CCB International released a research report stating that it upgraded the rating of Henderson Land (00012) from “outperforming the market” to “neutral”, believing that management also provided stable profits and dividends while deleveraging. The target price was raised from HK$18 to HK$25.
The bank said that the company's performance was encouraging. The annual dividend payment was 1.8 yuan, exceeding expectations by 42.6%, and the dividend ratio remained at 90%. Core profit rose slightly by 0.8% to $9.706 billion. Real estate sales in Hong Kong increased by 3.9% year on year last year, but operating margin narrowed 5.1 percentage points to 15.4% at the end of the year. Net interest increased 27.8% to $1.32 billion, 19.2% lower than expected, and the net debt ratio improved 1.5 percentage points to 22.6%, better than expected.