Of the five interesting trends/events/developments we heard this month, we highlighted five and how they could impact Thai equities in the near term:
Thai Raksa Chart Party dissolution. The dissolution of the TRC, the second largest Thaksinite party, poses some political risks but could affect sentiments for companies founded by Thaksin, such as Intuch and AIS.
Thai Air Asia says no to Nok Air. After the briefest considerations, the larger airline came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t acquire a stake in struggling Nok Air.
Capital Gains Taxes are currently under consideration by the government for the first time. If implemented, they are likely to have negative impact on overall equities but the brokers in particular.
From LINE to BEC. LINE (Thailand)’s Country Manager Ariya Phanomyong has agreed to move to BEC. Though mildly positive, we believe improvements will revolve around distribution rather than the more key issue of content.
True Move’s Request for 5G delay may sound odd at first glance, but we see it as a rational, if not very tactful, way of delaying a new round of capex.
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.
This week’s offering of Insights across ASEAN@Smartkarmais filled with another eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive and actionable insights from across South East Asia and includes macro, top-down and thematic pieces, as well as actionable equity bottom-up pieces. Please find a brief summary below, with a fuller write up in the detailed section.
This week’s highlights include an update from CrossASEAN Insight Provider Kevin O’Rourke on the running order ahead of the upcoming Indonesian Election on 17th April. In the Equity-Bottom-up section, Angus Mackintosh circles back Pt Matahari Department Store (LPPF IJ) post its underwhelming results and we have a number on contrasting views on e-commerce player Sea Ltd (SE US) post the announcement of its recent placement, which was bigger than its IPO from Johannes Salim, CFA, Arun George, and Rickin Thakrar.
Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.
We maintain PLANB with a BUY rating with the target price of Bt8.30 derived from 1.5xPEG’2019E of Thai consumer discretionary sector, which implies to 36xPE’19E.
The story:
Collaboration among the leaders in OOH industry
Revising down EPS in 2019-21E by 9-11% due to dilution effect
Risks: Obstacles for renewing concession contracts with state-owned enterprises along with falling consumer spending and a share-price dilution effect on the back of then generally mandated raise in capital.
China’s current efforts to gain prominence in the semiconductor market targets memory chips – large commodities. This three-part series of insights examines how China determined its strategy and explains which companies are the most threatened by it.
This second part of the series explains how China chose commodity semiconductors (DRAM and NAND flash memory chips) as the best technology to pursue.
Global Emerging Market funds made a strong start to 2019, with just over two-thirds of funds outperforming the benchmark, generating an average alpha above the IShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) (EEM US) of 1.3%.
In this report, we look at the performance of 180 global emerging market strategies over the first quarter of 2019 and analyse the countries, sectors and stocks that helped generate that outperformance. We also take a look at the longer-dated outperformance of active GEM funds.
This week’s offering of Insights across ASEAN@Smartkarmais filled with another eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive and actionable insights from across South East Asia and includes macro, top-down and thematic pieces, as well as actionable equity bottom-up pieces. Please find a brief summary below, with a fuller write up in the detailed section.
In the sixth company visit Insight in an ongoing series, Indonesia Property – In Search of the End of the Rainbow – Part 6 – Intiland Development (DILD IJ), CrossASEAN Insight Provider Jessica Irene takes a deep dive into this high-rise and office focused developer. The company is a property developer that focuses on landed residential, industrial estates, high-end condominiums, and offices in Jakarta and Surabaya. DILD has a good track record in building and operating high-end condominiums and offices.
On April 4, we attended the DTAC shareholders’ meeting and listened to how management defended their strategic decisions in various areas such as legal settlements, marketing, and spectrum bidding. This is our take on their responses to various issue:
Settlement with CAT. DTAC plans to do a further settlement worth Bt9.05bn nett with CAT to resolve all past bilateral issues, but will resume paying dividends in H2’19.
Spectrum. Since they still have less spectrum than both AIS and True Move, we can’t really fault them for bidding for the 900MHz spectrum, especially since competition has come down considerably.
Marketing. Like AIS, they are looking beyond just voice airtime. Mobile gaming is one area they will look at. DTAC’s subsidy on game-centric iPhones and the data airtime that comes with it is significantly more than both True Move and AIS.
Others. They also managed to get a raise for the Chairman and do finishing touches on the PaySabai (a payment platform) consolidation. In our view, these are really formalities at this phase, since PaySabai is pretty much wholly owned.
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.
China’s current efforts to gain prominence in the semiconductor market targets memory chips – large commodities. This three-part series of insights examines how China determined its strategy and explains which companies are the most threatened by it.
This second part of the series explains how China chose commodity semiconductors (DRAM and NAND flash memory chips) as the best technology to pursue.
Global Emerging Market funds made a strong start to 2019, with just over two-thirds of funds outperforming the benchmark, generating an average alpha above the IShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) (EEM US) of 1.3%.
In this report, we look at the performance of 180 global emerging market strategies over the first quarter of 2019 and analyse the countries, sectors and stocks that helped generate that outperformance. We also take a look at the longer-dated outperformance of active GEM funds.
This week’s offering of Insights across ASEAN@Smartkarmais filled with another eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive and actionable insights from across South East Asia and includes macro, top-down and thematic pieces, as well as actionable equity bottom-up pieces. Please find a brief summary below, with a fuller write up in the detailed section.
In the sixth company visit Insight in an ongoing series, Indonesia Property – In Search of the End of the Rainbow – Part 6 – Intiland Development (DILD IJ), CrossASEAN Insight Provider Jessica Irene takes a deep dive into this high-rise and office focused developer. The company is a property developer that focuses on landed residential, industrial estates, high-end condominiums, and offices in Jakarta and Surabaya. DILD has a good track record in building and operating high-end condominiums and offices.
On April 4, we attended the DTAC shareholders’ meeting and listened to how management defended their strategic decisions in various areas such as legal settlements, marketing, and spectrum bidding. This is our take on their responses to various issue:
Settlement with CAT. DTAC plans to do a further settlement worth Bt9.05bn nett with CAT to resolve all past bilateral issues, but will resume paying dividends in H2’19.
Spectrum. Since they still have less spectrum than both AIS and True Move, we can’t really fault them for bidding for the 900MHz spectrum, especially since competition has come down considerably.
Marketing. Like AIS, they are looking beyond just voice airtime. Mobile gaming is one area they will look at. DTAC’s subsidy on game-centric iPhones and the data airtime that comes with it is significantly more than both True Move and AIS.
Others. They also managed to get a raise for the Chairman and do finishing touches on the PaySabai (a payment platform) consolidation. In our view, these are really formalities at this phase, since PaySabai is pretty much wholly owned.
E. History of Rechargeable Battery Technologies And An In-Depth Analysis on Li-ion Batteries
F. Batteries Beyond Li-ion
G. Supply Constraints for Key Raw Materials
H. The Competitive Landscape
A. Key Conclusions
Global sales of EV’s reached 2m units in 2018. As a base case scenario, we expect a combination of improving EV battery cost-effectiveness, increasingly challenging emissions standards and ongoing incentives by various governments to propel unit sales to 8m units annually by 2025. Against this, we consider battery material price increases, a reduction of EV incentives in the US and China and political and environmental risks from the mining of metals used in batteries as downside risks which could delay the growth of the EV market.
Surprisingly, the EV battery technology that will drive us towards that 8m unit goal is still very much a work in progress. While Lithium Ion is the by far the dominant technology, there are striking differences between variants of the technology, battery pack design, battery management systems and manufacturing scale between the leading contenders. Furthermore, while there’s nothing on the horizon to completely displace Lithium Ion within the next decade, it remains unclear whether the technology will be the one to achieve the $100/kWh price target that would make the EV cost-neutral compared to its internal combustion predecessors.
Quite apart from the technology, the EV battery segment faces other significant challenges including increasing costs for core materials such as Cobalt, increasing safety concerns as the mix of that very same cobalt is reduced in the cathode, the growing risk of litigation amidst a fiercely competitive environment and last but not least, the appetite of various governments to maintain a favourable subsidy framework.
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Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.
Originally, Krung Thai Bank Pub (KTB TB) struck us as interesting. A solid PH Score™, reasonable franchise valuation and P/Book, and a low RSI.
However, further due-diligence shows a somewhat stagnant and eroding operation.
Headline profitability improvement is unrelated to efficiency or to operational advances.
Cost growth is fast outpacing a declining top-line.
Interest income has actually fallen for each of the last 3 years.
The bank is being squeezed on margin despite keeping interest expenses unchanged.
Non-interest expenses soared by 26% YoY.
The bottom line (and profitability) was flattered by varied low quality items as well as much lower loan loss provisions, but still remained well above comprehensive income.
Asset Quality is also concerning (despite lower loan loss provisions) given the sharp rise in loss (especially) and substandard loans as well as the amount of Special Mention Loans on the Balance Sheet. This means provisioning of problem loans may not be sufficient.
Liquidity: Deposits are also declining, pushing up the LDR.
We maintain our positive view toward its long-term outlook on the backs of potential growth from its location and secured contract with government agency. Maintain a BUY rating with a new target price of Bt16.8 (SOTP).
The story:
We cut our 2019-2021 earnings forecast by 12-13% to factor in rising depreciation expenses caused by its shortening depreciated years of PTW’s assets.
Our new target price of Bt16.8 is derived from Some-of-the-parts (SOTP) which comprises (1) Bt13.8 from core business (tap water supply under both TTW and PTW) based on DCF(6.7%WACC, 0%TG) and (2) Bt3.0 from CKP based on IFA report.
Of the five interesting trends/events/developments we heard this month, we highlighted five and how they could impact Thai equities in the near term:
Thai Raksa Chart Party dissolution. The dissolution of the TRC, the second largest Thaksinite party, poses some political risks but could affect sentiments for companies founded by Thaksin, such as Intuch and AIS.
Thai Air Asia says no to Nok Air. After the briefest considerations, the larger airline came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t acquire a stake in struggling Nok Air.
Capital Gains Taxes are currently under consideration by the government for the first time. If implemented, they are likely to have negative impact on overall equities but the brokers in particular.
From LINE to BEC. LINE (Thailand)’s Country Manager Ariya Phanomyong has agreed to move to BEC. Though mildly positive, we believe improvements will revolve around distribution rather than the more key issue of content.
True Move’s Request for 5G delay may sound odd at first glance, but we see it as a rational, if not very tactful, way of delaying a new round of capex.
This week’s offering of Insights across ASEAN@Smartkarmais filled with another eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive and actionable insights from across South East Asia and includes macro, top-down and thematic pieces, as well as actionable equity bottom-up pieces. Please find a brief summary below, with a fuller write up in the detailed section.
This week’s highlights include an update from CrossASEAN Insight Provider Kevin O’Rourke on the running order ahead of the upcoming Indonesian Election on 17th April. In the Equity-Bottom-up section, Angus Mackintosh circles back Pt Matahari Department Store (LPPF IJ) post its underwhelming results and we have a number on contrasting views on e-commerce player Sea Ltd (SE US) post the announcement of its recent placement, which was bigger than its IPO from Johannes Salim, CFA, Arun George, and Rickin Thakrar.
Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.
Global Emerging Market funds made a strong start to 2019, with just over two-thirds of funds outperforming the benchmark, generating an average alpha above the IShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) (EEM US) of 1.3%.
In this report, we look at the performance of 180 global emerging market strategies over the first quarter of 2019 and analyse the countries, sectors and stocks that helped generate that outperformance. We also take a look at the longer-dated outperformance of active GEM funds.
This week’s offering of Insights across ASEAN@Smartkarmais filled with another eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive and actionable insights from across South East Asia and includes macro, top-down and thematic pieces, as well as actionable equity bottom-up pieces. Please find a brief summary below, with a fuller write up in the detailed section.
In the sixth company visit Insight in an ongoing series, Indonesia Property – In Search of the End of the Rainbow – Part 6 – Intiland Development (DILD IJ), CrossASEAN Insight Provider Jessica Irene takes a deep dive into this high-rise and office focused developer. The company is a property developer that focuses on landed residential, industrial estates, high-end condominiums, and offices in Jakarta and Surabaya. DILD has a good track record in building and operating high-end condominiums and offices.
On April 4, we attended the DTAC shareholders’ meeting and listened to how management defended their strategic decisions in various areas such as legal settlements, marketing, and spectrum bidding. This is our take on their responses to various issue:
Settlement with CAT. DTAC plans to do a further settlement worth Bt9.05bn nett with CAT to resolve all past bilateral issues, but will resume paying dividends in H2’19.
Spectrum. Since they still have less spectrum than both AIS and True Move, we can’t really fault them for bidding for the 900MHz spectrum, especially since competition has come down considerably.
Marketing. Like AIS, they are looking beyond just voice airtime. Mobile gaming is one area they will look at. DTAC’s subsidy on game-centric iPhones and the data airtime that comes with it is significantly more than both True Move and AIS.
Others. They also managed to get a raise for the Chairman and do finishing touches on the PaySabai (a payment platform) consolidation. In our view, these are really formalities at this phase, since PaySabai is pretty much wholly owned.
E. History of Rechargeable Battery Technologies And An In-Depth Analysis on Li-ion Batteries
F. Batteries Beyond Li-ion
G. Supply Constraints for Key Raw Materials
H. The Competitive Landscape
A. Key Conclusions
Global sales of EV’s reached 2m units in 2018. As a base case scenario, we expect a combination of improving EV battery cost-effectiveness, increasingly challenging emissions standards and ongoing incentives by various governments to propel unit sales to 8m units annually by 2025. Against this, we consider battery material price increases, a reduction of EV incentives in the US and China and political and environmental risks from the mining of metals used in batteries as downside risks which could delay the growth of the EV market.
Surprisingly, the EV battery technology that will drive us towards that 8m unit goal is still very much a work in progress. While Lithium Ion is the by far the dominant technology, there are striking differences between variants of the technology, battery pack design, battery management systems and manufacturing scale between the leading contenders. Furthermore, while there’s nothing on the horizon to completely displace Lithium Ion within the next decade, it remains unclear whether the technology will be the one to achieve the $100/kWh price target that would make the EV cost-neutral compared to its internal combustion predecessors.
Quite apart from the technology, the EV battery segment faces other significant challenges including increasing costs for core materials such as Cobalt, increasing safety concerns as the mix of that very same cobalt is reduced in the cathode, the growing risk of litigation amidst a fiercely competitive environment and last but not least, the appetite of various governments to maintain a favourable subsidy framework.
The JKM has halved its value since December, continuing its steady decline and dropping below the TTF, the benchmark for European LNG prices. Asian LNG spot prices are now at their lowest level since May 2015. While a prolonged LNG price downturn could force many projects to be cancelled, the winners among the developers are starting to emerge, aggressively pushing ahead their projects closer to the final investment decision.
Smartkarma supports the world’s leading investors with high-quality, timely, and actionable Insights. Subscribe now for unlimited access, or request a demo below.
This week’s offering of Insights across ASEAN@Smartkarmais filled with another eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive and actionable insights from across South East Asia and includes macro, top-down and thematic pieces, as well as actionable equity bottom-up pieces. Please find a brief summary below, with a fuller write up in the detailed section.
In the sixth company visit Insight in an ongoing series, Indonesia Property – In Search of the End of the Rainbow – Part 6 – Intiland Development (DILD IJ), CrossASEAN Insight Provider Jessica Irene takes a deep dive into this high-rise and office focused developer. The company is a property developer that focuses on landed residential, industrial estates, high-end condominiums, and offices in Jakarta and Surabaya. DILD has a good track record in building and operating high-end condominiums and offices.
On April 4, we attended the DTAC shareholders’ meeting and listened to how management defended their strategic decisions in various areas such as legal settlements, marketing, and spectrum bidding. This is our take on their responses to various issue:
Settlement with CAT. DTAC plans to do a further settlement worth Bt9.05bn nett with CAT to resolve all past bilateral issues, but will resume paying dividends in H2’19.
Spectrum. Since they still have less spectrum than both AIS and True Move, we can’t really fault them for bidding for the 900MHz spectrum, especially since competition has come down considerably.
Marketing. Like AIS, they are looking beyond just voice airtime. Mobile gaming is one area they will look at. DTAC’s subsidy on game-centric iPhones and the data airtime that comes with it is significantly more than both True Move and AIS.
Others. They also managed to get a raise for the Chairman and do finishing touches on the PaySabai (a payment platform) consolidation. In our view, these are really formalities at this phase, since PaySabai is pretty much wholly owned.
E. History of Rechargeable Battery Technologies And An In-Depth Analysis on Li-ion Batteries
F. Batteries Beyond Li-ion
G. Supply Constraints for Key Raw Materials
H. The Competitive Landscape
A. Key Conclusions
Global sales of EV’s reached 2m units in 2018. As a base case scenario, we expect a combination of improving EV battery cost-effectiveness, increasingly challenging emissions standards and ongoing incentives by various governments to propel unit sales to 8m units annually by 2025. Against this, we consider battery material price increases, a reduction of EV incentives in the US and China and political and environmental risks from the mining of metals used in batteries as downside risks which could delay the growth of the EV market.
Surprisingly, the EV battery technology that will drive us towards that 8m unit goal is still very much a work in progress. While Lithium Ion is the by far the dominant technology, there are striking differences between variants of the technology, battery pack design, battery management systems and manufacturing scale between the leading contenders. Furthermore, while there’s nothing on the horizon to completely displace Lithium Ion within the next decade, it remains unclear whether the technology will be the one to achieve the $100/kWh price target that would make the EV cost-neutral compared to its internal combustion predecessors.
Quite apart from the technology, the EV battery segment faces other significant challenges including increasing costs for core materials such as Cobalt, increasing safety concerns as the mix of that very same cobalt is reduced in the cathode, the growing risk of litigation amidst a fiercely competitive environment and last but not least, the appetite of various governments to maintain a favourable subsidy framework.
The JKM has halved its value since December, continuing its steady decline and dropping below the TTF, the benchmark for European LNG prices. Asian LNG spot prices are now at their lowest level since May 2015. While a prolonged LNG price downturn could force many projects to be cancelled, the winners among the developers are starting to emerge, aggressively pushing ahead their projects closer to the final investment decision.
We maintain BUY rating for WICE with a new target price of Bt5.20 (previous target price: 7.50), based on 29xPE’19E, its one year average trading range or 20% discount to Thai transportation sector.
The story:
Cross broader business plays the key growth driver in 2019
We revised down earnings in 2019-21E due to lower-than-expected margins
Risks:
Stronger Baht vs major foreign currencies such as US dollar causes lower income in Baht terms as the main reporting currency is Baht
Higher than expected in fluctuation in freight rates
Intensity of freight forwarding businesses in both domestic and overseas
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.
We maintain our positive view toward its long-term outlook on the backs of potential growth from its location and secured contract with government agency. Maintain a BUY rating with a new target price of Bt16.8 (SOTP).
The story:
We cut our 2019-2021 earnings forecast by 12-13% to factor in rising depreciation expenses caused by its shortening depreciated years of PTW’s assets.
Our new target price of Bt16.8 is derived from Some-of-the-parts (SOTP) which comprises (1) Bt13.8 from core business (tap water supply under both TTW and PTW) based on DCF(6.7%WACC, 0%TG) and (2) Bt3.0 from CKP based on IFA report.
Of the five interesting trends/events/developments we heard this month, we highlighted five and how they could impact Thai equities in the near term:
Thai Raksa Chart Party dissolution. The dissolution of the TRC, the second largest Thaksinite party, poses some political risks but could affect sentiments for companies founded by Thaksin, such as Intuch and AIS.
Thai Air Asia says no to Nok Air. After the briefest considerations, the larger airline came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t acquire a stake in struggling Nok Air.
Capital Gains Taxes are currently under consideration by the government for the first time. If implemented, they are likely to have negative impact on overall equities but the brokers in particular.
From LINE to BEC. LINE (Thailand)’s Country Manager Ariya Phanomyong has agreed to move to BEC. Though mildly positive, we believe improvements will revolve around distribution rather than the more key issue of content.
True Move’s Request for 5G delay may sound odd at first glance, but we see it as a rational, if not very tactful, way of delaying a new round of capex.
This week’s offering of Insights across ASEAN@Smartkarmais filled with another eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive and actionable insights from across South East Asia and includes macro, top-down and thematic pieces, as well as actionable equity bottom-up pieces. Please find a brief summary below, with a fuller write up in the detailed section.
This week’s highlights include an update from CrossASEAN Insight Provider Kevin O’Rourke on the running order ahead of the upcoming Indonesian Election on 17th April. In the Equity-Bottom-up section, Angus Mackintosh circles back Pt Matahari Department Store (LPPF IJ) post its underwhelming results and we have a number on contrasting views on e-commerce player Sea Ltd (SE US) post the announcement of its recent placement, which was bigger than its IPO from Johannes Salim, CFA, Arun George, and Rickin Thakrar.
Gross capital flows lead World shipping activity by 4 months
Capital flows have been slowly rising since June 2018: in February they jumped
Reinforces out pro-Asia and pro-China investment message
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.
Of the five interesting trends/events/developments we heard this month, we highlighted five and how they could impact Thai equities in the near term:
Thai Raksa Chart Party dissolution. The dissolution of the TRC, the second largest Thaksinite party, poses some political risks but could affect sentiments for companies founded by Thaksin, such as Intuch and AIS.
Thai Air Asia says no to Nok Air. After the briefest considerations, the larger airline came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t acquire a stake in struggling Nok Air.
Capital Gains Taxes are currently under consideration by the government for the first time. If implemented, they are likely to have negative impact on overall equities but the brokers in particular.
From LINE to BEC. LINE (Thailand)’s Country Manager Ariya Phanomyong has agreed to move to BEC. Though mildly positive, we believe improvements will revolve around distribution rather than the more key issue of content.
True Move’s Request for 5G delay may sound odd at first glance, but we see it as a rational, if not very tactful, way of delaying a new round of capex.
This week’s offering of Insights across ASEAN@Smartkarmais filled with another eclectic mix of differentiated, substantive and actionable insights from across South East Asia and includes macro, top-down and thematic pieces, as well as actionable equity bottom-up pieces. Please find a brief summary below, with a fuller write up in the detailed section.
This week’s highlights include an update from CrossASEAN Insight Provider Kevin O’Rourke on the running order ahead of the upcoming Indonesian Election on 17th April. In the Equity-Bottom-up section, Angus Mackintosh circles back Pt Matahari Department Store (LPPF IJ) post its underwhelming results and we have a number on contrasting views on e-commerce player Sea Ltd (SE US) post the announcement of its recent placement, which was bigger than its IPO from Johannes Salim, CFA, Arun George, and Rickin Thakrar.
Gross capital flows lead World shipping activity by 4 months
Capital flows have been slowly rising since June 2018: in February they jumped
Reinforces out pro-Asia and pro-China investment message
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.
On April 4, we attended the DTAC shareholders’ meeting and listened to how management defended their strategic decisions in various areas such as legal settlements, marketing, and spectrum bidding. This is our take on their responses to various issue:
Settlement with CAT. DTAC plans to do a further settlement worth Bt9.05bn nett with CAT to resolve all past bilateral issues, but will resume paying dividends in H2’19.
Spectrum. Since they still have less spectrum than both AIS and True Move, we can’t really fault them for bidding for the 900MHz spectrum, especially since competition has come down considerably.
Marketing. Like AIS, they are looking beyond just voice airtime. Mobile gaming is one area they will look at. DTAC’s subsidy on game-centric iPhones and the data airtime that comes with it is significantly more than both True Move and AIS.
Others. They also managed to get a raise for the Chairman and do finishing touches on the PaySabai (a payment platform) consolidation. In our view, these are really formalities at this phase, since PaySabai is pretty much wholly owned.
E. History of Rechargeable Battery Technologies And An In-Depth Analysis on Li-ion Batteries
F. Batteries Beyond Li-ion
G. Supply Constraints for Key Raw Materials
H. The Competitive Landscape
A. Key Conclusions
Global sales of EV’s reached 2m units in 2018. As a base case scenario, we expect a combination of improving EV battery cost-effectiveness, increasingly challenging emissions standards and ongoing incentives by various governments to propel unit sales to 8m units annually by 2025. Against this, we consider battery material price increases, a reduction of EV incentives in the US and China and political and environmental risks from the mining of metals used in batteries as downside risks which could delay the growth of the EV market.
Surprisingly, the EV battery technology that will drive us towards that 8m unit goal is still very much a work in progress. While Lithium Ion is the by far the dominant technology, there are striking differences between variants of the technology, battery pack design, battery management systems and manufacturing scale between the leading contenders. Furthermore, while there’s nothing on the horizon to completely displace Lithium Ion within the next decade, it remains unclear whether the technology will be the one to achieve the $100/kWh price target that would make the EV cost-neutral compared to its internal combustion predecessors.
Quite apart from the technology, the EV battery segment faces other significant challenges including increasing costs for core materials such as Cobalt, increasing safety concerns as the mix of that very same cobalt is reduced in the cathode, the growing risk of litigation amidst a fiercely competitive environment and last but not least, the appetite of various governments to maintain a favourable subsidy framework.
The JKM has halved its value since December, continuing its steady decline and dropping below the TTF, the benchmark for European LNG prices. Asian LNG spot prices are now at their lowest level since May 2015. While a prolonged LNG price downturn could force many projects to be cancelled, the winners among the developers are starting to emerge, aggressively pushing ahead their projects closer to the final investment decision.
We maintain BUY rating for WICE with a new target price of Bt5.20 (previous target price: 7.50), based on 29xPE’19E, its one year average trading range or 20% discount to Thai transportation sector.
The story:
Cross broader business plays the key growth driver in 2019
We revised down earnings in 2019-21E due to lower-than-expected margins
Risks:
Stronger Baht vs major foreign currencies such as US dollar causes lower income in Baht terms as the main reporting currency is Baht
Higher than expected in fluctuation in freight rates
Intensity of freight forwarding businesses in both domestic and overseas
We selectively visited a dozen companies in March and were most impressed with three of them (two of which we happily own):
SISB, Thailand’s only listed education stock, whose market cap has increased more than 30% since its IPO. The future potential growth they are currently working on in Cambodia and China will show up here and spruce the company’s already strong growth. Working in a favorable environment (Thailand’s affluent class is growing) also helps.
MINT, the country’s hotel chain giant and 20th largest chain in the world, sees great growth potential in Europe, where things are slowly turning around after they made two big acquisitions (NH Hotels and Tivoli). Synergies are also materializing with co-marketing and re-branding efforts.
After You, arguably the dessert chain with the highest margin in Thailand. No longer a newbie IPO stock, these guys boast collaboration with global giant Starbucks and branching out into new channels such as After You Durian.
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.