STOCKS NEWS THAILAND-Nomura starts Siam Cement with buy; concrete growth seen

Nomura initiated coverage of Thailand's biggest industrial conglomerate Siam Cement Pcl with a 'buy' rating, citing strong cement business and improving petrochemical cycle. The broker set a price target of 530 baht.

Siam Cement shares fell 0.5 percent to 444 baht on Thursday.

"The company's cement business has had strong performance in 2012 driven by government's massive infrastructure spending ... However, SCC underperformed Siam City Cement despite SCC's superior EPS growth in its cement business," it said.

Siam Cement shares rose 30 percent in 2012 versus an 80 percent surge of Siam City Cement Pcl in the year. Siam Cement share price performance was hampered by a poor performance of its petrochemical business in 2012, Nomura said.

"Given an improving petrochemical cycle expected in 2013/14F and estimated continued growth of 22 percent in the cement business over the same period, we believe SCC's share price should re-rate toward that of SCCC," the broker said. 0942 (0242 GMT) (Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap in Bangkok; Editing by Anand Basu)