Can anything stop Mapletree Logistics Trust? Since my last coverage on this counter in September 2019, the unit price had been on an incredible bullish form. The surging unit price of Mapletree Logistics Trust had created plenty of wealth for unitholders. Christmas certainly comes early for these investors!

To be frank, I had underestimated the potential of this S-REIT. Amid the rally in the S-REIT sector, 2019 turns out to be a fantastic year for Mapletree Logistics Trust as its unit price rocketed from $1.30 in January to the current $1.68. The increase of almost 30% within a year is certainly very impressive for an S-REIT!

It appears to me that the management is riding on the current industry upturn and seizing opportunities in the Asia Pacific region. In November 2019, Mapletree Logistics Trust had raised $250 million through private placement of 154.6 million unit to fund the acquisition of 50% interest in four properties in China, 100% interest in two properties in Vietnam and 100% interest in one property in Malaysia.

Despite the equity financing, the unit price of Mapletree Logistics Trust remained resilient. Question now is: will this S-REIT takes its swashbuckling run right into 2020? On the basis of its current form, the sky is the limit for this S-REIT!

2019 come and go. In the blink of an eye, it has been 10 years since the Great Financial Crisis took place. As I look back, I can’t help but feel intrigued at the transformation of my wealth building journey. This blog was borne in an era of great financial upheaval and also at a time when I was struggling financially. Specifically, 2009-10 was the period in which I lost a substantial portion of my wedding expenses to the stock market.

The loss was attributed to a poor strategy executed for one of the penny stocks – China Enersave. I have always maintained that there is no good or bad stocks. In investing, there are only good or bad strategies. When the share price of a stock dived, you can always choose to cut loss or short-sell. In my case, I did neither. The loss of my wedding expenses culminated in one of the biggest challenges that I had to face in the course of my financial journey.

Losing money to the stock market is not the end of the world. But being on the receiving end, it did feel like the end of the world. This is especially so as I had lost my wedding expenses.

On 13 December, OCBC share price turned bullish upon the announcement of Bangkok Bank winning the bid for Bank Permata acquisition. Previously, it was reported that OCBC had mulled over the acquisition of the Indonesian bank. On the basis of the mild recovery of OCBC share price, it seems that shareholders are glad that OCBC pulled out of the deal.

Incidentally, the latest development came at a time when I opened my Supplementary Retirement Sum (SRS) and looking at investing in a blue chip to generate reasonable returns. After much consideration, I opted to invest in OCBC share. In this article, I will share my view on why I chose to enter at current OCBC share price.

Strictly speaking, my last stock investment was in 2010 when I bought K1 Venture, an investment holding company of Keppel Group. Back then, the intent was not really to grow wealth but to divert a portion of my CPF monies from the Ordinary Account before HDB wiped out the monies for the settlement of my HDB flat purchase. I wanted this investment to be a buffer in case I got retrenched from my job and still need to service my housing loan. In the blink of an eye, I have upgraded to Executive Condominium and now planning for my retirement.

How Gallant Venture had fallen. This listed company used to have a track record of making good profits and even counted Sembcorp Industries as one of its major shareholders. But in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis of 2009, Gallant Venture share price free fall from the sky to become a perennial penny stock. This counter would have been placed under SGX Watch List for failing to meet the Minimum Trading Price (MTP), if not for its $619 million market capitalization.

In the latest turn of events, investors of Gallant Venture should brace themselves for a roller coaster ride following the exit of Sembcorp Industries’ exit. On 11 June 2019, it was announced that Sembcorp Industries disposed its entire shareholdings in Gallant Venture and ceased to be a substantial shareholder.

Perhaps Sembcorp Industries had lost patience with Gallant Venture. For the past five years, revenue had declined from $2.33 billion in 2014 to $1.8 billion in 2018. Profits had become erratic and inconsistent as well. In 2014, full-year profit was $7.5 million while 2016 saw profit of $72 million. But in 2015, the Group suffered losses of $145 million. Subsequently, since 2017, Gallant Venture had been in the red.

With the exit of a strategic shareholder, the prospect for Gallant Venture appears to be grim.

Since my last coverage on 1^st October 2019, CapitaLand share price had turned on the style, surging from $3.40 to $3.70. The driving factors for the bullish form of CapitaLand share price stem from the recent asset recycling activities and sale of new launches.

As of 20 November 2019, CapitaLand had divested close to $5.7 billion worth of assets, exceeding their annual target divestment of $3 billion. The most notable recent divestment was the divestment of The Star Vista for $296 million to Rock Productions. According to the management, the deal is expected to yield net proceeds of about $145 million and a net gain of about $32 million. The slew of divestments had led to the buoyant CapitaLand share price in 2019.

Another catalyst for CapitaLand share price was the strong sale performance for its residential units in Singapore and China. One Pearl Bank has sold 235 of the 280 launched units while Sengkang Grand Residences sold 216 of the 280 available units. In China, the Group sold 3,694 units in the first nine months of 2019 with a value of RMB8.5 billion, and expects to launch an estimated further 1,700 units in 4QFY2019.

Against the backdrop of positive news, will CapitaLand share price continue to run going forward?

On 5 December, it was announced that Golden Agri share will be booted out of the prestigious Straits Times Index (STI). Taking over its place will be Mapletree Logistics Trust. With this latest development, I fear the worst for Golden Agri share price. In my previous article, I have mentioned that I am pretty bearish on Golden Agri share price in the medium term. This latest episode vindicated my point and also marked a sorry end to Golden Agri’s journey in the STI.

StarHub and SIAEC were booted out of STI in 2018 and 2017 respectively. Since then, the share prices of the two companies had plunged to abysmal levels. On this basis, I don’t see how Golden Agri share price can fight its destiny. Included in the STI since September 2008, Golden Agri share price had been in the limelight for the past decade and this counter enjoys much liquidity. The average three-month trading volume is actually 1.1 billion!

Since 2014, Golden Agri share price had plunged from $0.44 to the current $0.22, representing a massive decline of 50%. The huge fall of Golden Agri share price had caused much wealth destruction for shareholders. Thus, understandably, many shareholders must be unhappy over Golden Agri share price performance.

It seems that ThaiBev share price is going places. After announcing a stellar full-year financial results, ThaiBev share price is set for a bullish run after the management acknowledged in a SGX filing that they are currently “evaluating strategic proposals and opportunities, including but not limited to a potential listing of its beer business”.

The discussion is still at preliminary stage and there is no certainty that the potential listing may take place. However, this positive development had already sent ThaiBev share price hitting the sky. The recent performance of ThaiBev share price was in stark contrast in 2018, which was when the Thai government implemented the new Excise Tax Act. Effective from 26 January 2018, Thailand government mandated that all alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, both imported and domestically produced, to be charged an additional 2% of excise tax.

In face of the tax increase, the management had turned to merger and acquisition activities to bolster revenue. And the strategy worked like magic. Three major acquisitions helped to fuel revenue performance and turbocharged ThaiBev share price. Among the acquisitions was the successful bid for a 53.59% stake in Saigon Beer – Alcohol – Beverage Corporation (“Sabeco”). ThaiBev also expanded into the spirits business in Myanmar through the acquisition of a 75% stake in Grand Royal Group, the biggest player in Myanmar’s whisky market.

Crisis? What crisis? On 11 November 2019, DBS Group confounded investors by delivering a surprisingly better-than-expected 3^rd quarter financial results. Many investors had feared the worst for DBS Group share price due to the unfolding Hong Kong civil unrests, Singapore property cooling measures and the cuts in US Federal Reserves’ interest rates. Notwithstanding these challenges, the management navigated the storm relatively well and continued to post great results.

Question now is: will DBS Group share price recapture the height seen in 2018? Make no mistake, the slew of headwinds in 2019 had taken some shine off DBS Group share price as the market deals with the onslaught of uncertainties.

While DBS Group cannot control macro-economic conditions, the bank continued to power ahead with its business front. Compared to a year ago, total income for 3^rd quarter surged 13% to $3.82 billion while net profit stormed 15% to $1.63 billion. Interestingly, against the backdrop of declining US interest rates, DBS Group actually increased its Net Interest Margin (NIM) to 1.9% from 1.86% a year ago. Return on equity (ROE) also reached a high of 13.4%. Given such stellar results, where will DBS Group share price go from here?

Note that this is an opinion article and not meant to be a financial advice.

With an acronym like MUST, it seems like investing in Manulife US REIT will not go wrong. Indeed, the unit price had been surging from USD0.80 since the start of the year to the current USD0.94. Listed in May 2016, this REIT has a strong sponsor in Manulife Insurance Company, a leading Canada-based financial services group. Despite having a strong pedigree, it has not always been a bed of rose for this REIT.

Like many of its peers, Manulife US REIT unit price had been lacklustre in the initial year of listing. Looking back, the counter had been trading below its offering price of US0.83 per for most of 2016 and 2017. Then the unit price took on a life of its own when Temasek Holdings, through DBS Bank, increased its stake from 3.78% to 5.49% in July 2017. Subsequently, Manulife US REIT unit price enjoyed a splendid run, surging from US0.80 in July 2017 to hit a high of almost USD1.00 in February 2018. The bull run in unit price created plenty of wealth for unitholders.

However, in 2018, Manulife US REIT suffered a torrid run. This is because in that year, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by four times.

What a calamity. Singtel share price looks set for a roller-coaster ride following a shocking 2^nd quarter loss amounting to $674 million. Yes, that’s right. It is net loss of $674 million, vis-à-vis $661 million of net profit recorded in 2QFY2019. The mind-blowing loss was attributed to Airtel’s exceptional item.

The latest result came on the back of an eighth consecutive quarter of declining profits/losses. Question now is: where would Singtel share price go from here?

I have been a big fan of Singtel for years but I could not recall the last time in which Singtel recorded such massive losses. To be honest I am totally speechless by the latest results. Given the latest development, there is a high possibility of Singtel share price reaching my entry price of $2.60 in the coming days.

According to Singtel’s media release, the telco’s subsidiary, Airtel was hit by an adverse Indian court ruling in relation to definition of “adjusted gross revenue” (AGR) for the Indian telco industry. Singtel share of the provision amounted to a whopping pre-tax $1.93 billion. The explosive loss would surely cause confidence in Singtel share price to be shaken.

Apart from the Airtel’s exception item, operating revenue also fell to $4.15 billion in 2QFY2020 from $4.2 billion in 2QFY2019.

It’s official. 3QFY2019 results for OCBC showed that the Hong Kong protests did not rupture its businesses nor impact its growth. On the contrary, OCBC Hong Kong actually reported an 11% increase in net profit on year-on-year basis. In this regard, many investors must be able to sleep better at night. But is OCBC share price really out of the woods?

Despite taming the menacing fallout from the Hong Kong protests, there are signs that OCBC share price have peaked. In today’s context, it is unlikely that OCBC share price will hit the giddy high of $13.80 in 2018. The latest financial results revealed some hits and misses for the venerable bank. In this article, lets delve into the quality of OCBC 3^rd quarter earnings and the potential outlook for OCBC share price.

Note that this is an opinion article and not meant to be a financial advice. Please do your due diligence or engage financial advisors before investing in the stock market. Furthermore, I am not vested and have never invested in this counter before. Whether OCBC share price will surge or collapse has no impact on me. Thus, this article is not meant to induce readers to make any form of investment decisions.

Will unit price of Eagle Hospitality Trust blow up in pieces? Investors of Eagle Hospitality Trust look set for plenty of sleepless nights following more stunning revelations, which came straight after The Queen Mary fiasco. This time round, the management’s response to SGX queries on 1 November raised more concerns than assurance to investors. Why is that so?

Eagle Hospitality Trust initial asset portfolio consists of 18 properties, out of which 12 properties were owned by the Sponsor under its USHI Portfolio. The other 6 properties were from the ASAP6 Portfolio in which the properties were purchased from “third party ASAP6 Portfolio vendors”. The latest issue centred around the ASAP6 portfolio, and the information could provide a plausible rationale for the massive sell-offs by the big boys in recent months.

Note that this is an opinion article and not meant to be a financial advice. Please do your due diligence or engage financial advisors before investing in the stock market. Furthermore, I am not vested and have never invested in this counter before. Whether Eagle Hospitality Trust unit price will surge or collapse has no impact on me. Thus, this article is not meant to induce readers to make any form of investment decisions.

What a bad start for a REIT that barely got listed for six months! Debut in SGX only in May 2019, US pure-play REIT is facing some sort of crisis lately. At the centre of the storm is an astonishing article by The Edge Singapore revealing toxic inspection reports and a letter from the City of Long Beach to Urban Commons, sponsor of Eagle Hospitality Trust. In that letter, it was alleged that Urban Commons failed to meet obligations under The Queen Mary ground lease to make certain repairs required under the lease agreement.

The Queen Mary is one of the 18 properties held by Eagle Hospitality Trust, with valuation of USD159.4 million. Only Holiday Inn Resort Orlando Suites Waterpark, with valuation of USD162.8 million, carries a higher valuation. In this regard, The Queen Mary is one of the key assets of Eagle Hospitality Trust and the loss of this asset would likely have significant impact to Eagle Hospitality Trust.

Eagle Hospitality Trust in dark chapter

The 23 October article by The Edge Singapore spooked the hell out of investors and sent the unit price spiralling out of control. The counter fell from USD0.65 to USD0.55, prompting the manager to swiftly seek clarification with the sponsor.

Since my last article on this counter, Sembcorp Marine share price rose from the grave to reach a high of $1.40 in recent days. The spectacular form of Sembcorp Marine share price was surely a welcome sight for investors. This is because this counter had been on a trashy form since its subsidiary in Brazil, Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz Ltda (“EJA”), had been stormed by the Brazilian authorities in early July 2019. The raid was in relation to a corruption probe, nicknamed “Operation Car Wash”.

Needless to say, the market went into overdrive after the announcement of the stunning partial offer by Temasek Holdings for Keppel shares. There were plenty of speculations that a merger between Keppel and Sembcorp Marine is finally on the cards. As a result, Sembcorp Marine share price is on fire.

But is it really the beginning of a much-anticipated recovery for Sembcorp Marine share price? Or yet another false dawn for investors? After all, the pre-conditions to the partial offer seem quite onerous to the extent that it seems like Temasek Holdings is buying an insurance for the deal.

One of the pre-conditions set by Temasek Holdings is that there must be no material adverse change to Keppel’s financial performance following the announcement for the next 12 months.

What an explosive revelation. Keppel share price stormed to high heaven on the back of a shocking partial offer by parent company, Temasek Holdings. Will Temasek Holdings do a CapitaLand, which was formed through a merger between Pidemco and DBS Land in 2000? Incidentally, the stunning move came right after Keppel achieved a massive breakthrough with Sete Brasil, which was forced to declare bankrupt over a corruption scandal in Brazil. The corruption scandal had caused Keppel to be fined a whopping $570 million by authorities, rupturing Keppel share price in the process.

Indeed, Keppel investors had every reason to be angry with the corruption scandal. On looking back, Keppel share price was actually recovering since the outbreak of the oil slump in 2014. From a low of $5.00 in 2016, Keppel share price actually soared to a high of $8.70 in early 2018. The massive fine meted out had thrashed Keppel share price left, right, centre. Since then, this counter never really see daylight. If Sembcorp Marine is found guilty as well, then Temasek Holdings could be faced with a total fine of nearly $1 billion of fine (inclusive of Keppel’s fine).

The partial offer of $7.35 by Temasek for each Keppel share is akin to offering a cup of hot milo to investors stranded in a protracted winter because it represents a premium of 25.86% to the last traded Keppel share price as of 18 October 2019.

It is a battle that SPH can ill-afford to lose. SPH share price looks set for another horrifying meltdown following the release of a set of disappointing full-year results for FY2019. The latest results marked the fifth consecutive quarterly of decline. With such financial performance, investors should brace for yet another devastating run of SPH share price.

The declining business performance and ailing SPH share price come on the back of a change in readers’ lifestyle trend and reading habits. People are less likely to buy printed newspaper and prefer digital media for consumption of news. To make matter worse, Singapore is a small market for the Media segment to grow and I don’t foresee SPH embarking on overseas acquisitions to scale up its Media segment division.

In a bid to reposition itself in the era of digital age, the Group is undergoing a massive digital transformation and is retrenching 5% of its staff from the Media segment. The retrenchment will be the second exercise under the helm of CEO Ng Yat Chung. The last retrenchment exercise was also in October when the Group announced the FY2017 full-year results.

Interestingly, in FY2017, the net profit was $395 million, an increase of 29% as compared to FY2016.

Will the management drop the bombshell? Singtel share price became the talk of the town in recent days when DBS analysts claimed that Singtel may cut dividend payouts to $0.13 to $0.15 for FY2021 and had set target price of $3.12 for Singtel share price. On the other hand, there were market speculations that Singtel could possibly monetize its data centres through REIT, thereby unlocking value and freeing up cash flow for capital expenditure and dividends.

DBS’ argument is that results of Singtel’s regional associates will cause harm to Singtel’s bottom-line and roiled Singel share price in the process. To this end, I do not dismiss such a possibility. If investors looked back, share of pre-tax profits from regional associated reached an alarming 6-year low of $1.5 billion in FY2019, resulting in net profits to collapse to $3.1 billion. If the regional associates continued to underperform, things would surely spiral out of control.

Then again, do you think Singtel management will leave it to fate? To be frank, I have never been a big fan of banks’ stock analyses, especially those generated by DBS. I always take their stock analyses with a pinch of salt because their target prices were often so off-tangent and out of touch with reality.

As an engineer working in the aviation industry for 15 years, I have seen the rise and fall of the sector. Inevitably, when we talk about the aviation industry, investors would likely to draw comparison between the two Singapore titans – SIAEC and ST Engineering. Between the two, SIAEC share price had lost considerably shine in recent years, making it one of the biggest falling stars in SGX mainboard. Will SIAEC share price ever see light at end of tunnel?

Both entities had dominated the local aviation industry for decades and are majority-owned by Temasek Holdings. Nonetheless, the similarities ended here as both companies took on entirely different destinies due to a series of unfortunate events and different business strategies. From the lens of investors, it seems that someone up there has decided to write intrigue scripts for SIAEC share price and ST Engineering share price.

Whilst SIAEC and ST Engineering had ruled the local aviation industry for decades, both are fundamentally very different companies with niche business models. The former is mainly engaged in the regional airlines maintenance and technical services businesses while the latter is engaged in the maintenance and  modification businesses, with special focus in the United States MRO market and passenger-to-freighter conversion capabilities.

With a history of 130 years, Hongkong Land is certainly one of the most venerable listed companies in Singapore. Possibly, only Boustead, OCBC’s Great Eastern and UOB’s Haw Par Corp can match Hongkong Land in terms of pedigree and history. If you are talking about prestige, Hongkong Land is even more impressive as its parent company is none other than the famous Jardine Matheson Holdings. Together with Dairy Farm, Jardine C&C, Jardine Matheson Holdings and Jardine Strategic Holdings, Hongkong Land forms the “Hong Kong Five Tigers” that ruled Straits Times Index (STI) for many years.

The Hong Kong Five Tigers are all part of the Jardine Matheson Group and this network of companies established an impenetrable fortress in the SGX mainboard. Nonetheless, what can float a boat can also sink it. In this regard, will the unfolding Hong Kong protests be a Trojan Horse for Hongkong Land share price?

Hongkong Land share price in trouble

Troubles certainly come in troops for Hongkong Land share price. Indeed, since the start of the Hong Kong protests, Hongkong Land share price got bombed out, falling from USD6.60 to the current USD5.50.  However, investors who are planning to buy on the cheap and sell on the upside should be mindful of the business dynamics affecting Hongkong Land share price.

Amid the current rally in the S-REIT sector, Keppel REIT is one of the rare counters that is majority-owned by Temasek Holdings (49%) and at the same time, an S-REIT that remained elusively laggard thus far. The current Price/Book value stood at 0.875, indicating that Keppel REIT unit price is trading at an undervalued level.

With a strong sponsor in Keppel Land and a solid backer in Temasek Holdings, Keppel REIT can be considered a blue chip among the S-REIT community. Total market capitalization is about $4.2 billion. So the poor form of Keppel REIT unit price, against the backdrop of a powerful rally in the S-REIT sector, must have left investors singing the blue. Then again, unitholders must count their blessings. After all, Keppel REIT’s net income consistently fell for the past five years. It is a miracle that the unit price had not suffered a meltdown.

In my opinion, there are a few factors that attributed to the current form of Keppel REIT unit price. However, the investment merits will be highlighted as well so as to provide a balanced view of this counter. Fundamentally, Keppel REIT is not a company in crisis but there is a need to be mindful of the dark side.

Will OCBC share price bomb out on 5 November 2019, which is the day it announces its third quarter financial results? In my view, investors should brace themselves for a wild ride as there are signs that point to OCBC share price breaching the critical support level of $10.00 in the coming weeks.

2019 had been such an intriguing year for OCBC share price. Despite posting good financial results for 1QFY2019 and 2QFY2019, OCBC share price tumbled after the announcement of the financial results. For example, on 10 May 2019, the bank achieved net profit of $1.23 billion for the first quarter of 2019, representing an increase of 11% to 1QFY2018. Yet in that month, OCBC share price plunged from $12.10 to a low of $11.00.

Then on 2 August 2019, OCBC share price corrected from $11.40 to $10.50 on 26 August 2019. The decline was puzzling because 2QFY2019 results showed that net profit had increased by 1% to $1.22 billion from $1.21 billion reported a year ago. Although the data indicated that growth for OCBC is slowing, the bank is still making healthy level of profits. In this regard, will 3QFY2019 be the final straw that break the camel’s back?

After delivering ten consecutive quarter of increasing profit, DBS Group share price should logically be in heaven right now. However, in life, things aren’t always so straightforward. Whilst the business fundamentals of the bank remained positive, the narrative for the global macro-economic conditions had turned dark. Against this backdrop, DBS Group share price hit the skid to reach the current $24.50 after smashing a record high of $30 in April 2018.

Question now is will Singapore’s DBS Group share price join Hong Kong protest? 11 November 2019 will be destiny day for DBS Group share price as the bank will announce its 3^rd quarter financial results for FY2019. Many investors are holding their breath for the release of the financial data. This is because Hong Kong market contributed the second highest profit to the Group (due to Dao Heng bank).

To illustrate how important Hong Kong market is to DBS Group share price, the net income from its Hong Kong subsidiary for 1HFY2019 was $755 million while Singapore contributed $2.24 billion. The rest of Greater China contributed only $145 million while the rest of the world provided $118 million. Assuming that the property disposal gain of $86 million in last year was excluded, the net profit actually grew 15%.

What an explosive bull run! From $1.00 in 2016, Keppel DC REIT share price went on a rampage to reach a high of $2.00 in 2019, representing a 100% increase in value within a span of just three years. Unitholders of Keppel DC REIT must be laughing all the way to the bank. Amid the current rally in S-REITs sector, is the current form of Keppel DC REIT share price sustainable?

Hailed as the first pure-play data centre REIT listed in Asia on SGX, Keppel DC REIT is certainly riding on Singapore’s aspiration to become the Smart Nation. During its IPO, the portfolio comprised of only eight data centres. In the blink of eye, the portfolio has grown to 15 data centres spanning across Asia and Europe. The number of data centres will rise further to 17 as Keppel DC REIT is recently acquiring two data centres in Singapore – KDC SGP 4 located in Tampines Industrial Park and 1-Net North DC in Woodlands. As 67% of the portfolio is in Asia while 33% is in Europe, the management has built a diversified portfolio indeed.

Being a data centre service provider, Keppel DC REIT is an interesting long-term REIT play because the business is relatively immune to economic cycles.

It has been a lost decade for CapitaLand share price as the real estate developer endured crisis after crisis ranging from the Great Financial Crisis to the European sovereign debt problem to the slew of property cooling measures unleashed by Singapore government. For sure, investors of CapitaLand had a roller coaster ride and suffered plenty of sleepless nights. But the sluggish CapitaLand share price looks set for a turbo-charged spin in the next six months. Read on to find out why CapitaLand could possibly stage a “return of the king” in the coming months.

Being one of the marquee assets of Temasek Holdings, CapitaLand is obviously one of the big boys in the real estate business. The company’s real estate and hospitality portfolio spans more than 120 cities in over 20 counties. In addition to this, CapitaLand also manages eight REITs and business trusts and twenty private funds. Given the diversified global portfolio (worth $129 billion), understanding this real estate giant is never easy but the biggest question among investors must be why CapitaLand share price had consistently been laggard for the past few years.

If investors looked back, CapitaLand share price peaked at $7 to $8 back in 2007 but collapsed to the abysmal level of $2 during the Great Financial Crisis in 2009.

What a gory correction. After delivering a set of disappointing quarterly results that saw Singtel clocking the seventh consecutive quarter of declining profits, Singtel share price tumbled from a high of $3.55 in July to a low of $3.12 on 27 September. The 12% correction would have caused long-term investors to panic. Question now is: where would Singtel share price go from here?

On 2 July 2019, I highlighted that Singtel share price would be entering a dark chapter but is still considered an excellent investment for the long run due to the telco’s massive regional presence. Thus, investors should stay calm despite Singapore share price volatility. To make money out of this counter, investors should set the appropriate entry price.

Based on the current form, it seems that Singtel share price is likely to continue its bearish streak. Perhaps this could be a sign of things to come. For sure, the coming 1H results would dictate the form of Singtel share price. Unless the management announced significant moves that would provide positive catalyst to Singtel share price, such as the monetization of its loss-making ventures (cybersecurity and digital life businesses), it would take some serious effort to reverse the bearish sentiments for this leading light of SGX.

There you go. The protracted Hong Kong protests claimed its first casualty among the prestigious Straits Times Index (STI) when it was announced on 5 September 2019 that Hutchison Port Holding Trust (HPH) will be booted out of the index. Replacing HPH Trust will be Mapletree Commerical Trust (MCT). The move should be a bid to contain the fallout from the Hong Kong protests. And it is not difficult to see why HPH Trust was chosen for the axe.

Currently, Hong Kong stocks make up 20% of the STI constituents. Other than HPH Trust (which was backed by the famous Li Ka Shing), the other five Hong Kong counters are all linked to the conglomerate Jardine Group – Hong Kong Land, Dairy Farm, Jardine C&C, JMH and JSH. Between HPH Trust and the Jardine Group, the obvious candidate to be dropped is HPH Trust, which has been a perennial falling star among the STI constituents. The question now is: why was Mapletree Commercial Trust chosen for the slot?

With a market capitalization of $6.11 billion, MCT is the largest REIT sponsored by Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd. Temasek Holdings has a majority stake of 35% in this REIT while other big boys like Schroder Investment and NTUC Enterprise own stakes amounting to 10.2% and 2.35% respectively.

Analysing Cache Logistics Trust is not easy. And it is not because of its business scale. In fact, with only 27 properties, Cache Logistics Trust is the smallest player among Ascendas REIT and Mapletree Logistics Trust. The difficulty in understanding Cache Logistics Trust is because the past two years had been such a whirlwind for this S-REIT that one wonders how on earth this S-REIT managed to stay the course till now.

When debt-laden HNA Group acquired the previous Sponsor of Cache Logistics Trust (CWT Limited) in 2017, it was a sign of things to come. In 2018, CWT sold off all its stake in Cache Logistics Trust to the manager, ARA. Currently, ARA is the largest shareholder of this S-REIT, with stake amounting to 9.6%.

With a market capitalization of merely $783 million, Cache Logistics Trust is considered a very small S-REIT. Given the current low market valuations and challenging operating environment, consolidation is inevitable in the S-REIT sector. In my view, Cache Logistics Trust could be an interesting acquisition for Mapletree Logistics Trust. After all, the latter splashed out a whopping $730 million in 2018 to acquire five ramp-up warehouses, which is a niche occupied by Cache. Forking out another $780 million or so would not be a challenge for Mapletree Logistics Trust as it has a deep-pocket backer in Temasek Holdings.

Crisis? What crisis? Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) rubbished all talks of market downturn as its unit price went on a rampant to smash a record high in July 2019. What a magnificent run!

Christmas certainly come early for MLT as it went on a billion dollar shopping spree. Not that investors are complaining of course as the unit price rocketed to a stunning high of $1.65 on 5 July 2019. Subsequently, the unit price was brought down to earth to the current level of $1.60.

Those who had bought MLT during its IPO in 2005 would have no regrets. Its public offer of 357.4 million units at $0.68 per unit was 43.88 times over-subscribed, reflecting the strong demand for the REIT. Over the years, the management had delivered the goods as the unit price of Mapletree Logistics Trust climbed steadily to reach the current $1.58.

Till to date, MLT had distributed a total of $0.952 per unit to unit holders. With the massive capital appreciation, long-time investors must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Being 32.9% owned by Temasek Holdings, it is evident that MLT is destined to be one of the leading lights among the S-REITs. Currently, this S-REIT holds 137 properties with value at nearly $7.9 billion.

It is the return of the prodigy as BreadTalk’s founder, George Quek, is reclaiming his throne – “Singapore Foodcourt King”. Since my last article on BreadTalk share price, this counter took on a life of its own when the bread company made headline news for splashing out $80 million for the acquisition of Food Junction. Many analysts balked at the price tag and there were plenty of critics claiming that BreadTalk had overpaid for a project that earned net profit of merely $3183.

On the contrary, I rate the acquisition positively despite the short-term harm it may cause to BreadTalk share price. In my view, the naysayers could be missing the forest for the trees. Many readers are not going to agree with my analysis but I do think that context is important here and one should not jump the gun just by looking at financial figures. You need to analysis the situation at big picture level when it comes to stock investing.

The acquisition of Food Junction came at a time when CEO Henry Chu resigned due to personal and health reasons. Whether there is a power struggle behind the scene is subject to debate. But to be honest, Henry Chu’s pending departure (he will leave at end of the year) is unlikely to hit BreadTalk share price in the near future.