[ET Net News Agency, 24 July 2019] Nomura lifted its target price for L'Occitane
(00973) to HK$18.3 from HK$14.5 and upgraded its rating to "buy" from "neutral".
The research house said L'Occitane's 1Q FY2020 revenue grew 16.2% at constant exchange
rate, mainly driven by the consolidation of ELEMIS since March 2019. Sales from core
L'Occitane brand were up 4.1%, accelerating from 3.5% in FY2019. SSSG also improved
slightly from 1.8% in FY2019 to 2.0% in 1Q FY2020.
Nomura raised its its FY2020-22 earnings forecast by 27-35% to reflect the consolidation
of ELEMIS. It believes ELEMIS will be earnings and margin accretive to the company, and it
expects overall operating profit margin to increase by 1.7pp to 12.3% in FY2020. (KL)