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(Sharecast News) - JPMorgan Cazenove started coverage of Lion Finance Group - formerly Bank of Georgia - on Tuesday with an 'overweight' rating and 9,200p price target.
It said the company offers exposure to high growth Georgian and Armenian economies with dominant market shares in consolidated banking markets.
"We expect an earnings per share compound annual growth rate of 12% across '24-27, driven by strong volume growth, which supports an NII CAGR of 13% 25-27E and is among the highest in the sector," JPM said.
"The group benefits from scale advantages with a leading cost/income ratio of circa 35% and strong digital penetration, driving adjusted return on equity of c25% on average across the next three years compared to more than 20% MT targets.
"While the shares are up c60% YTD and our FY25 forecasts are broadly in line with consensus, we do not see the earnings outlook or sustainability reflected in the group's valuation of 5.0x PE '27E (versus 5.5x pre-pandemic average) and1.1x P/TNAV '27E, with further re-rating potential if geopolitical risk premiums (including Georgia and Russia/Ukraine) decline."
At 1415 BST, the shares were up 1.8% at 7,770p.
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