[ET Net News Agency, 9 March 2021] Nomura lowered its target price for China Tower
(00788) to HK$1.52 from HK$1.63 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house said China Tower's FY2020 earnings of CNY6.43bn (up 23%) beat
Nomura's forecast by 3.9%. The dividend payout rose to 68% from 60% in FY2019. Nomura
thinks the tower business may slightly improve thanks to demand uptick in the 5G network,
while the non-tower segment contributes to a higher portion of total revenue in 2021-2022.
Nomura trimmed its 2021-22 earnings forecasts by 2-5% to reflect higher depreciation
costs related to a higher than expected capex. (KL)