[ET Net News Agency, 15 March 2018] Macquarie Research lifted its target price for
Wheelock and Co (00020) to HK$79.26 from HK$54.32, and upgraded the stock from "neutral"
to "outperform".
The research house said its conclusion from the results briefing of the parent,
Wheelock, and its two listed subsidiaries, Wharf REIC (01997) (61.7% owned) and Wharf
Holdings (00004) (62.5% owned): all are seeing market recovery and margin expansion; are
well-funded and enjoying cheap credit; and are in capex mode.
After the HK$6.4bn purchase of Kai Tak site, Wheelock remains interested in bidding for
more Kai Tak sites. Year-to-date - including Friday's launch of another batch of MALIBU,
accumulative sales and excluding contributions from Wharf - will exceed HK$10bn.
Macquarie expects Wheelock (excluding Wharf and REIC) contracted sales to increase from
HK$12.4bn in 2017 to HK$20bn in 2018, HK$18bn in 2019 and HK$31bn in 2020. It also
estimated contracted sales margin to improve to 20% from 2017's booked margin of 6%. (KL)