Courts Asia

Courts Asia: Continues to ramp up its expansion plans as the group announced the site of its first ‘Big-Box’ Megastore in Malaysia. This will be the Group’s largest store in Malaysia, and will be located in 8trium in Bandar Sri Damansara (Klang Valley). Scheduled for opening in Aug13, the 108,000 sqft two-storey Sri Damansara Megastore will offer the largest range of electrical, IT and furniture products in Malaysia and a host of multi-channel shopping experiences and serve an immediate population of over 750,000. Its opening is part of the Group’s growth strategy of increasing its retail area in Malaysia by an average of 120,000 sf. annually over the next two to three yrs. Separately we note that Courts appears to be on track to ramp up its presence, with another Big Box Megastore scheduled to make its debut in Indonesia, Jakarta by 2014, while the group similarly attempts to similarly increase same store sales and expansion in SG and Msia. If the group is able to continue replicating its success in Msia and Indonesia, we do not share price seeing a further rerating upwards, on back of a strong and growing domestic/consumption market in the 2 countries.At current price, Courts Asia trades at 13x forward P/E vs regional peers who trades at 25x forward P/E.