[ET Net News Agency, 12 November 2020] Goldman Sachs raised its target price for
Uni-President China (UPC) (00220) to HK$8.4 from HK$8.3 and maintained its "neutral"
rating.
The research house cited UPC commenting that overall sales growth was positive in 3Q,
with the beverage segment showing single-digit sales growth, while noodles declined
slightly on a YoY basis. Beverages saw some margin expansion on lower PET costs, while
noodles margin was impacted by higher palm oil costs. However, the company lowered its
marketing and selling expenses by double-digits to drive the OPM expansion.
Overall, Goldman sees that UPC's strong profit growth without sales scale expansion is
unlikely to be sustainable. (KL)