In this briefing:
- China’s A-Share Market Comes of Age, Slowly
- Naspers: Profitability Improvements Continue
- Tencent Music IPO – Firework – Trading Strategies
- Global Equity Strategy: Cautious Outlook Intact; Defensive Sectors Remain Leadership
- China PPI: Food Prices and Steel
1. China’s A-Share Market Comes of Age, Slowly
- The Shanghai-London Stock Connect is set to launch in December
- These new investment channels and MSCI inclusion transform a market long viewed as a casino
- Beijing’s distrust of markets still leaves shares subject to political whim
- Sheer size means China’s markets could dominate EM portfolios for years to come
- First-rate trading and settlement systems, but idiosyncratic listing procedures
- Institutional investors and foreigners still play a limited role
- High leverage has put wider economy at risk in event of a market crash
2. Naspers: Profitability Improvements Continue
Following David Blennerhassett‘s recent StubWorld note, we wanted add a bit more detail on the non Tencent Holdings (700 HK) part of Naspers (NPN SJ). In any discussion of Naspers, this tends to get overlooked but in fact, Naspers has generally done quite well in these businesses, by building them, monetizing them, and in some cases selling them. Alastair Jones believes that, given moves to unbundle the pay-TV assets in 2019, there is scope for the NAV discount to narrow. The current low/negative valuation for the unlisted assets ignores their significant value.
Naspers valuation:
3. Tencent Music IPO – Firework – Trading Strategies
Tencent Music Entertainment (TME US)‘s IPO was priced at the low-end US$13/share. The shares will begin trading tonight. As per earlier media reports, books were well covered.
I have covered most aspects of the deal in my previous series of insight, links to which are below. In this insight, I’ll re-look at what peers have been doing since book building began and how its main listed peer Spotify Technology Sa (SPOT US) has been performing. I’ll also provide a sensitivity table of the implied valuations at different price points and my thoughts on the price range for near-term trading.
My previous insights on TME’s IPO:
- The company’s performance: Tencent Music Pre-IPO Review – The Final Countdown – Growth Doesn’t Seem to Be Slowing Down,
- The working of the apps: Tencent Music Pre-IPO – This Is How We Do It – A Quick Look at How the Apps Work,
- Industry dynamic: Tencent Music Pre-IPO – Industry – Don’t Cry – In 2010 a Little Red Dot Almost Overtook the Dragon, and
- Peer analysis: Tencent Music Pre-IPO – Quick Peer Analysis – If I Was You, I’d Wanna Be Me Too – Bigger and Faster,
- Valuations overview: Tencent Music Pre-IPO – Valuations Estimates – Leaving on a Jet Plane – $30bn Was Quite Stretched.
- First take on the IPO pricing: Tencent Music Pre-IPO Updates – Welcome to the Jungle – Rumoured Asking Valuations More Reasonable
- IPO valuation update: Tencent Music IPO – Don’t Stop Me Now – 9M18 Updates, Outlook and Price Limits
- Some more information on Ultimate Music acquisition: Tencent Music IPO – A Little Less Conversation – A Little More Information on Ultimate Music
4. Global Equity Strategy: Cautious Outlook Intact; Defensive Sectors Remain Leadership
Global equities (MSCI ACWI) are testing 52-week lows as prices have been consolidating over the last 1-2 months. Our outlook for global equities remains extremely cautious and we expect downward consolidation to continue. Equity prices will need to show signs of bottoming in order for this outlook to change. In our December International Strategy, we explore various themes which lead to our cautious outlook, provide a technical appraisal of major world markets, explore a possible bottom in the Chinese market, and highlight attractive setups in the Consumer Staples, Communications, Health Care, and Utilities Sectors.
5. China PPI: Food Prices and Steel
The falling CPI and PPI matters for important reasons in that Chinese analysts are talking about potential deflation in 2019 absent stimulus. Overall the CPI increased 2.2% in YoY comparison. Food prices have slowed an overall increase, but some key sectors in food are sluggish and as a result a concern for us.
