Pan-United Corporation - DBS Research 2017-02-14: Mixed outlook

SGinvestors.io

PAN-UNITED CORPORATION LTD P52.SI

Pan-United Corporation - Mixed outlook

• 4Q16 earnings in line; lower sales volumes compensated by cost control, better margins.
• 2.75 Scts final DPS declared.
• Outlook mixed as demand for Ready-Mixed Concrete (RMC) is expected to be lower despite higher construction demand.
• Maintain HOLD, SOTP-based TP at S$0.63.

Maintain HOLD, TP S$0.63. 

• We maintain our HOLD recommendation on Pan United. 
• Although the outlook for Singapore construction is expected to improve, demand for Ready-Mixed Concrete (RMC) is expected to be subdued as offsite construction processes such as pre-fabrication increase leading to moderating on-site building construction processes.

Selling prices are also on a downtrend albeit by a slower rate.

• With its port in China facing lower handling rates, and hence margin pressure, we do not expect earnings growth to be robust. 
• The stock is trading at 15.7x FY17F PE, close to +1SD of its 10-year average mean PE. However, the stock supported by an attractive dividend yield of 5.6%. We hence continue to remain neutral on the stock.

Mixed construction outlook. 

• According to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), market demand for RMC is expected to be soft at 12-13.5m cubic metres (cbm) for 2017.
• On the back of relatively lower selling prices, we do not expect revenue growth to be robust for Pan-United. 
• Yet, BCA is also forecasting that construction demand in 2017 will be stronger at S$28-35bn, from S$24bn in 2016.

Valuation: SOTP valuation methodology. 

• Our TP of S$0.63 is derived from a sum-of-parts valuation of Pan-United. 
• On a per share basis, we value its C&C (Concrete and Cement) business at 10x FY17F PE at S$0.18, CXP (Changshu Xinghua Port) port operations at S$0.49 based on 15x forward port earnings, CCIP (Changshu Changjiang International) port at S$0.14, net debt and others at -S$0.21 per share, and dividend at S$0.0375.

Key Risks to Our View

• Pan-United’s outlook is based on construction activities backed by civil projects in Singapore. 
• Acceleration in private projects may cause a surge in construction demand, leading to better earnings outlook and upside to its share price.

Alfie Yeo DBS Vickers | http://www.dbsvickers.com/ 2017-02-14

DBS Vickers SGX Stock Analyst Report HOLD Maintain HOLD 0.63 Up 0.590