Dah Sing Financial Kim Eng has downgraded Dah Sing to 'sell' from 'hold' after the bank released its full-year results on Tuesday. Kim Eng said the downgrade was prompted by the bank's unappealing yield and declining return on equity. Dah Sing reported a 4.5 per cent drop in profit to HK$829 million and declared a final dividend of 60 cents per share. Kim Eng said Dah Sing was reluctant to increase its payout even though it had a 17.6 per cent capital adequacy ratio. In addition, the brokerage said Dah Sing's return on equity had been declining.
Television Broadcasts Daiwa Institute of Research splashed cold water on Television Broadcasts' (TVB) launch of pay-television services via Galaxy. Analyst Jenny Szeto revised downward her earnings forecasts for TVB because of the attributable losses from Galaxy. Ms Szeto cut her estimates for TVB's earnings by 25 per cent to HK$538 million for next year and 31 per cent to $606 million for 2005. She estimates the attributable loss from Galaxy will be $179 million next year and $208 million in 2005. Ms Szeto expects the Galaxy operation to break even only in 2011. However, she kept a rating of '3' on TVB, meaning the share would perform within 5 per cent of the main index over the next six months.
Giordano Although Giordano's share price soared more than 7 per cent on Tuesday, Sun Hung Kai Financial Group said the surge was merely a technical rebound and not based on an improvement in the clothing retailer's fundamentals. It said the buying interest was driven by Giordano's cheap valuation. Giordano will announce its full-year earnings next Thursday and Sun Hung Kai expects the results to be unexciting and flat. The brokerage projects Giordano's profit last year to be HK$382 million, with a dividend of 14.1 cents per share.
Yanzhou Coal Mining BNP Paribas Peregrine said investors had over-reacted to Yanzhou Coal Mining's higher than expected sales volume growth for this year, judging from the past few days' share price rebound. It said flat domestic coal prices and an expected substantial cut in export prices would hurt the company's earnings prospects. BNP projects the company's earnings per share at 46 fen (about 43 HK cents) for last year, 47 fen for this year, 50 fen for next year and 56 fen for 2005. The brokerage has a price target of HK$3.475, compared with yesterday's close of $3.35.
