Furui released a research report stating that it maintains a "buy" rating for China Mobile (00941) with a target price of HKD 101.39, down from HKD 101.69. The company distributed a mid-term dividend of HKD 2.6 per share, a 7% increase year-on-year, equivalent to a dividend yield of 63.3%, which was 62.5% in the same period last year. Management has promised that the annual dividend payout ratio will be higher than last year's 71%, and the bank expects that this year's dividend payout ratio will reach 72%, while the company also stated last year that it would strive to achieve a dividend payout ratio of 75% within three years.
The bank said that the company's second-quarter profit exceeded expectations and believed that the company's second-quarter revenue growth slowed down, but it was offset by the control of operating expenses and non-operating items, which was within expectations. The bank pointed out that the company's capital expenditures in the first half of the year were CNY 64 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 21%. However, management still maintains the full-year capital expenditure budget of CNY 173 billion and the proportion of capital expenditure to income less than 20%, and the bank believes that if demand and income in the second half of the year are lower than expected, capital expenditure will also be lower than the budget.