reports
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
SK Telecom (Neutral, KRW 78,000, +43%) Overall impact of data breach ...
It is now clear that as we thought, the market’s initial response to SKT’s data breach was too sanguine, as earlier today, South Korea's regulator ordered SKT to waive the termination fees following April's cyberattack, and thereafter, SKT agreed to the waiver and announced a Customer Appreciation package and therefore cut 2025 revenue guidance, and said that it now expects EBIT to decline this year too. In this note, we summarise our thoughts and assess the potential financial impact.
Indian Telcos Q4 FY25 review: Stay constructive
India’s mobile sector sustained mid-teen growth again, though we expect a slowdown to high single digits from 2QFY25 onwards once last July’s tariff increase is lapped. Margin expansion remains a theme too. We stay constructive on India with Bharti Airtel as our preferred pick, but would continue to see Singtel as having more upside.
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
GEM Telcos: Consolidation – THE theme driving improved trends for EM T...
Earlier this month we published on how Global EM Telco Capex is falling rapidly, in large part driven by consolidation. On average EM Telco markets have fallen from a peak of 7 players to under 3. We expect many to end up with 2, or even a single network. How much further far might this cut capex?
- Chris Hoare
Takeaways from Meetings with the Korean Telcos in Seoul. KT to KRW 105...
We met with all 3 of the Korean Telcos in Seoul over the last couple of days. All 3 remain committed to “Value-up”. However, far the biggest impact is on KT who’s cash flow is dramatically improving. LG is also likely to have a strong year, and we think profitability has turned a corner.
- Chris Hoare
SK Telecom (Buy, KRW 86,000, +65%) Q1 25 Quick Take: Good cost cuttin...
SKT printed decent 1Q25 results with marked improvement in profitability, supported by its ongoing portfolio restructuring. EBITDA and net profit were ahead by 3% and 2% respectively. Cost efficiency programme remains a theme for South Korean operators. For SKT however, this is likely to be overshadowed by last month’s data breach with shares down 11% since then.
- Chris Hoare
Airtel Africa (Buy, TP: 300p, +90%) Q4 25: Solid finish; underlying t...
Airtel Africa has reported a solid set of Q4 results with a continued improvement in underlying trends and lower than expected capex. However, shares are down 8% today. We think this is driven by the delay in the IPO of the Mobile Money business to H1 2026 and the lack of commentary around the second tranche of the share buyback as well as some profit taking. Operationally trends are strong and so we remain Buyers with a price target of 300p.
- Chris Hoare
Global EM Telcos & Towers Still rising – NSR GEM Top-10 May ‘25 Updat...
Despite global volatility our EM Top Picks posted positive returns again in April and now up 34% YTD on average. As we have been arguing for some time EM Telco is a much better space than it used to be and this is now being reflected by the market it seems.
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
Telkom Indonesia (Buy, IDR 4,500, +76%) Q4 24 Quick Take: Buybac...
Against weak comps, trends improved, but fundamentally the picture remains challenged. The announced share buyback (IDR 3trn, 1.2% of outstanding) is welcome but probably won’t on its own be sufficient to turn the picture around. PT Telkom has disappointed with headwinds outside of Java and in Indihome. We remain Buyers on valuation but there is little in the trends here to suggest an operational turnaround is close.
- Dave Nicoski
- Ross LaDuke
Vermilion Int'l Compass: Global Equity Strategy
Still Bearish/Cautious; Stick With Defensives Since late-February (2/25/25 Compass and 2/27/25 Int'l Compass) we had been expecting an 8-10% pullback to provide a buying opportunity. However, after getting the 10%+ pullback, we discussed in our 4/1/25 Compass and 4/3/25 Int'l Compass how we no longer saw it as a buying opportunity, and we downgraded our outlook to bearish/cautious, citing several concerning developments. A historic selloff ensued. We then discussed last week (4/8/25 Compass) ho...
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
Global EM Telcos & Towers NSR GEM Top-10 March ‘25 Update: February a...
February was another good month for our top EM Telcos, now up 15% YTD on average. This note also includes key news & other thoughts in order to help investors generate alpha within the EM Telco space. With performance strong so far, we make no changes to our picks.
- Chris Hoare
Airtel Africa (Buy, TP: £2, +45%) Bharti Airtel to buy 5% of Airtel A...
Bharti Airtel has announced it intends to acquire 5% of Airtel Africa (which it already owns 57% of) and intends to complete this by March 31st2025. Airtel Africa are also currently in the process of executing a $100m share buyback in 2 tranches with the first $50m to be completed by April 24th 2025. AAF’s last RNS suggested the company has so far bought back $22m of this, leaving $38m still to be executed in the first tranche
- Chris Hoare
SK Telecom (Buy, KRW 86,000, +54%) Q4 24 Quick Take: Softer mobile re...
SKT reported softer numbers against consensus, while its net profit benefited from a one-off equity valuation gain. Across its segments, SK Broadband delivered better trends, but mobile service revenue was soft, and EBITDA was impacted by a jump in labour costs. We expect costs to ease and margins to improve as SKT undergoes cost efficiencies and strips out less profitable businesses. Dividend payout was in-line with expectations if excluding the one-offs.
SK Telecom Co Ltd: 1 director
A director at SK Telecom Co Ltd bought 1,000 shares at 54,700.000KRW and the significance rating of the trade was 52/100. Is that information sufficient for you to make an investment decision? This report gives details of those trades and adds context and analysis to them such that you can judge whether these trading decisions are ones worth following. Included in the report is a detailed share price chart which plots discretionary trades by all the company's directors over the last two years ...
- Chris Hoare
Airtel Africa Q3 25: Strong beat with headline revenue resuming growth...
Airtel Africa shares jumped by 10% today after delivering a strong beat, with reported topline and EBITDA ahead of expectations by 5%. Reported revenue growth inflected to positive territory as East Africa improved whilst both local currency revenue and EBITDA accelerated. Separately, the group has reiterated its full year guidance for continued margin improvement and capex spending between $725m and $750m. AAF is one of our NSR GEM top picks for 2025, and we are Buyers with a GBp 200 price targ...
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Outlook 2025: Value-up should be flowing
2024 contained a few surprises for the telcos, with the year starting with “Value-up” and ending with political chaos. Value-up is likely to have the longer lasting effects we think, and as most exposed and with the best strategy, and despite rising 33% in 2024, KT remains our top pick.
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