Citi says relatively resilient, but long-term headwinds persist

BWP Trust

04/08/2020 20:16

** Citi Research sees potential for higher vacancy and lower
property values to weigh on property manager BWP Trust's
 BWP.AX  income growth in the near term 
    ** Brokerage lowers its price target on BWP to A$2.69 from
A$2.71 and maintains a 'sell' rating on the stock
    ** Co, which manages Wesfarmers-owned  WES.AX  hardware
chain Bunnings, reported a 24.3% jump in its annual profit and
said it expects its FY21 dividend to be similar to FY20 on
Tuesday  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2F61C0
    ** Citi says that while BWP's businesses are less likely
impacted by the COVID-19 crisis than many of its retail peers,
longer-term headwinds are not priced in 
    ** "The appeal of BWP's income stream has generally been
declining ex-COVID, as leases progressively get shorter and
Bunnings Group's contribution reduces," - Citi 
    ** Among the 5 analysts that cover BWP, current average
rating on shares is "hold"; their median PT is A$3.04 –
Refinitiv data
    ** As of last close, stock up 1.5% this year 

 (Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru)
 ((Shriya.Ramakrishnan@thomsonreuters.com;))