Singapore Stocks to Watch: OCBC, Sembcorp, Olam, Best World, Grand Venture
THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Wednesday (May 10):
$OCBC(O39.SI)$: Singapore's second-biggest lender $Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI)$ reported on Wednesday a better-than-expected 39% jump in first-quarter profit from a year earlier on the back of strong net interest income growth.
OCBC, which is also Southeast Asia's second-biggest bank by assets, said January-March net profit rose to a record S$1.88 billion ($1.42 billion) from S$1.36 billion a year earlier.
That beat the mean estimate of S$1.74 billion from five analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Singapore's banks have been benefiting from strong inflows from wealthy customers amid global economic uncertainty because of the city-state's status as financial safe haven.
$Sembcorp(U96.SI)$: IN THE first quarter of 2023, more than 40 Singapore primary-listed companies bought back shares with a total consideration of S$126 million, less than the consideration tally of S$150 million in Q4 2022 and S$298 million in Q1 2022.
The two stocks that filed the highest buyback consideration in Q1 2023 were OCBC and Sembcorp Industries.
In Q1 2023, Sembcorp Industries bought back 6,415,500 shares at an average price of S$3.99, including stamp duties, clearing charges etc paid or payable for the shares.
$Olam(VC2.SI)$: Agri-food giant $Olam Group(VC2.SI)$ aims to launch in June the dual initial public offering (IPO) of its agricultural unit that could raise up to US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) in Singapore and Saudi Arabia, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The IPO, the first of such a dual listing in the world, is subject to regulatory approval, one of the sources added.
$Best World(CGN.SI)$: Best World International has announced earnings of $20.5 million for its 1QFY2023 ended March 31, a 26.53% y-o-y decrease compared to the $27.5 million in net profit posted in the corresponding period last year.
For the period, the company’s earnings per share also decreased to 4.71 cents per share, down from 5.21 cents per share in 1QFY2022.
Revenue was also down by 30.8% to $79.9 million in 1QFY2023 from $115.5 million in 1QFY2022, as Best World’s cost of sales also dropped by 34.2% to $18.2 million for the period due to the decline in revenue.
Gross profit also slipped some 30% to $61.7 million from $87.8 million in the first quarter last year as gross profit margins stayed relatively flat, increasing by 1.1 percentage points to 77.1%.
$Grand Venture(JLB.SI)$: MANUFACTURING-service provider Grand Venture Technology posted a 58.3 per cent fall in net profit after tax to S$1.5 million for the first quarter ended Mar 31, 2023, from S$3.6 million the year before.
Revenue for Q1 fell 17 per cent to S$26.9 million, from S$32.5 million a year earlier. The decline was mainly due to a contraction in activity in the company’s semiconductor segment, it said in a business update on Tuesday (May 9).
Even so, the decline was partially mitigated by higher revenues from the mainboard-listed company’s electronics, aerospace, medical and others segment, it added.
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