Courts' share prices in the doldrums

Its share price is now 3% below the IPO price.

According Alison Fok, analyst at MayBank KimEng, Courts Asia has seen its share price slump 24% in the past three months, vs 15% for its regional peers.

Here's more from Fok:

In our view, Courts has been made a punching bag due to weakening consumer sentiment and rising conce rns over household debt in ASEAN, particularly among the lower-income earners, as investors have ignored its proactive approach to tighten cred it approvals since 4QFY3/13. Mindful that retail spending may be softening and the temporary closure of GEM store; we lower our FY3/14F-16F earnings estimates by 8-15% and cut our TP to SGD1.15, pegged at a lower multiple of 14x (previously 16x).