HK's Lee & Man slumps most in over 13 yrs as profit falls, Citi downgrades to 'sell'

Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing

08/03/2022 03:41

** Shares of packaging and tissue paper maker Lee & Man
Paper Manufacturing Ltd  2314.HK  drop as much as 16.2% to
HK$4.15, on course for the biggest daily percentage decline
since October 2008
    ** Stock hit the lowest since July 2020; biggest percentage
decliner in Hang Seng Composite Index  .HSCI  
    ** Company said its 2021 net profit fell 11% year-on-year to
HK$3.25 bln ($415.7 mln) amid rising energy prices, inflationary
pressures and restricted international shipping capacity
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2V71X3
    ** Says to declare a final dividend of HK$0.11 per share to
shareholders, down from HK$0.18 each in 2020 
    ** Citi says profit missed consensus and it downgrades the
stock to "sell" from "buy" and slashes TP by 53% to HK$4.0,
owing to slowdown consumption in China amid zero-COVID policy
and margin pressure on tissue paper segment due to recent pulp
cost surge
    ** Citi reduces its earnings forecasts by 41%-46% during
2022-23E 
    ** Hang Seng Composite Index  .HSCI  falls 1% and the
benchmark Hang Seng Index  .HSI  eases 0.4%



($1 = 7.8190 Hong Kong dollars)

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