In today’s briefing:
- PCCW’s Stub Ops Spill More Red Ink
- Finally, a Risk-Free Dividend Arbitrage Trading Opportunity Is Presented in Korea: Feat. SK Inc
- Fadu IPO Trading – Strong Subscription Rates Compared to Recent Korean IPOs
- Naver Webtoon to List on NASDAQ in 2024
- Amazon 2Q’23 Earnings Update
- Ideanomics Inc.: 4 Major Drivers That Are Taking The Company Forward! – Financial Forecasts
- Filipino Consumer Fintech Startup Salmon Nets US$20M Debt Financing
- Intuit: 30% Year-To-Date Return Is Something You Should Extrapolate Into The Future
- SHEN: Calling to Sidelines, Neutral Rating
- Vietnamese EWA Startup Gimo Adds $12m to Series A Round
PCCW’s Stub Ops Spill More Red Ink
- Net of HKT Ltd (6823 HK), PCCW Ltd (8 HK) recorded negative EBITDA of HK$378mn in the 1H23.
- This is the largest six-month negative EBITDA figure since the EBITDA loss of HK$427mn in 2H22, and the third largest in the past decade.
- PCCWs current discount to NAV is at an unsustainable 5%.
Finally, a Risk-Free Dividend Arbitrage Trading Opportunity Is Presented in Korea: Feat. SK Inc
- In a surprising move, SK Inc confirmed the interim dividend amount (₩1,500) on July 26, and the ex-dividend date is set for August 10.
- As a result, this enables risk-free dividend arb trading in Korea as SK Inc carries single-stock futures, whose liquidity level is around 70% of the spot since July 26.
- The backwardation level has not yet pushed this arbitrage to a profitable level. Nevertheless, it’s still possible to observe the basis spread moving to a meaningful extent before the ex-date.
Fadu IPO Trading – Strong Subscription Rates Compared to Recent Korean IPOs
- Fadu (440110 KS) raised US$151m in its Korean IPO, after the deal was priced at KRW31,000/share, the top end of its IPO price range.
- Fadu is a South Korean fabless semiconductor maker mainly engaged in flash storage technology innovation. Its core products are Enterprise Solid State Drive (SSD) and Enterprise SSDs.
- In this note, we will talk about the demand for the deal and other trading dynamics.
Naver Webtoon to List on NASDAQ in 2024
- Naver Corp (035420 KS) is planning to complete an IPO of Naver Webtoon on NASDAQ in 2024.
- Naver Webtoon generated sales of 548.9 billion won (up 54.5% YoY) and net profit of 68.6 billion won (up 17.1% YoY) in 2022.
- Naver Corp’s Contents unit which includes the Naver Webtoon business posted solid revenue growth of 40.1% YoY to reach 420.4 billion won in 2Q 2023.
Amazon 2Q’23 Earnings Update
- 3P, subscription, and AWS grew by mid to high teen while ad segment increased by 20%+
- The mix-shift from product to services in Amazon continues as services mix increased from ~40% in 2018 to ~60% in 2023.
- Let’s start more segment level discussion with AWS.
Ideanomics Inc.: 4 Major Drivers That Are Taking The Company Forward! – Financial Forecasts
- Ideanomics had a strong quarter.
- Solectrac and Energica, in particular, demonstrated strong growth and demand in the agriculture and motorcycle markets.
- Ideanomics remains committed to its capital investment for future profitability, with an optimistic outlook driven by the increasing demand for the company’s products and services.
Filipino Consumer Fintech Startup Salmon Nets US$20M Debt Financing
- Salmon, a consumer fintech company based in the Philippines, has secured a US$20 million debt facility from US emerging-markets specialist investment firm Argentem Creek Partners.
- This will allow Salmon to scale its lending operations across the country further.
- The fintech firm will expand its loan book, leveraging its existing point-of-sale and cash loan lending, and launch new products in the second half of 2023.
Intuit: 30% Year-To-Date Return Is Something You Should Extrapolate Into The Future
- The recent rally in growth stocks has supported the share price, but this trend may not last for long.
- In spite of the company’s strong pricing power, margins are under pressure and risks related to capital allocation remain.
- The company’s stock has performed well but this is not reflective of its actual business performance.
SHEN: Calling to Sidelines, Neutral Rating
- SHEN Continued to add subscribers to the Glo Fiber service. The rate of subscriber growth has steadily increased with the expansion in the number of homes passed
- We are upgrading our rating to Neutral in reflection of the progress SHEN has made
- SHEN is planning to reach approximately 500 thousand homes passed by 2026 from approximately 183 thousand currently
Vietnamese EWA Startup Gimo Adds $12m to Series A Round
- Gimo, an earned-wage access player in Vietnam, has raised US$17.1 million in its series A round led by TNB Aura.
- Participating investors also include Y Combinator, Integra Partners, ThinkZone Ventures, AlteriQ Global, among others.
- This series A round was closed just five months after the company secured US$5.1 million in the first tranche.
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