China International Bank: Lowered China Tower's (00788) target price to HK$12.1 and maintained a "hold" rating.

Guangzhou International Securities released a research report stating that it has lowered the target price of CHINA TOWER (00788) from HK$13.1 to HK$12.1 while maintaining a "hold" rating. The report mentioned that CHINA TOWER's revenue for the 2025 fiscal year increased by 2.7% year-on-year to 100.4 billion yuan, which is close to the bank's expectation of 101.4 billion yuan and the consensus expectation of 100.87 billion yuan. Net profit increased by 8.4% year-on-year to 11.6 billion yuan, exceeding the bank's expectation by 1% but falling short of the consensus expectation by 3.5%. The net profit margin increased by 0.6 percentage points to 11.6%, mainly due to the decrease in the D&A expense rate as the tower assets acquired in 2015 reached the end of depreciation in November 2025, and with the extended lifespan of some DAS equipment. On the other hand, EBITDA decreased by 1.1% year-on-year to 65.8 billion yuan (EBITDA margin narrowed by 2.6 percentage points to 65.5%), attributed to an increase in bad debt provisions and a decrease in asset disposal gains, resulting in a significant increase of 23.5% in other OpEx year-on-year. The fourth quarter revenue for 2025 was 26.1 billion yuan (up 3% year-on-year, up 5.6% quarter-on-quarter), showing a typical seasonal rebound trend. The company announced a dividend of HK$0.458 per share (up 9.8% year-on-year), with a dividend payout ratio of 77%, higher than that of 2021-2024.