[ET Net News Agency, 27 September 2017] Credit Suisse raised its target price for China
Everbright Bank (CEB)(06818) to HK$3.8 from HK$3.4, and upgraded its rating to "neutral"
from "underperform".
The research house said CEB's total revenue growth was weak in 1H at -2% YoY due to 7%
decline in net interest income. However, good cost discipline (opex -7% YoY) led to 1%
growth in pre provision operating profit. Bottom-line growth of 3% YoY in 1H was further
boosted by recognising lower provisions (credit cost down 17 bp YoY). Capital ratios
remain weak, with CET1 ratio of 8.35% and Tier1 ratio of 9.42% as of 1H.
Credit Suisse said Everbright Group cannot sell stake at <1x P/B, which means that from
a management perspective, the valuation of CEB, the key component of the group, cannot
drop significantly lower than 1x P/B. (KL)