Brokers' Call

SINGTEL

Broker: OCBC Investment Research

Call: Buy

Target price: $4.27

Singtel earlier this month announced that it has completed the acquisition of shares in Intouch Holdings and Bharti Telecom and also the placement of its shares to Temasek Holdings.

As a result, it is assumed that a share dilution of 2.4 per cent will arise from the share placement, as well as that the other $860,000 will be funded in equal proportion through internal cash and short-term debt, and there will be a slightly higher share of results from associates and joint ventures.

Over the longer term, key growth drivers would be investments in regional dominant telecom players, a growing presence in the cyber-security industry through Trustwave, as well as a footprint in the growing digital marketing space.

THAI BEVERAGE

Broker: CIMB

Call: Buy

Target price: $1.07

Third-quarter sales of Thai Beverage rose 5.6 per cent year on year but earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) fell 15.4 per cent on the back of increased expenses. The management cited a change in the timing of the year-end bonus and a slight bunching of advertising and promotional expenses.

The biggest decline came from the spirits segment, with sales down 7.2 per cent year on year and Ebit an even lower 13.7 per cent. The management shared that the higher average selling price of brown spirits registered a 7 per cent fall.

Beer was the brightest spot in this set of results on the back of both strong volume and sales growth.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 28, 2016, with the headline Brokers' Call. Subscribe