To The Moon

Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Wednesday. STI rose 0.7%; SIA rose 0.6%; DBS rose 0.6%; UOB and OCBC rose 0.8%; Parkway Life Reit fell 3.5%; Seatrium rose 1%; SingPost rose 1.8%.

Stocks to Watch

Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) : The logistics real estate investment clocked a 10.6 per cent fall in distribution per share to S$0.02027 on higher borrowing and lower China revenue from the second quarter ended Sep 30. For Q2 FY25, its net property income fell by 2.1 per cent to S$158.6 million from S$162 million during the same period last year, and distributable income fell 9.1 per cent to S$102.3 million from S$112.5 million. Its borrowing costs rose 8.2 per cent to S$39.8 million from S$36.8 million last year. MLT units closed 0.7 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$1.41 on Tuesday before the announcement.

CapitaLand Ascott Trust (Clas) : The stapled group agreed to divest its property in Tianjin, China, in order to enhance returns to its stapled securityholders by recycling capital and reconstituting its portfolio, its managers said on Tuesday. The Somerset Olympic Tower Tianjin will be sold to an unrelated third party for an undisclosed price. The divestment is expected to minimally impact the stapled group’s gross profit said the chief executive officer of Clas’ managers Serena Teo. Clas stapled securities closed 1.1 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$0.94 on Tuesday, before the announcement.

Keppel Infrastructure Trust : The trust on Wednesday reported a 60.1 per cent fall in distributable income year on year to S$106.1 million for the first nine months of the fiscal year. This excludes adjustments for one-offs and timing differences. Its trustee-manager also announced that, together with Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, it will sell their entire 100 per cent ownership in Philippine Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corporation to companies connected to I Squared Capital for a total value of US$ 460 million, including US$181 million in debt. Shares of the trust closed unchanged at $0.47 on Tuesday.

Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust (Parkway Life Reit) : Its private placement to fund the acquisition of 11 nursing homes in France has closed at the issue price of S$3.80 per new unit, or the lowest end of the estimated issue price range. On Wednesday, its manager said the private placement was oversubscribed. Units of Parkway Life Reit closed flat at S$3.99 on Monday, before it called a trading halt the following morning. The counter resumes trading on Wednesday.

OUE : Its unit OUE Treasury will issue S$50 million in fixed-rate green notes at a fixed rate of 4 per cent per annum and an issue price of 99.998 per cent of their principal amount. The notes will be issued on Oct 29 and are due to mature on Oct 8, 2029, the property player said on Tuesday. Net proceeds from the issuance will finance or refinance eligible green projects. OUE shares closed flat at S$1.05 on Tuesday, before the announcement.

United Overseas Insurance (UOI) : UOI’s profit before tax for the nine months ended Sep 30 fell 2 per cent year-on-year to S$22.1 million from S$22.5 million, said the general insurance arm of UOB on Tuesday. Lower profit came as net insurance service and financial results for the nine month period fell 9 per cent to S$11.8 million from S$13 million the year before, amid higher insurance service expenses from higher acquisition costs and incurred claims, but was offset by investment returns amid positive market sentiment. UOI shares rose 1.7 per cent or S$0.12 to S$7.16 on Tuesday before the announcement.

Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit (Kore) : It posted a distributable income of US$11.9 million for the third quarter ended Sep 30, down 8.8 per cent from US$13.1 million in the previous corresponding period. Its manager on Wednesday said this was mainly due to lower net property income and higher financing cost. Units of Kore ended 1.9 per cent or US$0.005 lower at US$0.265 on Tuesday.

SG Local News

Lee Hsien Yang’s claims of political persecution are without basis: Govt

Statements that Lee Hsien Yang and his family are victims of “unfounded” persecution are without basis, said the Singapore Government in response to queries from British newspaper The Guardian.

In a story published on Oct 22, The Guardian reported that Lee Hsien Yang had been granted asylum in the UK in August 2024, after fleeing what he described as “a campaign of persecution”. He had applied for asylum in 2022.

In The Guardian report, Lee Hsien Yang said that Singapore’s Government had turned on him after he endorsed the opposition, and that despite its economic prosperity, “there’s a dark side to it, that the Government is repressive”.

DBS expected to have the most favourable y-o-y profit momentum among Singapore banks: Macquarie 3Q2024 report

DBS is expected to have the most favourable y-o-y profit momentum, a report by Macquarie on Singapore banks in 3Q2024 states.

In a report released on Oct 18, Macquarie analyst Jayden Vantarakis is of the opinion that DBS is the only bank poised to declare a dividend this quarter and is likely to be accruing capital after another quarter of benign growth and strong profitability.