{I-bank focus}Nomura trims Crystal Int'l (02232) to HK$3.3

    Nomura lowered its target price for Crystal International Group (02232) to HK$3.3 from HK$3.8 and maintained its "neutral" rating.
  The research house said Crystal had been anticipating an additional 15% tariff due to US/China trade war (while arising from the US/China trade war and well managed its relocation program to shut down some capacity in China, which was relocated to Vietnam in 1H 2019, resulting in a one-off US$14mn relocation expense booked in 1H.
  Crystal has strategically cut orders for non-core sportswear customers in an effort to focus on brand names that can place bulk purchase orders, such as Under Armour, North Face, and Puma. The company has newly signed a partnership with Adidas and production kick
off in 2H 2019,
  New capacity for sportswear will commence operation in FY2021. Nomura expects sales growth for this category and margins to remain under pressure in FY2020, before an acceleration in FY2021 as new customers start to contribute more significantly.
  Nomura lifted its earnings forecast for FY2019 by 5% given the order and margin improvement in 2H versus 1H and cut FY2020-21 earnings by 1-7% to reflect the slower recovery of sales and margin.