HK and China Gas drops most in 13-1/2 yrs as profit falls; Daiwa downgrades

Hong Kong and China Gas

22/03/2022 03:57

** Shares of Hong Kong and China Gas Co Ltd  0003.HK  drop
15.2% to HK$9.85, the biggest daily percentage drop since
October 2008 if losses hold, and on course to snap four straight
sessions of gains 
    ** Stock hits the lowest since February 2017; biggest
percentage decliner in Hang Seng Index  .HSI , Hang Seng
Utilities Index sector  .HSNU  and Hang Seng Composite Index
tracking utilities  .HSCIU  
    ** The Hong Kong gas supplier says its 2021 net profit fell
16.5% year-on-year to HK$5.02 bln ($641.2 mln) because unit
margin of gas sales shrank as international commodity and energy
prices rose while upstream natural gas price soared  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2VN0CQ
    ** Says total dividend payout for the year amounts to
HK$0.35 per share, same as the previous year, and forecast
dividends per share for 2022 shall not be less than the
dividends for 2021   
    ** Daiwa downgrades the stock to "sell" from "outperform"
and cuts TP to HK$9.80 from HK$13.50 on huge miss in 2021 net
profit; no bonus issue is another miss, which may weigh on
valuation multiple 
    ** Hang Seng Composite Index tracking utilities  .HSCIU 
slips 0.8%, Hang Seng Utilities Index  .HSNU  drops 3.1%, and
Hang Seng Index  .HSI  rises 1.1%
    
($1 = 7.8287 Hong Kong dollars)

 (Reporting by Donny Kwok)
 ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com))