[ET Net News Agency, 25 April 2018] Goldman Sachs lifted its target price for Hysan
Development (00014) to HK$43.7 from HK$32.88, and upgraded its rating to "neutral" from
"sell".
The research house revised up its Hong n Kong retail sales growth forecast to 8% in
2018, up from 2% previously, on the back of favorable forex, resilient Chinese consumption
sentiment and a pickup in domestic consumption.
It believes this presents upside risks to retail rental reversions in the coming year,
which would be an improvement from the decline in retail rental revenue seen in 2017 and
continued negative reversion so far in 2018. Goldman expects this to benefit Hysan which
has 41% of its NAV exposed to HK retail property.
However, given Hysan's relatively higher-than-peer focus on domestic discretionary
spending, it will likely take more time to see a meaningful uptick compared to peer Wharf
REIC (01997), Goldman noted. It raised its 2018-20 EPS forecasts slightly. (KL)