings is taking a very unusual move right now in going against the traditional “save face” mentality in the Korea Inc. and trying to publicly urge Samyang Foods to make changes to its BOD. 

2. Last Week in GER Research: API/Sigma, M1, Eclipx/Mcmillan and Hansoh IPO

In this version of the GER weekly research wrap, we assess the bump prospects in the Australian Pharma Industries (API AU) / Sigma Healthcare (SIG AU) potential merger. Arun updates on M1 Ltd (M1 SP) which could be delisted following an unconditional offer. In addition, we dig into the trading update for Eclipx (ECX AU) and assess the risks that Mcmillan Shakespeare (MMS AU) could walk away from the deal. Finally, we initiate on the IPO of Hansoh Pharmaceutical (HANSOH HK). A calendar of upcoming catalysts is also attached. 

More details can be found below. 

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

3. M1 Ltd (M1 SP): Axiata Throws in the Towel, Delisting Looms

After the market close last Friday, M1 Ltd (M1 SP) announced that the voluntary conditional offer (VGO) became unconditional as Keppel Corp Ltd (KEP SP) and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH SP) (KCL-SPH) has an interest in M1 of 76.4%. The offer became unconditional due to Axiata Group (AXIATA MK), the single largest shareholder with a 28.7% shareholding, accepting the offer.

KCL-SPH again extended the closing date of the offer from 18 February to 4 March 2019. M1’s shares are trading at S$2.04 per share, marginally below the VGO price of S$2.06 per share. We believe that the KCL-SPH should get the valid acceptances to complete the delisting and wholly own M1.

4. THK (6481 JP): New Orders Down by Two-Thirds in 4Q, Near the Bottom of the Cycle

Thk%20orders%20sales%20backlog

Sales and profits were above management’s guidance in FY Dec-18, with operating profit rising 36.9% on a 10.9% increase in sales. But new orders continuously declined and were down about two-thirds year-on-year in 4Q.

In view of the order flow, management is guiding for a 12% decline in sales and a 44% decline in operating profit in FY Dec-19, a forecast that is roughly in line with our own.

On the positive side, historical data indicates that new orders are at or near the bottom of the cycle. Anticipating a better investment climate after some resolution of the U.S.-China trade problem, we are forecasting an increase in sales and profits going into FY Dec-20.

The shares have rebounded by 41% since the beginning of January. At ¥2,720 (Friday, February 15, close), they are selling at 15.6x our estimate for FY Dec-19 and 13.8x our estimate for FY Dec-20E. These multiples look reasonably attractive in comparison with the company’s recent P/E range.

Get Straight to the Source on Smartkarma

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Brief Industrials: Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price
  2. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail
  3. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments
  4. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)
  5. Koolearn (新东方在线) IPO Review – Yet to See Results from Increased Spending

1. Re-Launching Coverage of ZTO Express with Sell Rating and US$13.31 Target Price

Zto sk mar17c

ZTO Express (ZTO US)‘s earnings will fail to meet the high expectations of sell-side analysts and investors who seeit as a cheap proxy for Chinese e-commerce activity.

China’s express sector revenue grew 43.5% YoY in 2016, the year ZTO went public. Last year, revenue growth was just half that (21.8%), and we expect the sector’s growth to continue to moderate over the next few years.

The express sector is also evolving in ways that will put downward pressure on profitability and require greater investment from the express companies.

We expect the profitability of ZTO’s express business to decline in the medium-term as the company adjusts to slowing demand and emerging sector trends. Our earnings estimates, which are far below consensus figures, reflect these challenges.

ZTO suffers from declining earnings quality and two accounting issues that we feel make it a risky, unattractive investment. Our 12-month target price for ZTO is US$13.31, based on 16 times our blended 2019-20 EPS estimates. We rate the stock Sell.

2. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail

On March 6th, a day before the Hitachi Ltd (6501 JP) Taiwan elevator business Tender Offer for just over a third of Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT) was expected to close, the closing date was extended to 22 April, notably because the acquiring entity had not yet received Taiwan Ministry of Economy Investment Commission approval for the foreign investment, and the Fair Trading Commission had not yet given the green light, so there was no hope of getting it done by the next day in accordance with Taiwan’s Public Acquisition of Public Company Shares Administrative Law Article 18 Para 2. The proposed purchase price was unchanged at NT$60. 

While there have been noises in the market that both Otis and Schindler, which are reported to hold roughly 5-6% each (last year’s shareholder list included UT Park View which United Technologies (UTX US)‘s 10-K showed was a wholly-owned sub) were willing to offer more than Hitachi’s offered NT$60 (and MOPS filings indicate the board approval meeting in end-January referenced a NT$63 potential bid), there was no competitive bid made public and to the authorities by five business days prior to the first bid close (which would have been 26 Feb) as per the same law Article 7 Para 2.

Since then, there have also been other ructions. While terms remain unchanged, it is worthwhile looking into what has been going on. This is still interesting and because of its various inputs, slightly disconcerting to some, and the modalities continue to surprise me.

Past coverage of this situation can be found at:
28 Oct 2018 – Going Up! Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT)
17 Jan 2019 – Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering Launches
26 Feb 2019 – Yungtay Noises Haven’t Produced a Result Yet

3. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments

Something of a slower week on Smartkarma this week (I contributed to that slowness by being away and under the weather when back) with about 120 insights published. A list of the insights to do with Japan and Korea this week are listed below.

There will be a couple more shortly. 

JAPAN

DateIPTitle
3/10Travis LundyOmron into the Nikkei 225, Pioneer Out
3/11David RubensteinHitachi High Tech’s Ace in the Hole
3/11Oshadhi KumarasiriJapan Tobacco: No Dire Consequences Despite Late Entry to Heated Tobacco
3/12Nicholas TannerNsk (6471) Conditions Have Deteriorated Significantly but Given Valuations, This Is Now in the Price
3/12Mio Kato, CFAToshiba: King Street Round Two
3/12Mio Kato, CFAChiyoda: Minor Updates About the Major Capital Infusion, Cost Overruns and Upcoming Orders
3/13Travis LundyShinetsu Buyback – Maybe More Than It Appears
3/13Supun WalpolaCyberAgent (4751 JP): Key Takeaways from Our Discussion with the IR Team
3/13Mio Kato, CFAZozo: Looks Like There’s a Dead Cat in This Bouncy Zozosuit
3/13Pelham SmithersESport Prize Money in 2019 Running at 2x 2018 Levels
3/13Michael CaustonLoyalty Points In Japan: More Loyalty, More Points and the Conduit to Cashless Payments
3/13Michael CaustonWho Will Win the Cashless Wars in Japan?
3/14Scott FosterYokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering
3/14Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMAAdvantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest
3/14Michael CaustonDonki (7532 JP) Becomes Japan’s 4th Biggest Retailer
3/15Kirk BoodryYahoo Japan Company Visit: Profit Erosion Has Bottomed and Mobile Payments (PayPay) Starts Strong
3/15Kirk BoodryDoCoMo Company Visit: Brief Comments on Mobile Competition and Payment Efforts
3/15Michael CaustonIsetan-Mitsukoshi Unveils Digital Strategy
3/16Jim HandyMoore’s Law May Not Be Dead, After All

Korea

DateIPTitle
3/10Sanghyun ParkHHI – DSME Acquisition: Current Situation & Trade Approach
3/11Thomas SchroederLG Corp Daily Cycle Pivot and Re Test of Base Line Support
3/11Douglas KimHomeplus REIT IPO: A Key Landmark Deal in the History of the Korean REIT Market
3/12Sanghyun ParkNongshim Stub Trade: Sub Moving Up on New Hit Product, Now at Near -2σ
3/12Douglas KimKorean Stubs Spotlight: A Pair Trade Between Hyosung Corp and Hyosung TNC
3/13Douglas KimKorea National Pension Fund Announces a List of 11 Companies They Oppose in Upcoming AGMs
3/14Sanghyun ParkReason Why Amazon Canceled DRAM Order from Samsung: Short-Term Impact on Samsung

For more detail, read on below the fold…

For me, the MUST READS of this weak are the cashless payment-related pieces by Kirk Boodry and Michael Causton shown at the bottom. 

4. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)

Hwang

In this report, we provide an analysis of our pair trade idea between Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) and Doosan Corp (000150 KS)Our strategy will be to be long Doosan Heavy Industries and be short Doosan Corp. Our base case strategy is to achieve gains of 7-9% on this pair trade over the next six months. 

In the past two years, Moon Jae-In administration’s energy policy has been to further reduce the reliance on nuclear power and increase reliance in renewable and coal power. The use of nuclear power in Korea is highly impacted by politics. There are a few stocks in Korea such as Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) where politics is very important. The conservative parties in Korea tend to favor the use of nuclear power. However, the ruling liberal party does not favor the use of nuclear power. 

Among the domestic issues, the decline in the nuclear power generation and greater use of coal based power generation have been cited as key reasons why the fine dust problems has increased in Korea in the past two years. In fact, more than 0.42 million Korean citizens have signed petitions in the past few weeks that would oppose the continued decline in the use of nuclear power generation. 

5. Koolearn (新东方在线) IPO Review – Yet to See Results from Increased Spending

Indicative%20conversion%20rate%20fell

Koolearn (1797 HK) is looking to raise up to US$S234m in its upcoming IPO.  We have previously covered the company in:

In this insight, we will look at the updates on financials and operating metrics, compare it to other listed online education companies, and run the deal through our framework.

The increase in spending on marketing has not yielded the intended results as the growth rates of student enrollment and gross billings slowing down. Furthermore, aggressive spending behavior is similar to that of STG and LAIX and both companies did not perform well post listing.

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 Industrials: Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail
  2. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments
  3. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)
  4. Koolearn (新东方在线) IPO Review – Yet to See Results from Increased Spending
  5. Keppel Infrastructure Trust Placement – Scaled Down but Large Deal; Very Well Flagged Deal

1. Yungtay Tummy Rumblings Continue But Not Clear To What Avail

On March 6th, a day before the Hitachi Ltd (6501 JP) Taiwan elevator business Tender Offer for just over a third of Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT) was expected to close, the closing date was extended to 22 April, notably because the acquiring entity had not yet received Taiwan Ministry of Economy Investment Commission approval for the foreign investment, and the Fair Trading Commission had not yet given the green light, so there was no hope of getting it done by the next day in accordance with Taiwan’s Public Acquisition of Public Company Shares Administrative Law Article 18 Para 2. The proposed purchase price was unchanged at NT$60. 

While there have been noises in the market that both Otis and Schindler, which are reported to hold roughly 5-6% each (last year’s shareholder list included UT Park View which United Technologies (UTX US)‘s 10-K showed was a wholly-owned sub) were willing to offer more than Hitachi’s offered NT$60 (and MOPS filings indicate the board approval meeting in end-January referenced a NT$63 potential bid), there was no competitive bid made public and to the authorities by five business days prior to the first bid close (which would have been 26 Feb) as per the same law Article 7 Para 2.

Since then, there have also been other ructions. While terms remain unchanged, it is worthwhile looking into what has been going on. This is still interesting and because of its various inputs, slightly disconcerting to some, and the modalities continue to surprise me.

Past coverage of this situation can be found at:
28 Oct 2018 – Going Up! Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering (1507 TT)
17 Jan 2019 – Hitachi Tender for Yungtay Engineering Launches
26 Feb 2019 – Yungtay Noises Haven’t Produced a Result Yet

2. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments

Something of a slower week on Smartkarma this week (I contributed to that slowness by being away and under the weather when back) with about 120 insights published. A list of the insights to do with Japan and Korea this week are listed below.

There will be a couple more shortly. 

JAPAN

DateIPTitle
3/10Travis LundyOmron into the Nikkei 225, Pioneer Out
3/11David RubensteinHitachi High Tech’s Ace in the Hole
3/11Oshadhi KumarasiriJapan Tobacco: No Dire Consequences Despite Late Entry to Heated Tobacco
3/12Nicholas TannerNsk (6471) Conditions Have Deteriorated Significantly but Given Valuations, This Is Now in the Price
3/12Mio Kato, CFAToshiba: King Street Round Two
3/12Mio Kato, CFAChiyoda: Minor Updates About the Major Capital Infusion, Cost Overruns and Upcoming Orders
3/13Travis LundyShinetsu Buyback – Maybe More Than It Appears
3/13Supun WalpolaCyberAgent (4751 JP): Key Takeaways from Our Discussion with the IR Team
3/13Mio Kato, CFAZozo: Looks Like There’s a Dead Cat in This Bouncy Zozosuit
3/13Pelham SmithersESport Prize Money in 2019 Running at 2x 2018 Levels
3/13Michael CaustonLoyalty Points In Japan: More Loyalty, More Points and the Conduit to Cashless Payments
3/13Michael CaustonWho Will Win the Cashless Wars in Japan?
3/14Scott FosterYokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering
3/14Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMAAdvantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest
3/14Michael CaustonDonki (7532 JP) Becomes Japan’s 4th Biggest Retailer
3/15Kirk BoodryYahoo Japan Company Visit: Profit Erosion Has Bottomed and Mobile Payments (PayPay) Starts Strong
3/15Kirk BoodryDoCoMo Company Visit: Brief Comments on Mobile Competition and Payment Efforts
3/15Michael CaustonIsetan-Mitsukoshi Unveils Digital Strategy
3/16Jim HandyMoore’s Law May Not Be Dead, After All

Korea

DateIPTitle
3/10Sanghyun ParkHHI – DSME Acquisition: Current Situation & Trade Approach
3/11Thomas SchroederLG Corp Daily Cycle Pivot and Re Test of Base Line Support
3/11Douglas KimHomeplus REIT IPO: A Key Landmark Deal in the History of the Korean REIT Market
3/12Sanghyun ParkNongshim Stub Trade: Sub Moving Up on New Hit Product, Now at Near -2σ
3/12Douglas KimKorean Stubs Spotlight: A Pair Trade Between Hyosung Corp and Hyosung TNC
3/13Douglas KimKorea National Pension Fund Announces a List of 11 Companies They Oppose in Upcoming AGMs
3/14Sanghyun ParkReason Why Amazon Canceled DRAM Order from Samsung: Short-Term Impact on Samsung

For more detail, read on below the fold…

For me, the MUST READS of this weak are the cashless payment-related pieces by Kirk Boodry and Michael Causton shown at the bottom. 

3. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)

Doosanheavy

In this report, we provide an analysis of our pair trade idea between Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) and Doosan Corp (000150 KS)Our strategy will be to be long Doosan Heavy Industries and be short Doosan Corp. Our base case strategy is to achieve gains of 7-9% on this pair trade over the next six months. 

In the past two years, Moon Jae-In administration’s energy policy has been to further reduce the reliance on nuclear power and increase reliance in renewable and coal power. The use of nuclear power in Korea is highly impacted by politics. There are a few stocks in Korea such as Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) where politics is very important. The conservative parties in Korea tend to favor the use of nuclear power. However, the ruling liberal party does not favor the use of nuclear power. 

Among the domestic issues, the decline in the nuclear power generation and greater use of coal based power generation have been cited as key reasons why the fine dust problems has increased in Korea in the past two years. In fact, more than 0.42 million Korean citizens have signed petitions in the past few weeks that would oppose the continued decline in the use of nuclear power generation. 

4. Koolearn (新东方在线) IPO Review – Yet to See Results from Increased Spending

Conversion rate has been falling entry course enrolments 000 conversion rate  chartbuilder

Koolearn (1797 HK) is looking to raise up to US$S234m in its upcoming IPO.  We have previously covered the company in:

In this insight, we will look at the updates on financials and operating metrics, compare it to other listed online education companies, and run the deal through our framework.

The increase in spending on marketing has not yielded the intended results as the growth rates of student enrollment and gross billings slowing down. Furthermore, aggressive spending behavior is similar to that of STG and LAIX and both companies did not perform well post listing.

5. Keppel Infrastructure Trust Placement – Scaled Down but Large Deal; Very Well Flagged Deal

Previous%20deal

Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT SP) plans to raise US$450m via an equity placement and non-renounacable preferential offering. Its sponsor, Keppel Corp Ltd (KEP SP) will subscribe in the placement and the preferential offering to maintain its 18.2% stake.

KIT announced the acquisition of IXOM in Nov 2018 and has been talking about the need to issue equity ever since. Its earlier presentations seem to indicate a preference for raising a large sum via an equity issuance. Furthermore, despite the smaller raise the accretion to DPU is probably only marginal. 

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 Industrials: Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments
  2. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)
  3. Koolearn (新东方在线) IPO Review – Yet to See Results from Increased Spending
  4. Keppel Infrastructure Trust Placement – Scaled Down but Large Deal; Very Well Flagged Deal
  5. Yokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering

1. Smartkarma’s Week that Was in 🇯🇵/🇰🇷 : Korea’s NPS, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi Hi-Tech, Payments

Something of a slower week on Smartkarma this week (I contributed to that slowness by being away and under the weather when back) with about 120 insights published. A list of the insights to do with Japan and Korea this week are listed below.

There will be a couple more shortly. 

JAPAN

DateIPTitle
3/10Travis LundyOmron into the Nikkei 225, Pioneer Out
3/11David RubensteinHitachi High Tech’s Ace in the Hole
3/11Oshadhi KumarasiriJapan Tobacco: No Dire Consequences Despite Late Entry to Heated Tobacco
3/12Nicholas TannerNsk (6471) Conditions Have Deteriorated Significantly but Given Valuations, This Is Now in the Price
3/12Mio Kato, CFAToshiba: King Street Round Two
3/12Mio Kato, CFAChiyoda: Minor Updates About the Major Capital Infusion, Cost Overruns and Upcoming Orders
3/13Travis LundyShinetsu Buyback – Maybe More Than It Appears
3/13Supun WalpolaCyberAgent (4751 JP): Key Takeaways from Our Discussion with the IR Team
3/13Mio Kato, CFAZozo: Looks Like There’s a Dead Cat in This Bouncy Zozosuit
3/13Pelham SmithersESport Prize Money in 2019 Running at 2x 2018 Levels
3/13Michael CaustonLoyalty Points In Japan: More Loyalty, More Points and the Conduit to Cashless Payments
3/13Michael CaustonWho Will Win the Cashless Wars in Japan?
3/14Scott FosterYokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering
3/14Shifara Samsudeen, ACMA, CGMAAdvantest (6857 JP): Memory Downturn Yet to Impact Advantest
3/14Michael CaustonDonki (7532 JP) Becomes Japan’s 4th Biggest Retailer
3/15Kirk BoodryYahoo Japan Company Visit: Profit Erosion Has Bottomed and Mobile Payments (PayPay) Starts Strong
3/15Kirk BoodryDoCoMo Company Visit: Brief Comments on Mobile Competition and Payment Efforts
3/15Michael CaustonIsetan-Mitsukoshi Unveils Digital Strategy
3/16Jim HandyMoore’s Law May Not Be Dead, After All

Korea

DateIPTitle
3/10Sanghyun ParkHHI – DSME Acquisition: Current Situation & Trade Approach
3/11Thomas SchroederLG Corp Daily Cycle Pivot and Re Test of Base Line Support
3/11Douglas KimHomeplus REIT IPO: A Key Landmark Deal in the History of the Korean REIT Market
3/12Sanghyun ParkNongshim Stub Trade: Sub Moving Up on New Hit Product, Now at Near -2σ
3/12Douglas KimKorean Stubs Spotlight: A Pair Trade Between Hyosung Corp and Hyosung TNC
3/13Douglas KimKorea National Pension Fund Announces a List of 11 Companies They Oppose in Upcoming AGMs
3/14Sanghyun ParkReason Why Amazon Canceled DRAM Order from Samsung: Short-Term Impact on Samsung

For more detail, read on below the fold…

For me, the MUST READS of this weak are the cashless payment-related pieces by Kirk Boodry and Michael Causton shown at the bottom. 

2. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)

Doosan pair

In this report, we provide an analysis of our pair trade idea between Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) and Doosan Corp (000150 KS)Our strategy will be to be long Doosan Heavy Industries and be short Doosan Corp. Our base case strategy is to achieve gains of 7-9% on this pair trade over the next six months. 

In the past two years, Moon Jae-In administration’s energy policy has been to further reduce the reliance on nuclear power and increase reliance in renewable and coal power. The use of nuclear power in Korea is highly impacted by politics. There are a few stocks in Korea such as Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) where politics is very important. The conservative parties in Korea tend to favor the use of nuclear power. However, the ruling liberal party does not favor the use of nuclear power. 

Among the domestic issues, the decline in the nuclear power generation and greater use of coal based power generation have been cited as key reasons why the fine dust problems has increased in Korea in the past two years. In fact, more than 0.42 million Korean citizens have signed petitions in the past few weeks that would oppose the continued decline in the use of nuclear power generation. 

3. Koolearn (新东方在线) IPO Review – Yet to See Results from Increased Spending

Conversion rate has been falling entry course enrolments 000 conversion rate  chartbuilder

Koolearn (1797 HK) is looking to raise up to US$S234m in its upcoming IPO.  We have previously covered the company in:

In this insight, we will look at the updates on financials and operating metrics, compare it to other listed online education companies, and run the deal through our framework.

The increase in spending on marketing has not yielded the intended results as the growth rates of student enrollment and gross billings slowing down. Furthermore, aggressive spending behavior is similar to that of STG and LAIX and both companies did not perform well post listing.

4. Keppel Infrastructure Trust Placement – Scaled Down but Large Deal; Very Well Flagged Deal

Previous%20deal

Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT SP) plans to raise US$450m via an equity placement and non-renounacable preferential offering. Its sponsor, Keppel Corp Ltd (KEP SP) will subscribe in the placement and the preferential offering to maintain its 18.2% stake.

KIT announced the acquisition of IXOM in Nov 2018 and has been talking about the need to issue equity ever since. Its earlier presentations seem to indicate a preference for raising a large sum via an equity issuance. Furthermore, despite the smaller raise the accretion to DPU is probably only marginal. 

5. Yokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering

Screen%20shot%202019 03 12%20at%2021.13.51

Yokogawa Electric is one of the world’s leading suppliers of distributed control systems (DCS) used in the LNG, oil & gas, petrochemical and other industries. It is particularly strong in LNG, having provided control systems for dozens of liquefaction trains, LNG carriers and re-gasification plants.

Unlike Chiyoda Corporation (6366 JP) and JGC (1963 JP), which depend on a small number of large engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) orders, which can be as large as ¥500 billion, Yokogawa only rarely receives an order as large as ¥10 billion and most of its orders are less than ¥1 billion. It is geared primarily to ongoing investments and operating expenditures in its user industries, less exposed to highly variable orders for large LNG and other engineering projects, and relatively immune to cost overruns and other problems at projects gone wrong.

Margins have expanded over the past several years due to a combination of restructuring and technological advance. Unprofitable non-core businesses have been abandoned or sold, high-wage domestic employees retired, and administration, manufacturing and logistics rationalized. Enterprise and robotic process automation (RPA) software have been introduced and an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) cloud computing platform is under development.  Top-line growth has been slow, but the operating margin has risen from from 5.0% in FY Mar-12 to 8.0% in FY Mar-18, and should reach 10% in FY Mar-21, in our estimation.

At ¥2,215 (Wednesday, March 13 closing price), the shares are selling at 23x our EPS estimate for FY Mar-19 and 20x our estimate for FY Mar-21. Projected EV/EBITDA multiples for the same two years are 9.8x and 8.2x. These and other projected valuation multiples are above their recent historical averages, but indicate upside potential of 20% or more if the anticipated upturn in new LNG investments materializes. Investors willing to take on more speculative risk should look at Chiyoda and JGC.

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Brief Industrials: A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million) and more

By | Industrials

In this briefing:

  1. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)
  2. Koolearn (新东方在线) IPO Review – Yet to See Results from Increased Spending
  3. Keppel Infrastructure Trust Placement – Scaled Down but Large Deal; Very Well Flagged Deal
  4. Yokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering
  5. Company Visits: Berli Jucker, M Visions

1. A Pair Trade Between Doosan Heavy Industries & Doosan Corp: (미세먼지, Nuclear Power, & 0.42 Million)

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In this report, we provide an analysis of our pair trade idea between Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) and Doosan Corp (000150 KS)Our strategy will be to be long Doosan Heavy Industries and be short Doosan Corp. Our base case strategy is to achieve gains of 7-9% on this pair trade over the next six months. 

In the past two years, Moon Jae-In administration’s energy policy has been to further reduce the reliance on nuclear power and increase reliance in renewable and coal power. The use of nuclear power in Korea is highly impacted by politics. There are a few stocks in Korea such as Doosan Heavy Industries (034020 KS) where politics is very important. The conservative parties in Korea tend to favor the use of nuclear power. However, the ruling liberal party does not favor the use of nuclear power. 

Among the domestic issues, the decline in the nuclear power generation and greater use of coal based power generation have been cited as key reasons why the fine dust problems has increased in Korea in the past two years. In fact, more than 0.42 million Korean citizens have signed petitions in the past few weeks that would oppose the continued decline in the use of nuclear power generation. 

2. Koolearn (新东方在线) IPO Review – Yet to See Results from Increased Spending

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Koolearn (1797 HK) is looking to raise up to US$S234m in its upcoming IPO.  We have previously covered the company in:

In this insight, we will look at the updates on financials and operating metrics, compare it to other listed online education companies, and run the deal through our framework.

The increase in spending on marketing has not yielded the intended results as the growth rates of student enrollment and gross billings slowing down. Furthermore, aggressive spending behavior is similar to that of STG and LAIX and both companies did not perform well post listing.

3. Keppel Infrastructure Trust Placement – Scaled Down but Large Deal; Very Well Flagged Deal

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Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT SP) plans to raise US$450m via an equity placement and non-renounacable preferential offering. Its sponsor, Keppel Corp Ltd (KEP SP) will subscribe in the placement and the preferential offering to maintain its 18.2% stake.

KIT announced the acquisition of IXOM in Nov 2018 and has been talking about the need to issue equity ever since. Its earlier presentations seem to indicate a preference for raising a large sum via an equity issuance. Furthermore, despite the smaller raise the accretion to DPU is probably only marginal. 

4. Yokogawa Electric (6841 JP): A Less Risky Investment in LNG Engineering

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Yokogawa Electric is one of the world’s leading suppliers of distributed control systems (DCS) used in the LNG, oil & gas, petrochemical and other industries. It is particularly strong in LNG, having provided control systems for dozens of liquefaction trains, LNG carriers and re-gasification plants.

Unlike Chiyoda Corporation (6366 JP) and JGC (1963 JP), which depend on a small number of large engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) orders, which can be as large as ¥500 billion, Yokogawa only rarely receives an order as large as ¥10 billion and most of its orders are less than ¥1 billion. It is geared primarily to ongoing investments and operating expenditures in its user industries, less exposed to highly variable orders for large LNG and other engineering projects, and relatively immune to cost overruns and other problems at projects gone wrong.

Margins have expanded over the past several years due to a combination of restructuring and technological advance. Unprofitable non-core businesses have been abandoned or sold, high-wage domestic employees retired, and administration, manufacturing and logistics rationalized. Enterprise and robotic process automation (RPA) software have been introduced and an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) cloud computing platform is under development.  Top-line growth has been slow, but the operating margin has risen from from 5.0% in FY Mar-12 to 8.0% in FY Mar-18, and should reach 10% in FY Mar-21, in our estimation.

At ¥2,215 (Wednesday, March 13 closing price), the shares are selling at 23x our EPS estimate for FY Mar-19 and 20x our estimate for FY Mar-21. Projected EV/EBITDA multiples for the same two years are 9.8x and 8.2x. These and other projected valuation multiples are above their recent historical averages, but indicate upside potential of 20% or more if the anticipated upturn in new LNG investments materializes. Investors willing to take on more speculative risk should look at Chiyoda and JGC.

5. Company Visits: Berli Jucker, M Visions

Bnk

We visited one big-cap stock, Berli Jucker, and one pip-squeak recent IPO M Vision today. A couple of highlights:

  • Slow revenue growth at BJC at under 5% largely driven by Big C (hypermarket), but earnings growth was strong at 28% mainly due to lower cost of palm oil in the snack business.
  • Good progress in Vietnam with expansion of the bottle capacity this year and SABECO increasing purchases of bottles.
  • Overall unimpressed. The company isn’t expecting to grow revenues more than 9% this year, and many of the cost cuts we saw in 2018 are clearly one-offs. Higher oil prices are likely to lead to rising palm oil prices this year too, since the two commodities are linked through substitution effect.
  • MVP underwent a bad year on the profit level, but their various businesses, at least on the top line level, looks like it could recover quickly this year.

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