Singapore Stocks to Watch: SIA, ComfortDelGro, Venture Corp, AEM, Metech International

Tiger Newspress2022-11-07

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Monday (Nov 7):

Singapore Airlines (C6L): Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced record operating profits for both its second quarter and first half financial year ending Mar 31, 2023.

The outsized performance was driven by high demand for air travel during the peak summer season across all route regions, except East Asia. This resulted in a Q2 FY2023 operating profit of S$678 million, up 21.9 per cent from S$556 million in the previous quarter. It was the highest quarterly operating profit in SIA’s history. Second quarter net profit surged 50.5 per cent to S$557 million from S$370 million in the previous quarter.

Revenue for the quarter to Sep 30 rose in tandem to S$4.5 billion, up 14.3 per cent from S$3.9 billion in Q1 FY2023. In bourse filings after the market close on Friday (Nov 4), the airline also announced the resumption of dividend payments, with an interim dividend of S$0.10 per share to be paid in December.

ComfortDelGro (C52): Transport operator ComfortDelGro (CDG) has secured three metropolitan bus contracts in Sydney with a total value of A$1.7 billion (S$1.5 billion).

In a press statement on Monday (Nov 7), CDG said the contracts make up a significant part of the city’s public transport network, as it covers regions that are home to over 700 buses transporting 18 million passengers each year.

CDG currently operates in six states and territories in Australia with a total fleet of over 3,000 vehicles including buses, coaches and ambulances. This represents about 35 per cent of the group’s total fleet of buses and coaches - and is about 80 per cent of the size of its Singapore fleet.

Venture Corp (V03): Venture Corporation reported a 24.9 per cent jump in its net profit to S$271.1 million for the first nine months of 2022, on the back of broad-based and diversified growth, the group announced in a bourse filing on Friday (Nov 4).

“All technology domains contributed to the robust year-to-date performance, with lifestyle and wellness, life science and genomics and test and measurement instrumentation technology domains registering the strongest performance,” the filing noted.

Earnings per share were up 25.1 per cent at S$0.932, from S$0.745 in the previous corresponding period.

AEM (AWX): AEM Holdings reported a 41 per cent jump in Q3 2022 revenue to S$206 million, from S$146 million a year prior, in a bourse filing on Friday (Nov 4).

Net profit for the quarter grew in tandem, up 38.3 per cent to S$32.2 million, from S$23.3 million in the previous year. The topline and bottomline growth were driven by a ramp-up in volume from new and existing customers of AEM’s systems-level testing handlers and peripheral tools. Contributions from CEI, acquired in March 2021, also powered the semiconductor testing company’s growth.

The company is investing in a longer-dated purchase order backed programme of about S$280 million, resulting in an increase of inventories from S$204.9 million as of Dec 31, 2021 to S$322.5 million as of Sep 30, 2022. Cash and cash equivalents have also reduced to S$153.6 million as of Sep 30, 2022, from S$216.2 million as of Dec 31, 2021.

Revenue guidance for FY2022 is maintained between S$820 million and S$850 million on the back of strong demand from customers.

Metech International (V3M): METECH International said it has received a letter dated Friday (Nov 4) from substantial shareholder Ng Eng Tiong requesting the company to reply by Nov 11 whether it will convene an extraordinary general meeting under Section 176 of the Companies Act 1967 to remove Samantha Hua Lei as the company’s chief executive officer and an executive director.

The requisition letter states that Ng has a 10.1920 per cent stake in the Catalist-listed company, Metech said in a regulatory filing with the Singapore Exchange on Sunday night.

Ng is seeking the removal of the CEO from the date of the EGM. In the requisition letter, Ng also asked the company if it would issue the notice of EGM with, among other things, the date, time and venue of the intended EGM as required as required by the Companies Act and/or the company’s constitution, by no later than Nov 25, 2022.

Besides the removal of the CEO, Ng is also seeking a resolution that the appointment of any director to the company’s board from the date of the requisition to the date of the EGM be invalidated and such directors (if any) to be removed from office with effect from the date of the EGM.

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