[ET Net News Agency, 25 January 2018] HSBC Global Research trimmed its target price for
Esprit Holdings (00330) to HK$4.3 from HK$4.7, and maintained its "hold" rating given the
uncertainty regarding a turnaround.
The research house cut its top line assumptions by 2% across FY2018-20, factoring in the
1H profit warning. In a decline in the top-line business, cost cutting remains a priority,
but HSBC believes this could have been front-end loaded into FY2017 in its two-year
initiatives.
Given deleveraging and the impairment of goodwill, HSBC now expects FY2018 to record a
loss of HK$771m (from HK$158m). For FY2019/20, the research house sees net profit being
HK$206/HK$330m, from HK$355/HK$491m previously. (KL)