Other brokers have mixed views on Asia Plus

The price target for Asia Plus is Bt4.01 this year. The average net profit target is Bt479 million for this year and Bt489 for next year.

Asia Plus's net profit rose 21.6 per cent to Bt445 million last year, buoyed by Bt260 million in capital gains from securities trading for its portfolio.

Ayudhya Securities maintains a "trading buy" with a target fair value of Bt4.4 per share. The government's economic stimulus packages and the clearer picture of the politic situation has lifted market sentiment.

Asia Plus closed on Friday down 4 satang at Bt3.36.

The brokerage said that diversifying revenue sources was important for Asia Plus in reducing the risk of competition driven by the liberalisation of brokerage commissions in 2012.

It noted that Asia Plus has tried to increase income from other sources and plans to offer new products - such as structured notes worth Bt1 billion - to large investors this quarter to boost its advisory-fee income.

The securities house expects Asia Plus's full-year net profit will increase by 5.4 per cent to Bt469 million. Its brokerage fee income is expected to grow by 12.3 per cent to Bt1.24 billion, assuming that its market share stands at 5.8 per cent of total trading volume of Bt19 billion a day.

Asia Plus's advisory-fee income was expected to grow by 10 per cent to Bt200 million.

"We assumed that Asia Plus should post Bt200 million in capital gains from securities trading for its own portfolio, compared to Bt260 million last year," the brokerage said.

Asia Plus was expected to declare a dividend of 20 satang per share, which is same rate paid in 2007.

Phillip Securities continues to recommend "sell" for Asia Plus as its share price is fully diluted. The brokerage expects a target price of Bt3.54.

Over the past two months, trading volume averaged Bt19.7 billion a day.

Phillip Securities expects 2008 trading volume to rise 12 per cent to Bt19 billion from Bt17 billion last year.

It expects Asia Plus's brokerage-fee income will rise by 20.59 per cent to Bt1.33 billion while its advisory-fee income from investment banking will go up to Bt490.22 million.

UOB Kay Hian Securities also rates a "sell", as Asia Plus's 2007 net profit of Bt445 million is under expectations.

Asia Plus's 2007 brokerage-fee income was Bt1.13 billion, down 6.67 per cent from Bt1.21 billion in 2006. Given the stock market fluctuations, many firms put their IPO on hold.

UOB Kay Hian Securities has revised down its 2008 revenue projection by 17.4 per cent to Bt526 million. It also revised down the market share of brokerage fees for Asia Plus to 5.85 per cent. Last year, Asia Plus's market share was 5.74 per cent.