Daily Brief Consumer: ASICS Corp, Budweiser Brewing APAC , Honda Motor, DiDi Global, Mandarin Oriental International, TSE Tokyo Price Index TOPIX, Burberry, JAKKS Pacific , Bassett Furniture Inds, Yifeng Pharmacy Chain and more

• 15 shareholders are looking to sell between 73.9-85m shares (US$1.2bn-US$1.38bn) of ASICS Corp (7936 JP) in a secondary offering that will likely be priced on 23 July.
• ASICS Corp (7936 JP) has also announced a huge upward revision to its sales and profit forecasts with EPS expected to increase 61% from earlier estimates.
• Passive buying will be extremely limited in the short-term with the downward pressure offset to a large extent by the sales and earnings revisions.

• Hong Kong market still trades at a substantial discount to Analyst year end price targets.
• Budweiser APAC is dependent on China’s consumer to lift sales while Anta Sports is targeting increased sales from the upcoming Paris Olympics.
• Sunny Optical is seeing substantial growth from it EV segment and Haitian continues to grow its international sales.  Shineway RX is a rare value play in the pharmaceutical sector.

• A group of shareholders aims to raise up to US$3.2bn via selling around 5% of Honda Motor (7267 JP).
• The possibility of such a selldown was flagged by Reuters prior to the deal launch.
• In our earlier note, we spoke about the deal dynamics. In this note, we talk about the updates since then.

• First, we offer a recent history of Didi going back to its June 2021 IPO 
• Next, we review the company’s annual results from 2020-23 plus Q124
• Finally, we try to answer the question, “Does Didi need to raise cash soon?”

• This is the final installment in our series on the APAC Luxury Industry, where we highlighted that luxury travel might offer more appealing opportunities than traditional luxury goods.
• While travel has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, traditional luxury goods have shown very low demand in recent months.
• Below, we analyze recent trends in luxury travel for Mandarin Oriental International (MAND SP), Minor International (MINT TB), and Shiseido Company (4911 JP).

• The dissolution of cross-shareholdings and changing environment in which foreign ownership has risen to 30% have changed the view of activist investors. TSE is one such example of big change.
• It’s convenient that activist investors can use “TSE requested” language that is both easily understood and undeniable by the company when communicating with the portfolio company to improve its issues.
• We must determine whether this is a temporary return to shareholders until the activist investors are removed from the shareholder list, or a shift to value-creating management.

• It was hard to imagine a worse first quarter for Burberry.
• At a time when investors were desperate for some positive news following a torrentially bad fiscal 2024, Burberry’s Q1 trading update emphasised a “luxury market that is proving more challenging than expected” with the weakness highlighted coming into FY25 having “deepened” .
• Retail revenue for the quarter of £458 million came in 22% below the prior year.

• We are initiating coverage of JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (“JAKKS” or the company), a leading designer, producer, marketer, seller and distributor of multi-brand licensed toys and related products, with a Buy rating and a $24 price target, or 7.5X our 2025 EPS projection of $3.20.
• We believe, after a rough start to 2024, driven by weak content-led movie driven results, JAKKS is nearing a stabilization of the business and, with new licensing relationships (The Simpsons and Authentic Brands) and content-led movies (Moana 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3) coming to the fore, is positioned for upside.
• Further, as of 1Q24, JAKKS is debt free for the first time in recent history, with cash per share of over $3.40 and tangible book value of over $14.75 per share.

• Herein, we analyze and discuss Bassett’s 2QFY24 earnings report.
• Management reported its results for the interim period that ended on June 1, 2024, on Wednesday after market close.
• It also conducted its “first-ever” management-sponsored and conducted earnings conference call on Thursday before market open, taking and answering analyst questions live.

• Yifeng is a leading pharmacy chain in China with 13,000 stores nationwide, primarily in East and Southcentral regions
• Revenue is mostly derived from prescription and over-the-counter drugs, with Traditional Chinese Medicine and non-medicine products also contributing
• Despite already being a top pharmacy chain in China, Yifeng still has room to grow and capture more market share in the industry

This content is sourced through publicly available sources and has been machine generated. Information displayed is for general informational purposes only. This article was originally published 3 months ago on Value Investors Club.