** Citi says Australia-based vehicle leasing firm FleetPartners has growth potential with possible dividend resumption and continued share buybacks, despite facing short-term challenges

** Maintains "buy" rating for FPR and PT of A$3.90

** Brokerage sees FPR's assets under management to hit A$2.5 bln ($1.63 bln) and net operating income (NOI) to grow 22% by FY27

** Citi sees NOI margin improvements by FY26 for the firm despite uncertainty, after a shift towards its salary-packaged vehicle leasing segment

** Reduces FY25 NPAT forecast by about 1% due to NOI margin pressures, but anticipates improvement by FY26

** Adds, firm may resume dividends in FY27 as it anticipates accruing franking credits in FY26 with FY25 share buybacks outlook of $52 mln

** Stock up 1.7% YTD, as of the last close

($1 = 1.5378 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com))