KUALA LUMPUR: MIDF Research has revised Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd’s (F&N) earnings for FY22E and FY23F upwards by 1.36% and 1.67%.

       “The company has shared that performance is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels in the short term.

       “We opine that performance will improve strongly in FY22 and FY23 following the reopening of the economies in Malaysia and Thailand. This will drive consumption and there is a high likelihood that festivities next year will be celebrated more openly,” MIDF said.

       The research house said F&N’s FY21 earnings of RM395.2mil made up 89.0% of MIDF’s and 95.7% of consensus’ full year estimates.

       A final single tier dividend of 33.0sen per share was announced, giving a total dividend of 60.0sen per share for the year.

       “We think that with the gradual reopening of economies in both countries, consumption will rebound especially since festive seasons and holidays are around the corner,” MIDF said.

       The research house has maintained a “trading buy” on F&N with an unchanged target price of RM33.07.

       “This is based on a PER of 26.0x pegged to FY22E revised EPS of 131.0 sen. The PER ascribed is based on its 5- year historical mean. Dividend yield is estimated at 2.22%,” it added.