KUALA LUMPUR: Kenanaga Research said Scientex Bhd
's 9M18 core earnings of RM201.3mil came in below its and consensus estimates on weaker-than-expected recognition for the property segment.
The research house said the segment was also impacted by longer-than-expected timeframe in attaining regulatory approval and permit dor some of the projects due to uncertainty during the election period.
Meanwhile, the announced single-tier interim dividend of 10 sen came in below its FY18E dividend of 17.2 sen.
Kenanga said it is lowering its FY128-19E core net profit by 13%-8% to RM256mil-RM293mil on lower revenue recognition in FY18 while it has also backloaded some of the FY19E launches on marginally lower recognitions.
"All in, we are expecting launches of RM700-800m in FY18-19 (vs. RM900-1,100m)," it said.
The research house upgraded the counter to market perform from underperform previously due to a steep share price decline year-to-date, but lowered its target price to RM6.90 from RM7.35 previously.
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