FY14 NPAT up 15%, 3.6% above DBe
Huabao reported a 15% yoy increase in NPAT to HKD1,977m for the year ended March 2014 (DBe: HKD1,909m). Revenue rose 16% yoy to HKD4,237m (DBe: HKD4,125m), mainly due to a 112% yoy growth in RTL sales (25% of FY14 revenue), and revenue from tobacco flavors (73% of FY14 revenue), as expected, grew only by 3% yoy. GPM gained 1.7ppt to 70.8%, thanks to improved scale and ASP of RTL business (FY13: 69.1%). EBITM, as a result, improved by 0.6ppt to 56.1% (FY13: 55.5%).
More dividend, fewer buybacks
The company declared a final dividend of HKD10.49 cents per share and a special dividend of HKD7 cents per share, making the total dividend HKD29.05 cents, representing a total dividend payout ratio of 46% (FY13: 40.3%), above our forecast of 40%. During FY14, the company repurchased only 4.2m shares in FY14, compared to 54.3m in FY13. Net cash reached HKD2,651m (HKD0.85/share) as of end FY14, up 43% from HKD1,858m as of end FY13.
The company will hold an analyst o 20 June morning. We will have more updates after the meeting.