China sports brand Xtep rises, forecasts strong growth in 2018

Xtep International Holdings

23/01/2019 07:07

** Shares of Xtep International Holdings Ltd  1368.HK 
climbs as much as 5.7 pct to HK$4.79, after the Chinese
home-grown sports brand forecast strong growth in 2018 earnings
    ** Co expects its 2018 profit to rise 50-60 pct from a year
ago, with sales rising about 25 pct amid robust performance at
retail stores after store upgrades and retail network
optimisation  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN1ZM05T
    ** Co says stronger demand for restocking by distributors
also boosted sales
    ** Daiwa says the FY18 profit forecast should be a testament
to Xtep's turnaround story beginning to bear fruit, against
market concern over sluggish consumer sentiment in China. It
expects Xtep to continue to see resilient top line growth in
2019 
    ** CMB International initiates "buy" on Xtep due to its
dedication on improvements, more new retail and digital pushes
in FY18E-20E even after its 3 years of reforms 
    ** Xtep has outperformed the Hang Seng Commerce & Industry
Index sector  .HSNC  by 1.1 percentage points in the past one
month
    ** The Hong Kong Hang Seng sub-index tracking consumer goods
companies  .HSCICG  gains 0.4 pct, and the benchmark index
 .HSI  edges up 0.1 pct

 (Reuters Messaging: donny.kwok.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)