[ET Net News Agency, 6 August 2019] Daiwa Research lowered its target price for
Shangri-La Asia (00069) to HK$9 from HK$14 and downgraded its rating to "hold" from "buy".
The research house said Shangri-La is likely to post its first decline in aggregate
EBITDA (effective EBITDA share of both its subsidiaries and associates) in 2019 in at
least 5 years.
Nonetheless, Daiwa believes the stock is now among the cheapest hotel stocks globally,
and hence, it expects further substantial downside in its share price to be limited.
Daiwa now looks for Shangri-La's China hotel division to post a 2% decline in RevPAR in
CNY terms (or down 8% in USD) in 1H. It also expects Shangri-La's Hong Kong hotel business
to post a blended 2.5% decline in RevPAR, and expects it to further fall by 5.4% in 2H.
Due to operating deleverage, Daiwa lowered its 2019-21 aggregate EBITDA and core EPS by a
much greater 10-12% and 20-26%, respectively. (KL)