Daily Brief Consumer: Heiwado Co Ltd, Auntea Jenny (Shanghai) Industrial, Ralph Lauren, TSE Tokyo Price Index TOPIX, Hilton Worldwide Holdings , Trial Holdings, Soybean Meal, Performance Food Group Co, Tapestry Inc, NagaCorp Ltd and more

• Heiwado Co Ltd (8276 JP) today announced a Secondary Offering sell-down by cross-holders, combined with a buyback post-offering to mitigate some of the effects of overhang.
• Banks and insurers are selling, and that will leave the stock with a lot of cross-holders left, but investors should look at the model given he zeitgeist. 
• Companies with lots of cross-holders have to be “fair” to them. Those without copious cash have to spread it around so this transaction model looks likely to be continued.

• Auntea Jenny (Shanghai) Industrial (AJI HK) is looking to raise US$300m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO. The bookrunners on the deal are CITIC Securities, Haitong, and DFZQ.
• Auntea Jenny (Shanghai) Industrial (Auntea) is a freshly-made beverage producer.
• As per CIC, the firm operates the fourth largest network of freshly-made tea shops in China as of Sept 23, with an extensive reach into the lower-tier markets

• Ralph Lauren has yielded strong financial performance for Q3, reportedly exceeding the company’s top and bottom-line expectations, while driving significant EPS growth.
• Such advancement comes despite a reportedly dynamic global environment, thanks to considerable focus on areas such as the brand.
• Immersing people in Ralph Lauren’s world of elegance and sophistication, the brand is resonating globally, allowing overall pricing power in the market.

• There was modest improvements in corporate governance in 2023, without any Code revisions. About two thirds of companies showed little improvement in their corporate governance practices over the past year.
• However, the increase in % Woman Board Members, a touchstone for measuring the improvement attitude of some companies that have shown improvement, gives us hope for the future.
• Companies with Metrical CG scores rising below 2.5 points and those with declines have challenges with their use of cash, along with their stock repurchase and dividend policies.

• Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.
• reported its Q4 and full-year 2023 earnings, during which the company made several significant achievements.
• For 2023, Hilton’s system-wide RevPAR grew by 12.6% compared to 2022 due to strong growth across every major region and chain scale.

• Trial Holdings (5882 JP) (TH) is now looking to raise around US$234m in its Japan IPO, after having canceled its prior listing attempt last year.
• TH operates a network of retail stores that offer one-stop shopping under its everyday low price model, across a variety of daily necessities, food items and other products.
• We have looked at the past performance in our previous notes. In this note, we talk about the updates from its recent filings.

• In his presentation Thursday morning at the Agricultural Outlook Forum USDA Chief Economist Seth Meyer said input prices are not falling with commodity prices, squeezing margins.

• “When commodity prices normalize and readjust, those input prices tend to be sticky, which shrinks producer margins,” Meyer says. “…It was maybe easier to make a little bit of money in ’22, ’23.

• It’s going to be a little bit tougher in the next crop year.”

• Performance Food Group (PFG) hosted its Q2 2024 earnings call where they discussed results and future outlook, with performance metrics showing strong results for the quarter.
• The company generated total net sales of $14.3 billion, a 2.9% increase from last year, with the result at the top end of the guidance range.
• PFG’s sales performance was led by a 2.1% rise in total case volume growth, helped by an 8.7% surge in independent restaurant case growth.

• Tapestry Inc.’s Q2 FY2022 earnings were particularly solid and it achieved a 3% sales gain driven by a 12% growth at constant currency internationally, reflecting the benefits of its diversified business model.
• The firm saw a notable 19% sales increase in Greater China, as well as increases in Japan, Europe, and other parts of Asia.
• Impressively, the company maintained its revenue standing in North America, which was better than it had previously expected.

Lucror Analytics Morning Views comprise our fundamental credit analysis, opinions and trade recommendations on high yield issuers in the region, based on key company-specific developments in the past 24 hours. Our Morning Views include a section with a brief market commentary, key market indicators and a macroeconomic and corporate event calendar.

• NagaCorp Ltd