Iggy's Journal: DBS Down 5%, UOB Up 182%: Same Quarter, Opposite Headlines Fri 6 Nov 2026 | Midday The Numbers UOB's quarter is up 182%, while DBS's quarter is down 5%. UOB's prior-year quarter carried S$1.361 billion in credit provisions, against S$258 million this quarter. DBS's nine-month profit rose 2% to S$8.82 billion, which it calls a record. DBS's commercial-book income was a record S$5.69 billion, up 4%, while markets trading income fell 65% to S$152 million. My Personal Take Two banks reported the same quarter and the headlines point in opposite directions, and a percentage on its own does not tell me which window it is measuring. That leaves me with two questions. What is each headline measuring, and which lines in each quarter are the ones that repeat? I am not reading a verdic

Iggy’s Journal: DBS’s Trading Income Fell 65%. Inside That Line, the Part That Isn’t Interest Fell 96% Thu 5 Nov 2026 | Afternoon The Numbers DBS’s markets trading income fell 65%. Inside that line, the non-interest part fell from S$419 million to S$17 million, a drop of 96%, while the interest part rose from S$20 million to S$135 million. Markets trading income took S$287 million away from the profit bridge. Commercial book income rose 4% to S$5,693 million. Shares bought on or after 13 November do not carry the 81 cent dividend. My Personal Take The 65% is not the number in this release that I trust most. A total that size can hide two lines moving in opposite directions, and here the non-interest part fell 96% while the interest part rose. That leaves me with two questions. Which part o

Iggy’s Journal: US Democrats Won Both the Senate and the House. What Does Singapore Do With That Headline? Thu 5 Nov 2026 | Midday The Numbers One report on the US midterms says Democrats won both the Senate and the House. Its first line says the House was captured, and further down it says the House is on track. It gives no change to tariffs, spending, interest rates, the US dollar or the oil price. My Personal Take What I notice is that the report is less certain than its headline. It calls the House captured in one place and on track in another, and a vote only tells me who sits in the room, not what the room will decide. That leaves me with two questions. Does a headline like this reach Singapore through trade, through interest rates and the US dollar, or through oil? And what would a

Iggy’s Journal: UOB Earned S$1.25 Billion, Below Estimates. What the Bank’s Own Documents Say Moved the Line Wed 4 Nov 2026 | Midday The Numbers UOB earned S$1.25 billion, below estimates. That is a 15% fall from the prior quarter. Net interest margin fell to 1.68% from 1.74%, a drop of six basis points in one quarter. In Greater China, the non-performing loan ratio rose to 5.0% and allowance coverage fell to 40%. My Personal Take When a bank reports a lower profit, I notice that I ask why it earned less before I ask what it earned. A 15% fall in one quarter is a big enough step to ask about, and the margin dropped six basis points in the same quarter. That leaves me with two questions. What does UOB’s own documentation say moved the profit line, and which of the other lines shows whether

Iggy’s Journal: Own Fewer Than 100 Shares? What an Odd Lot Is, How It Trades and What It Can Cost Wed 4 Nov 2026 | Midday The Numbers A board lot is 100 shares, so an order for 50 is an odd lot. It can still be traded, through the Unit Share Market, which has its own bids and asks. In a made-up example, buying 50 shares costs S$200.00 at the main board ask and S$202.50 at the odd-lot ask, an extra S$2.50. Selling later at the odd-lot bid leaves S$197.50, so the round trip loses S$5.00 from the spread alone. My Personal Take Permission is not what I question here, because a 50-share order is allowed. The price is the part I want to understand, since the odd-lot bid and ask sit in a separate market from the main board. That leaves me with two questions. What does the separate market charge t

Iggy’s Journal: Three Hotel Trusts Reported. One Rise Came Mostly From One Hotel Tue 3 Nov 2026 | Midday The Numbers Far East Hospitality Trust’s revenue rose S$2.2 million, and about 88% of that rise came from one Nagoya hotel. CapitaLand Ascott Trust reported revenue per available unit (RevPAU) of S$164, down 1%, while its same-store operating performance rose 4%. CDL Hospitality Trusts reported gearing of 35.6%. My Personal Take If a hotel is full every weekend, why can I still not tell whether the trust’s income is growing? That question stays with me after reading all three reports, because one trust’s rise sits mostly on a single hotel and another shows a 1% fall and a 4% rise in the same set of results. That leaves me with two questions. Is a rise concentrated in one property someth

Iggy’s Journal: Mapletree Logistics Trust’s Profit Fell 41%. Its Payout Held. Three Figures to Read First Mon 2 Nov 2026 | Afternoon The Numbers Mapletree Logistics Trust’s profit fell 41%, yet payout per unit stayed at 1.816 cents. Distribution from operations fell from S$60.0 million to S$52.6 million, while unitholders’ contribution rose from S$32.4 million to S$40.7 million. Reported gearing is 37.5%, and 40.4% on the trust’s own timing adjusted basis. Interest cover was 2.9 times, and 2.2 times if rates were one percentage point higher. My Personal Take A 41% fall in profit sounds like a cut to the payout, and the payout did not move. I find that more interesting than a cut, because the operations line fell by about an eighth while the unitholders’ line rose by about a quarter. That l

Iggy’s Journal: Wilmar’s Net Profit Swung From a Loss to US$281m. Its Core Profit Fell 25.2%. Read Both Lines Mon 2 Nov 2026 | Midday The Numbers Wilmar’s third-quarter net profit swung from a loss to US$281.0 million. Its own core net profit fell 25.2% to US$267.3 million. Operating cash flow fell 63.7% in the quarter to US$768.9 million. My Personal Take Two profit lines moved in opposite directions, and I want to know why before I treat either one as the result. The cash flow figure is the one I read twice, because a fall of 63.7% is large for a quarter that ends with a positive net profit. That leaves me with two questions. Why does a net profit that turned from a loss to US$281.0 million sit beside a core profit that fell 25.2%, and what is behind the drop in operating cash flow? The

Iggy’s Journal: Did You Lose Money Using Your CPF for the HDB? Three Questions to Check Before You Sell Sun 1 Nov 2026 | Evening The Numbers When an HDB flat is sold, the CPF principal used for the flat, plus accrued interest, goes back into the seller’s own CPF account first. The accrued interest is not a fee paid to CPF Board. It is the amount the Ordinary Account savings would have earned while they were used for the flat. Below 55, the refund goes to the Ordinary Account, credited at 2.5% a year for 1 October to 31 December 2026. From 55, it first tops up the Retirement Account to the Full Retirement Sum, where the rate is 4% a year for the same period. Accrued interest continues until the refund is made. My Personal Take When I read “lost money” next to an HDB sale, I want to know whe

Iggy’s Journal: CICT Revenue Rose 15%. Should Your Payout Rise 15% Too? Sun 1 Nov 2026 | Morning The Numbers CICT reported revenue up 15%. The growth includes Paragon, Galileo and the step-up purchase of CapitaSpring, while Bukit Panjang Plaza and Asia Square Tower Two were sold. Retail net property income fell from S$108.5 million to S$99.6 million, a drop of S$8.9 million or about 8.2%, even as the total rose. Leverage moved to 39.7%. Interest cover eased from 3.9 times to 3.8 times. The results slides do not give distribution per unit or the number of units in issue. My Personal Take A 15% rise in revenue reads like good news until I ask what was bought and what was sold. Retail income went down while the total went up, and I want to understand that before I read anything into the 15%.

Iggy’s Journal: FCT’s Gearing Is 38.7% Today and 36.8% After the White Sands Repayment. What Is Still Missing? Sat 31 Oct 2026 | Afternoon The N umbers FCT paid a record 12.350 cents per unit. The distribution pool grew 8.2% while DPU grew 2.0%, so more units are now sharing the income. Reported gearing is 38.7%. The FCT manager’s estimate after the White Sands repayment is 36.8%, which is 1.9 percentage points lower. Interest cover is 4.37 times. My Personal Take The record payout is the headline, but I read the gearing line first. 38.7% is what has been reported. 36.8% is an estimate that has not been reported yet. The income pool also grew about four times as fast as the payout per unit, which leaves me with two questions. Why did the pool outgrow the payout per unit by that much, and d

Iggy’s Journal: iFAST Results: Profit Up Almost a Quarter. Read the Inflows, the Bank and the Cash Flow Too Saturday 31 Oct 2026 | Midday The Numbers iFAST’s assets under administration rose 20% to S$36.76 billion. Net inflows for the nine months rose 2.3%. The results announcement says both strong inflows and positive market performance lifted assets, but it does not split the two. $IFAST(AIY.SI)$ Nine-month operating cash flow was S$357 million, down from S$563 million a year earlier, a fall of S$206 million. The company points to a larger increase in product financing receivables. The third-quarter dividend is 3.2 cents a share, up from 2.3 cents a year earlier. My Personal Take Profit up almost a quarter is the number the headline will carry

Iggy’s Journal: HDB Resale Prices Dipped for a Third Quarter. Three Questions Before You Read Anything Into 0.1% Friday 30 Oct 2026 | Afternoon The Numbers HDB first reported a 0.2% fall in resale prices for the quarter, then revised it to 0.1% once more transactions were counted. It is the third quarterly dip in a row. The index is down 0.6% since 3Q 2025. On an illustrative S$600,000 flat, a 0.6% move is about S$3,600. The index covers the whole island, not the block, flat type, floor or remaining lease behind any particular sale. My Personal Take Three falls in a row sounds like a trend, yet the revision cut this latest one in half. So why did the final figure come in smaller than the first estimate? And what does an island-wide 0.1% say about the flat in my own block, if it says anythi

S$150 Million for AI Materials, 24 Companies Named: What Changes for a Company You Own? 🔍 The Angle The S$150 million does not go to the listed companies named in the announcement. It funds Marvel-AI, a materials research platform, while the 24 Champions of AI companies are named for a programme with no funding or revenue figures stated. A company joining a government programme is evidence of participation, not evidence of money received. 💰 What It Means For You If you own OCBC, UOB, Singtel, Seatrium, Sembcorp Industries, Keppel, CapitaLand Investment, Singapore Airlines or ST Engineering, do not treat the name on the list as a result. The one company figure mentioned is UOB’s previously announced S$900 million AI economic-value target by 2030, and the report does not tie it to this progr

Iggy’s Journal: Mi Material’s First Day: Up 1.1%. Who Can Sell Now, and What Does the Price Leave Out? Thursday 29 Oct 2026 | Midday The Numbers Mi Material gained 1.1% on its first day of trading on the SGX Mainboard. About 10.8 million shares changed hands, roughly 14% of the 77.5 million shares in the public offer, which a Business Times headline reported as 2.1 times subscribed. The stabilising manager reportedly bought 1.5 million shares at the offer price. The offer document says cornerstone investors’ 41.9 million shares carry no lock-up, while other holders face different restrictions. A management estimate, unaudited, puts September-quarter revenue at US$37.8 million. My Personal Take This podcast is the follow-up to my 20 October longform on the Mi Material IPO, where I looked at

Iggy’s Journal: Fund Fees Explained: Why a Small Yearly Percentage Can Take a Big Share of Your Returns Wednesday 28 Oct 2026 | Midday The Numbers A fund can charge an expense ratio of 1.5% a year whether it gains or loses. An illustration from the episode: a S$100,000 fund earns 6% a year before costs. A 1.5% expense ratio leaves 4.5% a year. A fund costing 0.3% leaves 5.7% a year. The comparison runs for 25 years. For CPF money, the CPF Board set the sales charge cap on new CPF Investment Scheme purchases at 0% from 1 October 2020. My Personal Take The expense ratio is the one number in a fund that is printed before anything happens, and it is charged in good years and bad. How far apart do 4.5% and 5.7% a year end up on S$100,000 after 25 years? And what did the 2020 change to CPF Inves

Iggy’s Journal: OUE REIT’s 5.8% DPU Uplift Depends on a One-Off Payout. The Recurring Number Is Lower Tuesday 27 Oct 2026 | Midday The Numbers OUE REIT’s circular on the sale of Crowne Plaza Changi Airport shows pro forma distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.36 cents with a S$10 million special payout, up 5.8% on the 2.23 cents paid for FY2025. Without the special payout, pro forma DPU is 2.18 cents, down 2.2%. The special payout stops after two years. The sale removes Crowne Plaza Changi Airport’s income, and interest savings offset only part of it. My Personal Take Both numbers are in OUE REIT’s own circular, one table apart: 5.8% up with the special payout, 2.2% down without it. The gap between 2.36 and 2.18 cents is 0.18 cents a unit. The special payout stops after two years. My Substack a

Iggy’s Journal: S-REIT Results From 27 to 30 October: Which Figures to Read First, and What a Headline Number Leaves Out Monday 26 Oct 2026 | Morning The Numbers S-REIT results are due from 27 to 30 October. An illustration from the episode, with made-up numbers: a landlord’s distributable income for the half-year rises 5% to S$525,000. After it issues 80,000 new units, the payout per unit is about 49 cents, down from 50 cents. By my back-calculation that implies about 1,000,000 units and S$500,000 of income before the issue. A second illustration: gearing moves from 35% to nearly 39%, with no new borrowing. My Personal Take The example works because every figure in it is true and the payout per unit still falls. Income up 5% is the number that gets reported, and the other column is the on

Iggy’s Journal: SGX Weekly Review: One Winner Trades in US Dollars, One Is Also US-Listed. What Changes for You? Sunday 25 Oct 2026 | Afternoon The Numbers From the weekly review: JMH rose a little over 5% in US dollars across the five trading days. AvePoint, another name in the review, is listed in both the United States and Singapore. An illustration from the episode, with made-up numbers: a share priced at US$10 rises to US$10.50, a gain of 5%. A S$13 starting value becomes S$13.02 after the exchange rate weakens, which implies a move from about S$1.30 to S$1.24 per US dollar (my back-calculation). My Personal Take A percentage without its currency is half a sentence. In the example, a 5% gain in US dollars moved a S$13 holding by 2 cents. The AvePoint half interests me more, because a

Iggy’s Journal: Indonesia Cut Its Gas Exports to Singapore. Is It About the Haze? What the Sources Actually Say Sunday 25 Oct 2026 | Morning The Numbers The regulator announced a cut of 31 BBTUD (billion British thermal units a day) in Indonesia’s pipeline gas exports to Singapore, effective 24 October. The announcement gave no reason, and none of the sources in the episode states that haze caused it. Measured against Indonesia’s 2024 pipeline exports to Singapore, 31 BBTUD is about 8%. Pipeline gas from Indonesia and Malaysia together is about 40% of Singapore’s gas supply, so on an indicative basis the cut is about 3% of total supply at most. My Personal Take The question most people will ask first is whether this is about the haze. The announcement gave no reason, so I am not going to s