Daily Brief Indonesia: ABM Investama, Japfa Comfeed Indonesia and more

The Asia Monthly focuses on providing updates on recent events, information on new issues and spread movements, as well as summarising our top picks. The Asia Monthly is intended to broaden investors’ understanding of the Asian USD high-yield market.

In our view, Japfa Comfeed’s FY 2022 results were decent, considering the difficult operating conditions following two years of COVID-19, the high-cost environment (owing to geopolitical tensions) as well as heightened inflation. Revenue growth was reasonable, while profitability was under pressure. Credit metrics deteriorated, but remained modest. Liquidity continues to be weak, due to material short-term debt.

We expect better FY 2023 results. We believe that operating conditions will improve, with the surge in soft commodity prices gradually being passed through to the end-consumer. We project: [1] steady revenue growth of c. 10%; [2] stable margins (with room for upside, considering FY 2022 was a weak year); [3] that leverage will at least remain stable, or improve slightly; [4] that (EBITDA-Capex)/Interest should deteriorate, due to the expected higher capex in FY 2023 for continued capacity expansion.

We do not foresee any rating pressure. Japfa is rated B+ (stable) and BB- (stable) by S&P and Fitch, respectively.