Delayed Divestment, New Contract Targets 2017 WSKT Trimmed

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - The new contract target of PT Waskita Karya Tbk (WSKT) for 2017 is reduced to Rp60 trillion. Previously, the new contract was set at Rp80 trillion. This target decrease was caused by the divestment of 10 delayed toll roads.

"We will also reduce new investments to keep our debt-to-equity (DER) ratio below 2 times in 2017, unless new projects deliver exceptional returns," said M. Choliq, President Director of WSKT, Friday (22/09 / 2017).

Throughout January-August 2017, the company has won a new contract worth Rp43 trillion. That has already reached about 72% of the newly revised 2017 contract target.

The new WSKT 2017 revised downgrade prompted Eveline Liaw, an analyst at PT Indo Premier Sekuritas, to reduce the assumption of WSKT's new contracts in 2018 and 2019, bringing each of them up to Rp63 trillion and Rp64 trillion.

Eveline argues that the failure to divest 10 toll roads is due to the fact that investors are less interested in investing in the toll road sector. The failure is expected to hamper the procurement of WSKT working capital in the future.

"In fact, for the long term, it will lead to a negative perception that investment in toll roads is not profitable because it requires a large capital expenditure (capex). Conditions that will reduce investor interest in toll road investment," said Eveline.

Therefore, Eveline also cut its WSKT profit forecast projection for 2018 and 2019 to 11% and 34%, respectively. The decline in projected earnings is due to the decline in new contracts as well as an increase in loan interest expense.

Nevertheless, Eveline still recommend BELI PT Waskita Karya Tbk (WSKT) shares with a new price target of Rp2,500 per unit. Previously, Eveline targets WSKT price to reach Rp3100 per unit.

"In the future, the significant increase of the WSKT price will only come from the divestment of the ten toll road segments," Eveline added. (Abraham Sihombing)