HKEX 0388 10/5/2007
Action Buy
388 HKEX 80.95 1.35 1.70 914,988 11,272
* HKEx (388) reported a 93% yoy growth in net profit from $479mn for 1Q06 to $923mn for 1Q07, that should be above market consensus.
* The robust growth is mainly driven by an increase in daily stock market turnover from $31.2bn to $52.9bn.
* Clearing and settlement fee income also rose from $155mn in 1Q06 to $262mn in 1Q07 while operating expenses just increased 10% yoy from $293mn to $323mn.
* The one-off disposal gain of $206mn arising from the sale of 30% interest in Computershare will be booked in 2Q07, ensuring the 2Q07 earning growth.
* Looking ahead, we believe the effect of decline in the number and size of IPO from the last year record is insignificant since the initial listing fee income is insignificant to total revenue.
* IPO of Asian companies partially alleviates the decline in IPO of PRC companies.
* The change in stock turnover volume is a more important swinging factor in the valuation of the counter.
* Comparing with the average 2007 PER of worldwide major stock exchanges of 28x, we maintain our BUY recommendation on HKEx with target price of $85.4, based on our 28x 2007 earnings forecast.
Action Buy
388 HKEX 80.95 1.35 1.70 914,988 11,272
* HKEx (388) reported a 93% yoy growth in net profit from $479mn for 1Q06 to $923mn for 1Q07, that should be above market consensus.
* The robust growth is mainly driven by an increase in daily stock market turnover from $31.2bn to $52.9bn.
* Clearing and settlement fee income also rose from $155mn in 1Q06 to $262mn in 1Q07 while operating expenses just increased 10% yoy from $293mn to $323mn.
* The one-off disposal gain of $206mn arising from the sale of 30% interest in Computershare will be booked in 2Q07, ensuring the 2Q07 earning growth.
* Looking ahead, we believe the effect of decline in the number and size of IPO from the last year record is insignificant since the initial listing fee income is insignificant to total revenue.
* IPO of Asian companies partially alleviates the decline in IPO of PRC companies.
* The change in stock turnover volume is a more important swinging factor in the valuation of the counter.
* Comparing with the average 2007 PER of worldwide major stock exchanges of 28x, we maintain our BUY recommendation on HKEx with target price of $85.4, based on our 28x 2007 earnings forecast.