[ET Net News Agency, 6 August 2020] Citi Research lowered its target price for CK
Infrastructure Holdings (01038) to HK$48.5 from HK$54.5 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house said CKI's net profit was down 52% to HK$2,860m in 1H, mainly due to
(i) HK$1.4bn one-off non-cash deferred tax gain reversal from the UK; (ii) less recurrent
profit from Northumbrian Water in the UK post return reset on 1 April 2020; and (iii)
HK$370m net profit cut resulted from one-off expense incurred by CKI due to the COVID-19
epidemic.
Citi trimmed its 2020-22 net profits by 8-18% as it has assumed returns to trim 5-10%
for Australian businesses and nearly 20% for UK businesses post next return reset in its
model amid lowered interest rate environment. (KL)