UTour Travel:1H17topline up by 13%,wholesale business slows down

1H17top line up by 13%; bottom line up by 27%

    Utour Travel announced its 1H17interim report today. The company reported thattop line increased by 13% yoy to RMB5.05bn in 1H17from RMB4.46bn in 1H16and core net profit increased by 27% yoy to RMB94m in 1H17from RMB74m.We believe the margin increase continues in 2017due to better products mixchange. We reiterate Buy given the company's more diversified products andmore attractive valuation than previously. Our new target price of RMB15(fromRMB17) reflects a cut in our 2017wholesale business growth forecast.

    Top line up 13% yoy, driven mainly by outbound wholesale business

    Wholesale outbound - revenue rose 13% to RMB3.88bn in 1H17fromRMB3.43bn in 1H16. This was the main driver of total top-line growth,however, wholesale business growth slows down compared to 27% yoygrowth in 2016. We believe that this is mainly due to the slowdown ofoutbound travel in China (number of outbound tourists increased only by5% to 62million in 1H17from 56million in 1H16)

    Retail outbound - By end-1H17, the company has 108offline stores.Revenues from the retail sales business rose 7% to RMB769m in 1H17from RMB720m in 1H16. Recall that the company has planned to expandits offline stores to 200in the next two to three years. We believe marginswill continue to increase in 2017under the company’s strategy of revenuemix change.