Kim Eng Vietnam Securities sees a rosy 2009 for Thu Duc Housing Development Corp. (TDH) and has accordingly upgraded its recommendation for the stock from “hold” to “buy.”





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[/table]The
Thu Duc District-based property developer achieved a significant rise
in earnings for the fourth quarter of 2008, the brokerage says in a
report in the investment newsletter Dau Tu Chung Khoan.

TDH’s
fourth-quarter revenue rose 5.3-fold year-on-year to VND275 billion
(US$15.7 million) while after-tax profit jumped to VND104 billion, or
2.2 times higher year-on-year.

The company made VND131 billion
from its Hiep Binh Phuoc residential project, VND101 billion from
selling allotments in Wholesale Market B, and the rest from sales of
smaller properties.
Ho Chi Minh City-based Kim Eng noted that Thu Duc
Corp.’s full-year revenue of VND607 billion and net profit of VND188
billion had exceeded the developer’s targets by 66 percent and 14
percent respectively.


Unsurprisingly, the firm’s gross profit growth rate is
on the rise, climbing from 31.3 percent in 2006 to 42.5 percent in 2007
and 51.4 percent in 2008.


Thu Duc Corp. is currently building Truong Tho
Apartments with 25,862 square meters of living space and plans to start
selling the units from next January at an average price of VND18
million ($1,033) per square meter.


The company is sitting on a pile of money thanks to
VND120 billion in sales of the new Binh Chieu residential zone, VND99
billion from the higher prices of land it bought for the Cantavil
apartment blocks, and VND90 billion from selling Wholesale Market B
allotments and some of Truong Tho Apartments.


Kim Eng is confident that Thu Duc Corp. will repeat or
even exceed its 2008 profit this year despite the quieter property
market of late.


At the end of 2008, Thu Duc Corp.’s earnings-per-share hit VND7,450 while its book value was VND51,421.


At the close of trading yesterday, TDH was down nearly 3 percent to VND29,600.