Daily Brief Financials: Suruga Bank Ltd, Langham Hospitality Inv Ss, ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance C, H&T Group Plc, Bitcoin, China Vanke and more

• 10+ Months ago, Suruga Bank Ltd (8358 JP) announced it would sell a large chunk of its treasury shares to Credit Saison and would then buy back ¥22bn of stock.
• I liked the odds in Suruga Bank (8358) To Sell, Then Buy Back 17% of the Bank, but HOW Is Key. They spent the ¥22bn. The stock rose a lot.
• Today, we get a div hike for H2 (implying a div hike for this year too), another buyback, a huge share cancellation, and new KPIs. As always, details matter.

• Hong Kong hotel-play Langham Hospitality (1270 HK) was spun-off from Great Eagle (41 HK) on the 30 May 2013. Now GE intends to take the company back into the fold. 
• Covid was devastating to the hospitality sector. As were the 2019 demonstrations. Langham’s share price never recovered, and is currently trading at a lifetime low and a P/B of 0.21x.
• No price was mentioned in the announcement. Expect a healthy premium to undisturbed, should a firm Offer unfold. But I wouldn’t expect a knockout price.

• ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance C (6060 HK) is benefiting from the cross-selling opportunities  generated through the eco-systems of Alibaba Group Holding (9988 HK) and Tencent (700 HK), its parent companies
• Largest solely online insurance company in China with Rmb 30B gross premiums written in 2023.
• Expertise and cross-selling from Ping An Insurance (H) (2318 HK) , another parent company with a jointly run auto insurance business.

• In our 15 March 2023 initiation, ‘Pawnbroking royalty, with strong, profitable growth’, and subsequent notes, we have highlighted the strong market for pawnbroking and why H&T, as the market leader, is uniquely placed to take advantage of these opportunities.
• These results reconfirmed both, with the pledge book up 28% and net pawnbroking revenue up 36%.
• Like many in the retail space, H&T faced the challenge of customers focusing on lower-value, lower-margin items in the key run-up to Christmas 2023.

• We are swiftly approaching the fourth Bitcoin halving, which is expected to take place at block number 840,000.
• Currently, the network has reached a block height of approximately 837,700.
• Bitcoin experiences a halving event every 210,000 blocks.

Lucror Analytics Morning Views comprise our fundamental credit analysis, opinions and trade recommendations on high yield issuers in the region, based on key company-specific developments in the past 24 hours. Our Morning Views include a section with a brief market commentary, key market indicators and a macroeconomic and corporate event calendar.

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