[%hNif%] 
Research by HLIB
Buy – TP of MYR 0.52

“Brighter earnings prospects ahead” 

We remain optimistic on HTVB’s earnings prospects, supported by (i) the pending rollout of mega infrastructure projects and robust private sector job flows in Malaysia, (ii) rising capacity utilisation at ESSB’s new blast furnace, which will boost its contribution to HTVB’s bottomline, and (iii) weak demand sentiment for steel products in China may have bottomed. We trim our FY24 core net profit forecast by 9.1%, mainly to account for lower downstream EBIT margin and higher finance cost assumptions. FY25 core net profit forecast, on the other hand, is raised by 28.7%, mainly to reflect contribution from ESSB’s expanded capacity. Post earnings revision and roll-forward of valuation base year (from FY24 to FY25), we maintain our BUY rating on HTVB, with a higher TP of RM0.52 based on 7x revised FY25 core EPS of 7.5 sen.

Analyst(s):
Chye Wen Fei
[%oGlY%]

$KLSE-HIAPTEK 
Research by HLIB
Buy – TP of MYR 0.52

“Brighter earnings prospects ahead” 

We remain optimistic on HTVB’s earnings prospects, supported by (i) the pending rollout of mega infrastructure projects and robust private sector job flows in Malaysia, (ii) rising capacity utilisation at ESSB’s new blast furnace, which will boost its contribution to HTVB’s bottomline, and (iii) weak demand sentiment for steel products in China may have bottomed. We trim our FY24 core net profit forecast by 9.1%, mainly to account for lower downstream EBIT margin and higher finance cost assumptions. FY25 core net profit forecast, on the other hand, is raised by 28.7%, mainly to reflect contribution from ESSB’s expanded capacity. Post earnings revision and roll-forward of valuation base year (from FY24 to FY25), we maintain our BUY rating on HTVB, with a higher TP of RM0.52 based on 7x revised FY25 core EPS of 7.5 sen.

Analyst(s):
Chye Wen Fei
wfchye@hlib.hongleong.com.my

$HIAPTEK / 5072 (HIAP TECK VENTURE BERHAD)