[ET Net News Agency, 3 January 2020] Nomura lifted its target price for Agricultural
Bank of China (ABC)(01288) to HK$4.57 from HK$4.14 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house expects ABC to deliver largely stable results for FY2020 versus
FY2019, with net profit up 5%. Nomura thinks ABC's loan and total asset growth will be
similar to FY2019, given the expectation of moderate easing measures.
Hence, Nomura forecast loan/total asset growth of 12%/9%, respectively, for FY2020.
Meanwhile, it expects pressure on NIM to continue in FY2020 after further adoption of the
LPR mechanism for the outstanding loan balance from March 2020 onwards but the impact
should be largely manageable.
It expects the bank to deliver NIM at 2.05% for FY2020, versus 2.11% for FY2019. (KL)