[ET Net News Agency, 16 August 2017] Macquarie Research lowered its target price for
Value Partners (VP)(00806) to HK$6.4 from HK$7.05, and maintained its "neutral" rating.
The research house deemed VP's 1H results disappointing, with weak composition of
profits. Stripping out capital gains and a low tax rate, operating PBT was 35% behind
Macquarie's forecast. It noted a dearth of performance fees, whilst management fees and
costs were both ahead of Macquarie's expectations.
On the equities side, Macquarie noted more recent performance in VP's largest equities
funds has been sluggish; most classes of the Classic Fund and High-Dividend Stocks Fund
are down versus Index over the past year.
Macquarie reduced its FY2017-18 EPS forecasts by 7% and 8%. (KL)