reports
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Q4 24 review: Value up starting to pay dividends
Although growth is slowing, cash flow trends continue to improve on greater discipline on opex and capex. The industry is increasingly giving this back in the form of higher dividends or buybacks which KT has already instituted and LG guided buybacks of up to 20% of net profits .
- Chris Hoare
KT (Buy, KRW 85,000, +88%) Q4 24 Quick Take: Attractive value play wi...
KT reported a decent set of underlying results if excluding the one-off costs related to its early retirement programme which was well flagged earlier. Service revenue also recovered back to growth as Enterprise accelerated even despite the ongoing restructuring of less profitable business
- Chris Hoare
Global EM Telcos & Towers – NSR EM Top picks Feb 25 update. Top-8 beco...
We update the NSR GEM Top Picks list. No stocks are dropped, and we add LILAC and TIM Brasil to our list, extending it to a Top-10 list from Top-8. Our picks had a good start, up 12% on average since the start of the year. This note also includes key news & other thoughts in order to help investors generate alpha within the EM Telco space.
- 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.
- Chris Hoare
Global EM Telcos & Towers Themes and Top picks for 2025
We remain constructive on EM Telcos despite the major stocks generally performing well through 2023 and 2024. As the long telco cycle inflects, and the industry consolidates, conditions still seem ripe for GDP+ revenue growth and rising ROIC we think. In this note, we run through the themes we think investors should follow in 2025. In a separate note, also published today we introduce the NSR EM Telco – Top 8, our top EM picks in the Telco and Towers space.
- Chris Hoare
Global EM Telcos & Towers Introducing the NSR Global EM Telco & Tower...
This note introduces the NSR GEM-Top 8, which will be a regularly updated list of our preferred Telcos and Towers in Global Emerging Markets. In a separate note out today, we run through the key themes that we see driving the EM Telco and Towers sector in 2025
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
LG Uplus (Buy, TP: KRW 19,000, +71%) New Corporate Value Up Plan, mod...
Yesterday, LG Uplus announced its new Corporate Value Up plan, in conjunction with the appointment of a new CEO in 2025, Hong Bum-Sik who is the company’s current head of corporate strategy. We think the plan is modestly positive but not as transformational as KT’s. Our brief thoughts below.
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
KT Corp (Buy, TP: KRW 70,000, +68%) Q3 24 Quick Take: Top line impacte...
KT saw weaker service revenue but better headline EBIT and bottom-line growth from a lower base last year. Mobile kept steady and core B2B inflected to growth despite restructuring efforts, service revenue trend was impacted again by weakness in Content and BC Card.
- Chris Hoare
KT Corp (Buy, TP: KRW 70,000, +59%) New Corporate Value Up Plan Repre...
Following SK Telecom’s plan to improve corporate value, KT has highlighted three priorities to further its corporate value yesterday. Building up to its 9-10% return on equity target by 2028, it aims to build up its AICT contribution and improve EBIT margin to 9%, optimise latent value from non-core assets and has also guided for an additional KRW 1tn (US$ 0.72bn) in buybacks/cancellations, in excess of its current 50% shareholder remuneration policy. Our thoughts below.
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Q2 24 review: Softer but capex moderation remains...
Group service revenue and EBITDA trends were softer in Q2, beset by slower Enterprise growth and a one-off labour cost hike by KT. By contrast, mobile improved to 2.1% YoY, led by SKT and KT. Given the benign mobile landscape and the removal of Stage X’s mobile license, we expect trends to sustain at current levels. Capex spend is under control while quarterly dividends were unchanged. Separately, we have trimmed our target prices for SKT and LG Uplus; KT remains our preferred pick.
- Chris Hoare
KT Corp (Buy, TP: KRW 70,000, +83%) Q2 24 Quick Take: Impacted by one...
Q2 was impacted by a decline in its service revenue and a one-off cost related to an early settlement of wage negotiations (KRW 64bn impact). As a result, the stock was down 2% today. However, some of the bright spots remained – sustained growth in Wireless, profitable Enterprise segments, KT Cloud and continued capex moderation.
- Chris Hoare
LG Uplus (Buy, TP: KRW 21,000, +112%) Q2 24 Quick Take: Decent net ad...
Trends were slower as service revenue and EBITDA missed expectations 1% and 2% respectively. As a result, pressure continue to be felt at the bottom line. Key positives were its Enterprise and broadband momentum and the moderation in capex. Separately, LG had also disclosed an interim dividend of KRW 250/share, unchanged from last year.
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos MSIT may revoke fourth operator's 28 GHz licence
South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT ("MSIT") is said to be revoking Stage X's 28 GHz spectrum, citing its inability to pay the KRW 205bn (US$ 150m) paid-in capital last month and discrepancies around its shareholders' ownership ratio. Our thoughts below.
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Q1 24 review: Better service revenue trends, but ...
South Korean operators delivered better service revenue growth, led by improvements in Broadband and Enterprise. As 5G penetration matures (70% in Q1), mobile still managed LSD growth. With improving capital intensity and steadily rising dividends, we remain constructive in this space, with KT remaining as our preferred pick
- Chris Hoare
EM Telcos EM Enterprise Revenues Continue to Grow Strongly
In this note we revisit and update our thesis that Enterprise in EM is following an S-Curve, using 2023 reported figures. Enterprise customer growth continues to exhibit an S-Curve, and absolute Enterprise revenues added remains very strong in many EMs despite a slowdown in growth rates. We remain bullish on this space.
- Chris Hoare
KT Corp (Buy, TP: KRW 70,000, +93%) Q1 24 Quick Take: Better profitab...
Topline trend was better as B2B division improved while KT Cloud and KT Estate sustained double-digits growth again. While the company had earlier announced plans to expand its AI/ICT staff pool by up to 1k this year, so far labour costs remained under control as it is being offset by natural attrition of retirees.
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