China’s reopening a positive catalyst for transportation and logistics, RHB says

RHB Investment Bank Research has maintained its “neutral” rating on the transportation and logistics sector and said China’s reopening is a positive catalyst for the sector, driving throughput growth for both seaports and airports in 2H2023.

RHB 投资银行研究维持其对运输和物流行业的“中性”评级，并表示中国的重新开放是该行业的积极催化剂，将推动 2023 年下半年海港和机场的吞吐量增长。

Nevertheless, in a note on 10th January, the research house said hurdles that remain in its choppy execution would act as a near-term challenge, with the reopening likely to be gradual.

尽管如此，该研究机构在1 月 10 日的一份报告中表示，其波动执行中仍然存在的障碍将成为近期挑战，重新开放可能是渐进的。

It said tepid global economic growth, underpinned by geopolitical tensions and persistent supply chain disruptions, may also lead to relatively soft global trade flows for the full year.

它表示，在地缘政治紧张局势和持续的供应链中断的支撑下，全球经济增长不温不火，也可能导致全年全球贸易流量相对疲软。

“So, we reiterate our partiality for diversified logistics player Tasco Bhd,” it said.

“因此，我们重申我们对多元化物流公司 Tasco Bhd 的偏爱，”它说。

Commenting on Tasco, RHB IB said that the sustainable outstanding performance from the past few quarters has highlighted the importance of operational excellence and management’s strategy in defying investor expectations of a contraction in earnings due to the downtrending freight rate that has led to the share price underperformance YTD.

RHB IB 在评论 Tasco 时表示，过去几个季度可持续的出色表现凸显了卓越运营和管理层策略的重要性，因为运费率下降导致股价表现不佳，投资者预期收益会收缩年初至今。

“The stock’s below-peer valuation of seven times presents a compelling investment proposition into the country’s leading integrated logistics player with consistent earnings delivery,” it said.

“该股低于同业七倍的估值为该国领先的综合物流企业提供了一个令人信服的投资建议，并持续交付收益，”它表示。

It said risks to the sector include a worse-than-expected resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China resulting in a longer-than-expected rolling lockdown.

该机构表示，该行业面临的风险包括，中国Covid-19病例的复苏比预期的更糟，导致滚动封锁的时间比预期的更长。