[ET Net News Agency, 23 July 2019] Credit Suisse maintained its target price for Xinyi
Glass Holdings (00868) unchanged at HK$9.3 but upgraded its rating to "outperform" from
"neutral" as the share price has declined 10% in the last three months.
The research house expects China auto demand slowdown to have limited impact on Xinyi
Glass' auto glass segment, given it focuses on aftermarket auto glass for replacement. The
company expects to achieve YoY profit growth in its auto glass segment. The gross profit
margin for aftermarket auto glass is 5pp higher than auto glass sold to OEMs because of
a more fragmented customer structure.
Float glass GP margin is expected at 30% in 1H or 2pp lower. This is mainly due to weak
float glass price in China following capacity expansion in 1Q. June float price has
bottomed out from a trough in May, up 3.6% MoM. In 2H, Credit Suisse said any relaxation
on property market control could improve the glass demand/price, which will benefit Xinyi
Glass. (KL)