[ET Net News Agency, 15 May 2020] Goldman Sachs raised its target price for
Uni-President China (UPC)(00220) to HK$7.8 from HK$7.4 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house said UPC's 1Q net profit of RMB424mn was slightly above Goldman's
estimate. Looking forward, Goldman expects a mix upgrade trend to continue for the noodles
business and drive solid margin expansion.
However, the beverage market is still weak depending on the summer season demand and it
would take time for UPC's new products to take shape. Goldman believes more investment in
branding/promotions could help it achieve mid-single-digit sales growth.
It revised up its 2020-22 EPS forecasts by 4-7% to reflect the slightly better noodles
sales and smaller GPM decline from mix improvement. (KL)