KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia's shares were in the limelight early Wednesday after posting a strong set of financial results for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2012, its dividends and more upside for the low-cost carrier.
At 9.17am, it was up 19 sen to RM2.83 with 3.29 million shares done. Its call warrants, AirAsia-CU rose 0.5 sen to one sen.
The FBM KLCI was slightly higher by 0.82 of a point to 1,625. Turnover was 64.34 million shares valued at RM40.56mil. There were 102 gainers, 91 losers and 118 counters unchanged.
CIMB Equities Research has upgraded its target price for AsiaAsia from RM3 to RM3.10 and also its recommendation for the low-cost carrier.
Alliance Research said stripping out exceptional items, AirAsia's FY12 core net profit of RM847.1mil (up 32.5% on-year) came in above its expectations.
The low-cost carrier declared a special dividend of 18 sen and a final dividend of 6 sen, which came as a pleasant surprise.
“Going forward, management commits to pay up to 20% of net operating profits as dividends. Despite near-term hiccups, we remain positive on the fundamentals and growth prospects of AirAsia. Maintain Buy but raise target price to RM3.50 (from RM3.40),” said Alliance Research.
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