Inside The Bedokian’s Portfolio is an intermittent series where I will reveal what is actually inside our investment portfolio, one company/bond/REIT/ETF at a time. In each post I will talk a bit about the counter, why I had selected it and what lies ahead in the future.
Today’s counter is a follow-up from the post about myself going back to prospecting after a while, and the counter selected is Haw Par Corporation Limited (Haw Par). This is a classic value/dividend hybrid counter in my opinion.
A Little More Than Just Tiger Balm
Haw Par’s main product is the ubiquitous Tiger Balm, which within it contains an assortment of ointments, patches and rubs for different uses ranging from the traditional kind (e.g., soothing of headaches) to relieving of muscle pains from sports. Being one of the known brands of analgesics, Tiger Balm is marketed in more than 100 countries around the world.
On top of ointments, Haw Par also has in its portfolio four commercial and light industrial properties (three in Singapore and one in Malaysia) and an underwater theme park (Underwater World Pattaya) in Thailand.
And there is another point on its other investments, which I will mention later.
Fundamental Analysis
Ratio Analysis
I will use the selection guideline from the eBook1 and apply it to Haw Par’s ratios (as of 26 Nov 2023 of price SGD 9.75):
Equity Selection Guideline | Haw Par Corporation Limited |
Price-to-Book Ratio of 1 and below | 0.64 |
Debt-to-Equity Ratio of 50% and below | 0.82% |
Current Ratio 1.5 to 3 | 3.11 (deemed acceptable) |
Price-to-Earnings Ratio being the 25% lowest amongst other companies within the same sector/industry | 12.33 (as there were no other comparable companies within the local market, a judgement call made to deem acceptable) |
Dividend Payout Ratio 25% and above | 37.93% |
Dividend Yield higher than 10-year average inflation rate (based on past 3 years)
Based on MAS figures of year-on-year CPI for the past 10 years, the average annual figure is 1.4% | Forward yield – 4.1% Trailing yield – 3.58% Yield figures from Dividends.sg between 2020 and 2022 were above inflation rate |
From the table, Haw Par had passed the selection guideline.
Income And Cash Flow Analysis
From the excerpts of the income statements, the following gross profit margins (GPMs) and net profit margins (NPMs) were derived:
Year | GPM | NPM |
2022 | 54.13% | 81.45% |
2021 | 52.16% | 77.98% |
2020 | 43.98% | 107.87% |
2019 | 57.15% | 74.68% |
Though numbers of the last three years were usually sought, I had added in 2019 to see a comparison between what is deemed to be a normal operations year and 2020 when COVID-19 struck.
The GPM were from profits of Haw Par’s main operations which are the Tiger Balm, properties and the underwater park. Across 2019 and 2020, the GPM was dented by around 23%, but it can be observed that it is heading for recovery from 2021 onwards. The half year result for 2023 had shown an increase of 16.3%2 year-on-year, continuing the upward trajectory.
However, what is surprising is that on top of the said operations, Haw Par also has other investment income from dividends, interest and share of profits from its associated companies, and these brought up the NPM to relatively high percentages. One could view Haw Par is a holding company of sorts, and it is really a bit more than just Tiger Balm.
Moving on to cash flow, it is positive and rather consistent from 2020 onwards, though it dwarfed when compared to 2019 and before. As long as the cash flows are positive and the variations are not wild (i.e., swing from negative to positive), I am alright with it. Furthermore, with almost no debt, interest rates, which are the talk of the town, are of little effect to Haw Par.
What’s Next
Once a brand known only in East Asia, Tiger Balm expanded globally and had formed a sort of moat. However, the other point of interest would be Haw Par’s investment income, and this had shown profitability based on past records. If the four income components (Tiger Balm, properties, underwater park and investments) are profitable, it would be a good hold for the next decade.
All figures are derived from Yahoo Finance and Haw Par’s annual reports unless otherwise stated.
Disclosure
Bought Haw Par at:
SGD 9.75 at Nov 2023
1 – The Bedokian Portfolio (2nd Ed), p103-106
2 – Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statements For The Half Year Ended 30 June 2023. 11 Aug 2023. https://hawpar.listedcompany.com/newsroom/20230811_171738_H02_P6PDPS9GN49RIN42.1.pdf (accessed 26 Nov 2023)
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