In this briefing:
- Accordia Golf Trust (AGT): Buy but Please Consider This…
- Rakuten: Lyft IPO Provides Timely Support for Mobile Deployment
- Politics, Uncertainty and Bad Policy: The Third Wheels of Profits and the Investment Cycle
- Sell Lenovo: Profit Is an Illusion, Liabilities Are Rising and There Is Little Real Equity Value
- Alps Alpine Buyback Proceeding Apace
1. Accordia Golf Trust (AGT): Buy but Please Consider This…
Accordia Golf Trust (AGT SP) is the second largest golf course operator in Japan that offers stable DPU with assets that are less correlated to the global economic cycle but they have their own challenges; aging demographics that makes the number of games played lower over time, volatile weather in Japan (unlike in Singapore where it’s sunny summer all year long), limited upside impact from automation initiative and golf tax.
2. Rakuten: Lyft IPO Provides Timely Support for Mobile Deployment
The publication of Lyft’s IPO prospectus is a clear positive for Rakuten Inc (4755 JP) . As a pure investment, Rakuten’s return on its Lyft investments could be 273-366% or ¥101-136 per share based on the $20-25bn valuation range reported by the press. There has been a lot of focus on the investment gains Rakuten should accrue but the real upside is a timely boost to liquidity plus accounting cover as mobile investment accelerates. Whether one believes Rakuten can succeed in mobile or not, it has the capital and paper profits to support a splashy introduction and spending is already accelerating.
3. Politics, Uncertainty and Bad Policy: The Third Wheels of Profits and the Investment Cycle
Our positive view of the Asian region in 2018 was not reflected in stock market performance. But now is not the time to discard fundamentals and fundamental analysis. Unlike the US, the Asian region is in the early stages of a profit upcycle. As we have argued on many occasions, that is the building block required to kick start the investment cycle. But theoretical explanations of the growth process aside, is there any empirical support for the argument that profits and investment, and therefore growth, are related? We would answer in the affirmative and, in the following report, we try to show how the process works and where Asia stands on two of our Austrian Stress Indicators (ASIs). Market volatility aside, the conditions for good growth gains are firmly in place in most of the region.
4. Sell Lenovo: Profit Is an Illusion, Liabilities Are Rising and There Is Little Real Equity Value
In Q3, Lenovo (992 HK) reported revenue growth – well ahead of market expectations, improved margins and US$1.9bn of cashflow. This was a considerable surprise to us – and the market. However, having analysed the results, most of the reported revenue and profit growth comes from the Fujitsu Ltd (6702 JP) acquisition. The rise in cashflow largely came from working capital, but also benefitted from the structure of the Fujitsu deal. We think real full-year cashflow after investment, US$0.8bn, will yet again, fail to cover finance costs and dividends, and Lenovo will need to borrow another US$400m.
5. Alps Alpine Buyback Proceeding Apace
Late last year, in the final run-up to the vote to determine whether Alpine (6816 JP) investors would subject themselves to a bad share exchange ratio or would choose to oblige Alps (6770 JP) to have another run at it in a different format, Alps announced a shareholder return policy which included buying back ¥40 billion of shares.
It is to be noted that this meant that the combined entity was going to be left with less cash than the total deemed necessary by the two companies just a very short while before. Why? Because Alps – with the strong governance it has – obviously had the right amount – and Alpine also had the right amount (it needed substantial equity-funded cash as “working capital” because otherwise it would run a serious danger of business disruption and deterioration. So despite this severe business risk, the two companies effectively announced they would disburse 90% of Alpine’s cash on hand to shareholders POST-MERGER through the special dividend offered to sweeten the pot to get the merger through, and the ¥40 billion buyback.
The merger, of course, went through, and the ¥28.4 billion* buyback is proceeding apace.
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