by winston » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:12 pm
DJ MARKET TALK: Ajisen's Valuation Likely Justified By Growth
0931 [Dow Jones] More meaningful to look at Ajisen (China)'s (0538.HK) FY08 earnings from core businesses, which exclude one-off exceptional items, to gauge business performance; while FY08 net profit down 4.6% at HK$221 million, earnings for core restaurant operations +31.1% to HK$170 million last year, on continued chain store expansion, with total number of restaurants further increasing to 338 at date of earnings announcement vs 315 at end-2008, 210 at end-2007.
Stock trading at 30.5X trailing core P/E seems expensive, but likely justified by still fast-growing business, with FY09-10 P/E dropping to 16.4X, 13.7X, according to Thomson Reuters. Final dividend 5.25 HK cents/share vs 5.85 HK cents year-earlier, but also special dividend of 4.20 HK cents, combined yielding 1.9%. Stock ended +1.9% at HK$4.85 Friday; hasn't traded above psychological HK$5.00 since September 2008, set to remain near-term cap.
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"