KUALA LUMPUR: Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd
’s (F&N) earnings estimate were lowered by research houses, following the latest quarterly results that came in below expectations.
MIDF Research has revised its earnings on F&N lower by -9.2% for FY22F and -3.3% for FY23F.
“After accounting for the decreased operating profit in F&B Thailand because of rising raw material costs and the company's limited ability to fully pass on the higher input cost to the customer as its products are on the Thai government's price control list,” it said.
For the third quarter ended June 30, F&N’s net profit rose 1.4% year-on-year (YoY) to RM97.5mil while revenue increased 5.5% y-o-y to RM1.12bil.
Its earnings per share for the quarter was 26.6 sen against 26.2 sen a year earlier.
MIDF Research said F&N 9MFY22 normalised profit after tax of RM265.1mil, after excluding a one-time off expense (-RM4.8m) came in below its projections but within consensus expectation.
It said the negative variance was attributable to greater-than-expected input costs amid the stronger US dollar and commodities prices along with greater-than-expected flood-related items.
The research house has maintained a “buy” call on F&N with a revised target price of RM29.70. Its valuation is based on a revised PER of 25.8x (its 2- year historical mean) pegged to FY23F EPS of 115sen. The dividend yield is estimated at 2.7%.
“We continue to like F&N underpinned by its consistent product innovation to meet consumer demand and taste.recent proposed acquisition of Ladang Permai Damai and Cocoaland, which could fuel its future earnings growth and effective cost management to mitigate the effects of rising commodity and logistics costs,” MIDF said.
At 9.29am, the counter added two sen to RM21.96. In the past one month, it has risen 4.57%.
