BUZZ-Bernstein starts Asmodee at 'market perform' on good products, capex-light profile

** Bernstein initiates newly spun-off tabletop game publisher Asmodee ASMDEEb.ST at "market perform", pointing to its good product proposition and capex-light financial profile

** However, it stays neutral on valuation grounds; it sets a PT of SEK 100 vs Friday's closing price of SEK 105

** It says Asmodee's core products in the EUR 13 billion ($13.4 billion) tabletop games market could benefit from push back against screen time or growth in tabletop communities

** It highlights the company's #2 global market share, only behind Hasbro HAS.O, including strong positions in Europe and its own distribution network spanning more than 100 countries

** Bernstein says Asmodee is well positioned to achieve 5% average organic sales growth over the next five years

** However, it says the trading card game market is volatile and notes Asmodee has around 20% sales exposure to Pokemon and around 15% to Magic trading cards

** "A loss of one of these relationships could be significantly detrimental (although they are established relationships)," it adds about the third-party brands

($1 = 0.9678 euros)