Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Marco Polo Marine - Conviction call: Tapping into a captive market


We re-initiate coverage with a Buy rating and TP of S$0.61. MPM is enjoying steady growth  in  its  operations  and  bottom  line,  fuelled  by  an  increasingly  energy-hungry Indonesia.  The  growth  profile  combined  with  demonstrated  technical  superiority means the stock should enjoy a premium,  yet it trades at 1.0x historical-cost book. MPM is a conviction call with a potential to double in 2-3 years.

Rare  gem  for  its  direct  exposure  to  cabotage-protected,  resource-rich  Indonesia. MPM  is  one  of  the  very  rare  companies  which  can  safely  operate  in  Indonesian  waters, without  running afoul  of  the strongly-enforced  cabotage laws  and  without  having  to  worry about  local  partners,  by  virtue  of  management’s  nationality.  Indonesia,  World  #4  in population and the fastest-growing country in Southeast Asia, is an archipelago of 17,000 islands necessitating tug & barge services and endowed with offshore oil and gas reserves in both shallow and deep waters.

Technical  capabilities  top  in  class.  MPM’s shipyard has delivered AHTS vessels with sustained  bollard  pulls  averaging  15%  in  excess  of  the  norm.  Impressively,  it  recently outfitted  a  DP-3  vessel  –  a  milestone  usually  reserved  for  established  large  yards.  For  a small company, this level of technical competence is remarkable. We like small companies with superior capabilities – these tend to appreciate strongly over the long term.

Associate  PT  BBR  is  listing  today  on  the  JSX.  PT Bina Buana Raya, MPM’s 49%-owned  associate,  is  listing  today  on  the  JSX. This  will  allow  MPM  to  tap  an  alternative source of capital, much-needed in its capital-intensive growth strategy. We are forecasting BBR  to  grow  at  a  90%  EPS  CAGR  for  the  three  years  to  FY14F  due  to  a  fast-growing AHTS fleet, and 1H12 earnings of US$4.5m have already far exceeded the entire FY11’s US$2.6m.

Valuation: TP $0.61. Conviction call, likely to double in 2-3 years. We value MPM at 9x FY13F  EPS,  a  fair  multiple  for  12.5%  3-year  EPS  CAGR.  The  same  multiple  on  FY15F EPS yields a value of $0.80, a doubling on today’s price.
VALUATION: INITIATE WITH BUY, TP $0.61

Unnoticed  gem  with  lower  valuations  and  higher profitability.  MPM just announced a 23%  PATMI  jump  to  $21.3m  in  FY12,  yet  it  is  still  trading  at  6.4x  historical  P/E  and  5.9x FY13F EPS, which are valuations far below local and regional peers. Its historical ROE and ROA  are  16.1%  and  9.8%,  comfortably  above  the  11.7%  and  7.1%  averages  that  peers have delivered. Looking ahead, MPM also outshines with FY13F ROE of 14.9% and ROA of 9.5%, against peers’ 12.0% and 7.2%.
 
Closest  peers  ASL  Marine,  Wintermar.  In terms of operations, ASL Marine comes fairly close  to  MPM  in  operating  a  shipyard  as  well  as  building,  owning  and  operating  OSVs. Wintermar owns and operates OSVs in Indonesia, which is MPM’s growth strategy. Both these  companies  have  much  higher  valuations  in  terms  of  P/E,  yet  lower  ROE  and  ROA than MPM.
Valuation  pegged  at  9x.  As  such,  we  peg  our  valuation  of  MPM  at  9x  FY13F  EPS.  We select this multiple  as it lies conservatively in the low end of the 8-13x average range, yet reflects a slight premium for the high ROE. The $0.61 TP implies a 1.47x P/B, coming in at the high end of the 1.0-1.5x average range, being the aforesaid premium.

Still  under  regression-predicted  valuation.  The  P/B-on-ROE  regression  for  the companies  in  this  sector  exhibits  good  consistency  with  theoretical  predictions.  A  priori,  a high  ROE company should be  valued  with  a  higher  P/B, and  a simple  regression  delivers an  acceptable  R2 of  57%.  The  one-factor  model  is  P/B  =  0.2939  +  0.0827*(ROE).  (We excluded Otto Marine from this regression as its negative ROE was a massive outlier.)

Given MPM’s FY12  ROE  of  16.1%, its “fair” P/B as predicted by the regression model would  be  1.625x  book  value,  which  implies  a  TP  of  $0.67.  Our  P/E  based  TP  of  $0.61  is therefore still lower than the sector’s ROE-adjusted valuation.
Source: OSK

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