Thursday 25 Apr 2024
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K-Star Sports Ltd
We are not convinced that K-Star Sports’s 33% price gain since last Monday is sustainable.

The company’s underlying business of designing, manufacturing and distributing sports footwear is very competitive. Persistent excess inventory in China’s sportswear industry has forced it to implement tighter credit controls when accepting orders. This has, in turn, put pressure on revenue, which has halved since 2010 to just CNY329 million in 2013. K-Star fell into the red in 2012 with losses widening to CNY82.6 million last year.

There is yet evidence of a turnaround. Net loss totalled CNY18.5 million in 1H14, bigger than the CNY6.9 million loss in 1H13.

Whilst the stock is trading at price-to-book of only 0.2 times, investors should note that the company’s net asset value has been falling – as has its cashpile. Net cash is now down to CNY44.7 million, from CNY192 million at end-2011. Investor confidence in China-based companies, in general, remains poor.

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 24, 2014.

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