Independent Asian Credit Research, Bondcritic

Warut Promboon

Independent Asian Credit Research

Asian Fixed Income/Frontier Market Research

Bondcritic

Bondcritic, established in 2009, is designed to be an independent credit research voice that helps investors gain insights and unbiased analyses on Asian fixed income market. Our mission is to discover deep-value Asian high-yield and distressed bonds with a bottom-up approach, together with the help of our proprietary ESG (Environmental, Social Development, and Governance) model. At the same time, we focus on bringing investment cases of unrated and unloved issuers to the general public.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

In this Smartkarma Original, we seek to study how diversity and incentives influence stock performance and profitability. We tallied diversity and incentive data related to the board of directors, management, and employees across major economies in Asia and picked top 10 companies of each country in terms of market capitalization. We chose to exclude major companies listed in exchanges of other economies such as Tencent and Alibaba to limit our sample size.
Then we devised diversity and incentive scores to assign to those companies and compare those scores against a 5-year trend of their return on shareholders’ equity (ROE) ratios and 1-year stock performance from 1-July-19 to 30-June-20 over its corresponding exchange indices.
The report covers diversity vs. incentives in Asia, diversity score vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, incentives vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, diversity + incentives scores vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, companies with top and bottom diversity + incentive scores, countries with top and bottom average diversity + incentive scores, and incentive score vs. staffing cost trend. 
The results show that companies with high diversity scores do perform well. A high diversity score also has a positive impact on the ROE trend, based on our regression analysis at 95% confidence level. We found that employee incentives are not significant as staff diversity but they can still have an influence on company performances at a lower 90% confidence level.
We note that this study is at the preliminary stage and stock performance is a function of many factors, not only the diversity scores that we concluded. Needless to say, our diversity and incentive scores also reflect the level of disclosures by selected companies, not necessarily the actual practice within each company. Our diversity and incentive scores are also not a credit rating or ranking with peers and, hence, do not reflect default probability of selected companies.
We caution that in Asia, many diversity trends in the West may not apply. The fact that many Asian business communities may remain less sensitive to equal opportunities for females, disabled persons, or LGBTQ communities could make returns of Asian companies less correlated to diversity than in the West. Likewise, additional incentives in some countries in Asia may not be necessary as employees’ strong performance (i.e. in Japan) is a norm, according to the prevalent work culture.
Bondcritic is developing a scoring model, which includes environment, social development, and corporate governance; the last of which cover diversity and incentives. This report is the first of the series to uncover shenanigans in the Asian corporate sector.

In this Smartkarma Original, we seek to study how diversity and incentives influence stock performance and profitability. We tallied diversity and incentive data related to the board of directors, management, and employees across major economies in Asia and picked top 10 companies of each country in terms of market capitalization. We chose to exclude major companies listed in exchanges of other economies such as Tencent and Alibaba to limit our sample size.
Then we devised diversity and incentive scores to assign to those companies and compare those scores against a 5-year trend of their return on shareholders’ equity (ROE) ratios and 1-year stock performance from 1-July-19 to 30-June-20 over its corresponding exchange indices.
The report covers diversity vs. incentives in Asia, diversity score vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, incentives vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, diversity + incentives scores vs. 1-year stock performance and ROE trend, companies with top and bottom diversity + incentive scores, countries with top and bottom average diversity + incentive scores, and incentive score vs. staffing cost trend. 
The results show that companies with high diversity scores do perform well. A high diversity score also has a positive impact on the ROE trend, based on our regression analysis at 95% confidence level. We found that employee incentives are not significant as staff diversity but they can still have an influence on company performances at a lower 90% confidence level.
We note that this study is at the preliminary stage and stock performance is a function of many factors, not only the diversity scores that we concluded. Needless to say, our diversity and incentive scores also reflect the level of disclosures by selected companies, not necessarily the actual practice within each company. Our diversity and incentive scores are also not a credit rating or ranking with peers and, hence, do not reflect default probability of selected companies.
We caution that in Asia, many diversity trends in the West may not apply. The fact that many Asian business communities may remain less sensitive to equal opportunities for females, disabled persons, or LGBTQ communities could make returns of Asian companies less correlated to diversity than in the West. Likewise, additional incentives in some countries in Asia may not be necessary as employees’ strong performance (i.e. in Japan) is a norm, according to the prevalent work culture.
Bondcritic is developing a scoring model, which includes environment, social development, and corporate governance; the last of which cover diversity and incentives. This report is the first of the series to uncover shenanigans in the Asian corporate sector.

Asian Governance: Diversity & Incentives Through the Cultural Lens

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), Topline Securities

Topline Securities

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Topline Securities is one of the fastest growing brokerage houses in Pakistan. It has strong equity brokerage, economic / equity research, mutual fund distribution, commodity trading and corporate finance & advisory functions. Content available is external broker reports authored by a third party outside the Smartkarma network and has been aggregated by an online aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed by Smartkarma in this format for user's convenience and general informational purposes only. Content does not constitute investment or financial advice and Smartkarma makes no representation or warranty regarding its accuracy or contents. Original third party author retains all copyright and other proprietary rights in the content. Access or use of third party links not controlled by Smartkarma are at the user's own risk.

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<li>Pakistan’s fertilizer sector started 2018 with robust profitability growth of 47% YoY due to  increase in urea sales volume by ~43% YoY to 1.2mn tons. DAP sales also recorded significant growth of 14% compared to last year, with volumes clocking in at 517k tons vs. 447k tons.</li>
<li>Higher urea sales is attributed to 1) continuation of subsidized prices in 1Q2018 at Rs1,400 per bag, 2) improved purchasing power of farmers amid better prices of rice and cotton crop (while, sugarcane payment to farmers…</li>
</ul>


Pakistan’s fertilizer sector started 2018 with robust profitability growth of 47% YoY due to  increase in urea sales volume by ~43% YoY to 1.2mn tons. DAP sales also recorded significant growth of 14% compared to last year, with volumes clocking in at 517k tons vs. 447k tons.
Higher urea sales is attributed to 1) continuation of subsidized prices in 1Q2018 at Rs1,400 per bag, 2) improved purchasing power of farmers amid better prices of rice and cotton crop (while, sugarcane payment to farmers…


Pakistan Fertilizer: Sector Earnings up by 47% YoY in 1Q2018

Investing in high growth Asian frontier economies., Asia Frontier Capital

Scott Osheroff

Investing in high growth Asian frontier economies.

Asia Frontier Capital

Asia Frontier Capital Ltd. is a pioneering fund management company based in Hong Kong that specializes in investing in high growth Asian frontier economies by managing the AFC Asia Frontier Fund , AFC Iraq Fund and the AFC Vietnam Fund.

The AFC Asia Frontier Fund invests in public equities of Asian frontier countries that are seeing increasing consumption due to favorable demographic trends, rising incomes and high GDP growth. The fund invests in listed equities of companies that have their principal business activities in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The AFC Asia Frontier Fund is positioned to take advantage of the continuing economic shifts in these countries and offers high returns combined with significant diversification opportunities. This fund is directed by the founder and CEO of Asia Frontier Capital, Thomas Hugger, who has been investing in frontier markets across Asia and Africa for more than 20 years.

The AFC Iraq Fund was launched on the 26th June 2015 and aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation for investors by capturing value and growth potential in the post conflict high-growth & resource rich Iraq market. The fund emphasises long term investment horizon to truly capture the opportunity in Iraq. The fund's investable universe consists of locally listed companies that have their principal business activities in Iraq as well as foreign listed companies that have the majority of the business in Iraq as a whole including the prosperous Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI). The AFC Iraq Fund offers access to investments in post conflict recovery potential of Iraq, including the KRI, and/or stability in its territory. The AFC Iraq Fund is managed by Asia Frontier Capital (Iraq) Limited, Cayman Islands under the executive leadership team of Thomas Hugger (CEO & Fund Manager) and Ahmed Tabaqchali (CIO) who have more than 47 years of investment experience as well as an extensive background covering global, emerging, frontier and MENA markets.

The AFC Vietnam Fund invests exclusively in listed Vietnamese equities to capture value in growth companies with a focus on the small to medium size companies. This market segment offers a unique investment opportunity as the valuation gap between large- and small-cap stocks in Vietnam is presently much wider than in comparable neighboring markets and the valuations are significantly depressed versus their regional peers. The fund adopts a fundamental-quantitative approach and employs an in-house earnings model to identify attractive companies where we see high growth opportunities. In conjunction with targeting the maximum upside potential the portfolio has been structured to mitigate corporate government and liquidity risks. The fund invests in a diversified portfolio of 70-90 attractively valued companies to carefully control concentration risk.  This approach allows the fund to sell, or buy, positions without having a significant market impact. The fund is directed under the executive leadership of Thomas Hugger and Andreas Vogelsanger who have more than 50 years combined experience managing investments in frontier markets, Asia and around the world.

For more information about the fund, management team and investment strategy please contact us at info@asiafrontiercapital.com.

I had the opportunity in early October 2016 to attend a three-day fund manager conference organized by one of our Pakistani brokers in Lahore (one day) and two days in Karachi, followed by my own visits to some of our investee companies and a number of promising companies pinned down by our research efforts...

I had the opportunity in early October 2016 to attend a three-day fund manager conference organized by one of our Pakistani brokers in Lahore (one day) and two days in Karachi, followed by my own visits to some of our investee companies and a number of promising companies pinned down by our research efforts...

Asia Frontier Capital Travel Report: Pakistan

Frontier and emerging markets (Vietnam)

Dylan Waller

Nomadic Equity

Pakistan's UpgradePakistan received its well deserved emerging market upgrade from MSCI last week, and valuation still remains below its historical high experienced when it was previously an emerging market.  Now is a strong time to swoop in to profit from Pakistan's future upside, as the market has the potential trade at up to 13.8X its earnings, based on its historical valuation.  Unfortunately, this is a case where simple exposure through an ETF, the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/21016" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:21016">Global X Msci Pakistan Etf</a>, is not an…

Pakistan's UpgradePakistan received its well deserved emerging market upgrade from MSCI last week, and valuation still remains below its historical high experienced when it was previously an emerging market.  Now is a strong time to swoop in to profit from Pakistan's future upside, as the market has the potential trade at up to 13.8X its earnings, based on its historical valuation.  Unfortunately, this is a case where simple exposure through an ETF, the Global X Msci Pakistan Etf, is not an…

Top Industries for Investment as Pakistan Transitions to an Emerging Market

The cement industry in Pakistan has a flurry of advantages ahead of it, and can be considered a strategic industry for investment in Pakistan:<ul><li>Local demand for cement is growing, and companies are responding by constructing new cement plants.</li><li>Exports growth will slow, primarily driven by issues in South Africa, yet this is not strong enough to offset the strong domestic demand.</li><li>Investment in Pakistan's cement industry should be a long term endeavor.</li></ul>

The cement industry in Pakistan has a flurry of advantages ahead of it, and can be considered a strategic industry for investment in Pakistan:Local demand for cement is growing, and companies are responding by constructing new cement plants.Exports growth will slow, primarily driven by issues in South Africa, yet this is not strong enough to offset the strong domestic demand.Investment in Pakistan's cement industry should be a long term endeavor.

Pakistan's Cement Industry Poised for Further Growth

Pakistan

Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited manufactures, purchases and markets fertilizers.

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Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC PA)

Asian Governance: Diversity & Incentives Through the Cultural Lens

In this Smartkarma Original, we seek to study how diversity and incentives influence stock performance and profitability. We tallied diversity and...

Bondcritic

Pakistan Fertilizer: Sector Earnings up by 47% YoY in 1Q2018

Pakistan’s fertilizer sector started 2018 with robust profitability growth of 47% YoY due to increase in urea sales volume by ~43% YoY to 1.2mn...

Topline Securities

Asia Frontier Capital Travel Report: Pakistan

I had the opportunity in early October 2016 to attend a three-day fund manager conference organized by one of our Pakistani brokers in Lahore (one...

Asia Frontier Capital

Top Industries for Investment as Pakistan Transitions to an Emerging Market

Pakistan's UpgradePakistan received its well deserved emerging market upgrade from MSCI last week, and valuation still remains below its historical...

Nomadic Equity

Pakistan's Cement Industry Poised for Further Growth

The cement industry in Pakistan has a flurry of advantages ahead of it, and can be considered a strategic industry for investment in...

Nomadic Equity

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)