Daily Indonesia: Strong Revenues / Benign CPI / Indrawati’s Award / Prabowo’s Arabic / Scandals Mount / Tsunami Toll and more

In this briefing:

1. Strong Revenues / Benign CPI / Indrawati’s Award / Prabowo’s Arabic / Scandals Mount / Tsunami Toll
2. Indonesia Banks – Exceptional ROA Still Unrecognized at PT BFI Finance
3. Global Equity Strategy: Bearish with the Exception of EM.
4. Selamat Sempurna (SMSM IJ) – Truly Industrious – On the Ground in J-Town
5. Sea Ltd: A Surprise Winner in Cut-Throat E-Commerce Battle?

1. Strong Revenues / Benign CPI / Indrawati’s Award / Prabowo’s Arabic / Scandals Mount / Tsunami Toll

Relatively benign inflation benefits Widodo as the 17 April election approaches, but a succession of scandals in ministries threatens to weaken his image for clean governance.  Prabowo is suffering embarassment from a proposal for a Koran-reading contest (he is illiterate in Arabic) — while Widodo’s readiness to take part sets a negative precedent for upholding  pluralism.  Indrawati is The Banker’s 2019 Finance Minister of the Year, despite the problematic investment climate.  Revenue collection was strong in 2018, suppressing the fiscal deficit to 1.8% of GDP.

Politics: Hard‑line Islamic backers of Gerindra Chair Prabowo Subianto risked appearing hypocritical when Acehnese clerics proposed a Koran‑reading contest for presidential contenders.  The foreign‑educated Prabowo is apparently unable to read Arabic, and he rejects the contest.  In contrast, campaign aides to President Joko Widodo gleefully agreed to it, perceiving an opportunity to impugn Prabowo’s religious credentials Widodo himself is non-committal, but the stance of his campaign officials serves, in effect, to legitimize the Acehnese practice of requiring that leaders be literate in Arabic.  The president and his advisors are again willing to sacrifice principles of pluralism to make perceived campaign gains (Page 2).  Authorities debunked a claim from a Partai Demokrat official that a voting‑fraud conspiracy is underway.  The episode reflects poorly on a prominent Demokrat vice secretary general, Andi Arief – but, for the pro‑Prabowo alli­ance, it deflects critical press attention from Prabowo’s Koran‑reading predicament (p. 3).  In a speech in Jakarta, Prabowo reiterated dire environmental warnings (p. 5).  Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati is The Banker’s 2019 Finance Minister of the Year (p. 5). 

Disasters: The Sunda Straits tsunami, triggered by the eruption of Anak Krakatau Volcano, caused 437 fatalities on 22 December (p. 6). 

Justice: For the third time in six months, a ministry faces investigation from the Anti‑Corruption Commission (KPK).  Unseemly revelations affect the Public Works Ministry, as investigators believe that kickbacks occurred on the procurement of water pipes for disaster relief in Palu.  Corruption in disaster relief is potentially subject to capital punishment.  The succession of ministerial‑level scandals risks jeopardizing Widodo’s crucial image for clean governance (p. 7).  The sentence for PT Nusa Konstruksi Enginiring Tbk (NKE) fell short of what prosecutors sought (p. 7). 

Policy News: At last, the administration is invoking new reformist rules on managing the civil service, by dismissing 480 personnel convicted of corruption.  A joint ministerial decree on the matter shows welcome attention to issues of institutional dysfunctions (p. 9).

Economics: Fueled by commodity prices, state revenues attained 100 percent of the budget target in 2018, while spending reached 97 percent – producing a deficit equivalent to 1.8 percent of GDP (p. 10).  Inflation was low again in December, resulting in a 3.1 percent annual rate for 2018 (p. 11). 

Jakarta: The odd‑even license‑plate restrictions on traffic will remain in effect for at least another three months (p. 13). 

2. Indonesia Banks – Exceptional ROA Still Unrecognized at PT BFI Finance

PT BFI Finance Indonesia (BFIN IJ) has the second highest ROA of all 107 banks and finance companies in our Indonesia database, at 8.2% as at 2017. It is a specialty lender, focussing on leasing and consumer financing. It provides financing for new cars, used cars, motorcycles through dealers and sales representatives, consumer loans and investment leasing for new and used heavy equipment, trucks, medical devices and machinery. The range of sectors in which its clients operate includes mining, trading, construction, services, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and infrastructure. As at 3Q18 approximately 60% of lending is consumer finance or collateralized lending, with the remainder including vehicle financing and lease financing. BFIN is the old PT Bunas Finance, before changing its name in 2001. The company stands out in Indonesia and in Asia on a multitude of variables. Its ROA last year was 8.6x higher than the full industry average in Indonesia, and even outside this profitable banking market, there are few that compare. The company appears unrecognized despite consistently superior operating metrics, perhaps due to limited analyst coverage (two analysts) and low market capitalization (US$682m). This can create an opportunity. 

3. Global Equity Strategy: Bearish with the Exception of EM.

Our cautious outlook and expectation for continued downward consolidation for global equities remains intact. Broad global indexes (MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-U.S., EAFE, and EM) are all trading within patterns of lower highs and lower lows, leading us to believe the most likely scenario is that this near-term bounce is likely nothing more than a countertrend rally before longer-term downtrends reassert themselves. The one bright spot is EM.  In this report we highlight a number of attractive set-ups within the Financial, Communication, Engineering & Construction, and Transportation Sectors.

4. Selamat Sempurna (SMSM IJ) – Truly Industrious – On the Ground in J-Town

A company visit in Jakarta revealed that it continues to focus on growing its higher margin heavy-duty filter revenues, with an ongoing emphasis on growing its export business. 

Selamat Sempurna (SMSM IJ) should be a beneficiary of the US-China Trade War given much lower tariffs for Indonesian produced filters versus those from China. It has already seen a marked pick-up in enquiries from potential US customers. 

Its domestic filter business continues to see strong growth, especially heavy-duty filter sales, which are benefitting from demand from commercial vehicles and heavy equipment demand, with higher unit costs and replacement rates in this space.

The company’s body-maker division is seeing even higher rates of growth than filters and decent visibility, with demand coming from heavy equipment customers such as United Tractors (UNTR IJ).

The company should be a beneficiary of the imposition of B20 standards for Indonesia, which will require companies to change filters more regularly.

It was also recently granted ISO14001:2015 Environmental Management System, which should be positive from an environmental and ESG perspective. This is important for its US and European sales in the long-term. 

Selamat Sempurna (SMSM IJ) continues to be one of the few attractive industrial companies in Indonesia, with a very strong long-term record on sales growth and profitability. Its domestic filter business continues to see strong growth, with a significant tailwind from its body-maker division. It is also focused on growing both its export sales and at the same time its higher-margin heavy-duty filter business. According to Bloomberg Consensus Estimates, the company trades on 12.4x FY19E PER and 10.9x FY20E PER, with forecast EPS CAGR of 15% for FY19E and FY20E respectively. 

5. Sea Ltd: A Surprise Winner in Cut-Throat E-Commerce Battle?

• A big takeaway from our conversations with Indo e-commerce industry sources is that they vouch for Shopee’s (Sea Ltd’s (SE US) e-commerce arm) MS gains story in the country.
• Indo e-commerce market has been enjoying super growth period (94% CAGR in 2015-18E) despite three major challenges (logistics, payment and highly subsidized market).
• With SE’s fund raising a matter of when, not if (2H20 as most likely timetable), Shopee’s tremendous progress in key metrics (MS, take rate) provides comfort.
• Assuming fair valuation of US$3 bn (vs. US$1.4 bn implied in SE’s ADR price) for Shopee, 12-mo PT for SE works out to be US$15.73/ADR, representing 43% upside potential.