Jefferies says Orora may defer plans to return A$1.2 bln to shareholders

Nippon Paper Industries

30/03/2020 23:08

** Brokerage Jefferies cuts price target for Australian
packaging maker Orora Ltd  ORA.AX  to A$3 from A$3.4, keeps
"buy" rating  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2BN1NL
    ** Expect sale of co's local fibre business to Japan's
Nippon Paper Industries  3863.T  to close within two weeks, 
giving Orora a "pristine" balance sheet with net debt below
A$100 mln ($61.68 mln) by June, Jefferies says 
    ** Brokerage adds it does not see any change in co's plans
to return A$1.2 bln to shareholders, however, given current
market conditions owing to the coronavirus outbreak, it is
likely that co will spread the payment over 2 years 
    ** Special dividend may remain in place but expect the
off-market buyback to be suspended for the time being -
Jefferies 
    ** Brokerage sees risk in co's U.S. operations and expects
Orora Visual, which is exposed to print and physical retail, to
be loss-making till FY21's first half 
    ** Three of 9 analysts rate ORA stock "buy" or higher and 6
"hold"; their median PT is A$3.05 – Refinitiv data




($1 = 1.6213 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru)
 ((Anushka.Trivedi@thomsonreuters.com; +918061823241;))