KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 — Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) has maintained a “buy” call for Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) following July's double-digit passenger growth.
MAHB recorded 10 million passenger movements in July 2015, a 16.5 per cent increase over the 8.6 million in July 2014.
HLIB in its research note said Malaysia's traffic recorded a positive growth of 12.7 per cent owing to exceptional performance from KLIA2 and Malaysia Airport Sdn Bhd airports.
It said Istanbul Sabiha Gocken International Airport recorded a double-digit growth of 28.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), adding the growth may outperform expectations on the back of robust capacity expansion of both Turkish Airlines and Pegasus Airlines.
HLIB said although Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has cut around 20 per cent of its capacity in the second half of this year, which might cause a dent in passenger movements, other airlines could cushion this impact and cater to the route cuts.
The arrival of British Airways and ANA Airways could further cushion MAS's rationalisation, it added.
“We remain upbeat about MAHB's passenger movement performance with a stronger 2H15, and maintain our movement forecast at 2.53 per cent y-o-y,” it said.
HLIB has maintained its target price for MAHB at RM7.40.
As at 11.40am, MAHB's shares fell 12 sen to RM4.97 with 1.19 million shares traded. — Bernama
