SG Wealth Builder

Is this the beginning of the end for DBS Group share? One of the biggest Singapore financial news that set tongues wagging should be the joint application of a digital bank license by Singtel and Grab. Many investors are wondering if digital banks could pose a serious threat to the incumbent banks in the long run.

In my point of view, the move by Grab should be a desperate bid to enhance bottom-line to pave the way for the coming Grab IPO in 2023. I honestly doubt that Grab or Singtel would want to compete directly with DBS Group because all three entities are backed by Temasek Holdings. It will not be the interest of the investment firm to see DBS Group share collapsing like StarHub.

Of course it is still early days for the digital banks but it will be too far-fetched to claim this could signal a slippery slope for DBS Group share price.

The key reason why Grab IPO is on the cards is due to the acquisition of Uber assets in Southeast Asia in 2018. According to Uber IPO prospectus, Grab paid Uber 409 million stocks issued at USD5.54 in exchange for the assets. One of the conditions, including the absence of Grab IPO, is that Uber is entitled to redeem the stocks in cash by 25 March 2023.

Lo and behold! Is this really the light at end of tunnel for SingPost share price? Investors got massively hyped up over announcement of bankruptcy protections for its ill-fated United States subsidiaries, Jagged Peak and TradeGlobal. Under the scheme, SingPost will no longer recognise profit or loss from the toxic subsidiaries. In view of this, is SingPost share price out of the woods?

The latest development marked the end of a dark chapter that started way back in December 2015. Jagged Peak and TradeGlobal were the two major assets acquired under former CEO Wolfgang’s tenure. Within months after the acquisitions, Wolfgang resigned. I do not know what transpired behind the scene. But since the acquisitions, the eCommerce segment had been consistently loss-making and the management struggled to turn the business unit. SingPost share price also plunged from a high of $2.00 to the current $0.93.

Of course, it is not fair to solely attribute the ailing SingPost share price to the two United States subsidiaries. There was also a special audit ordered by regulators in 2015 to look into a possible lack of interest disclosure by one of its former directors, Keith Tay. That saga concerned the acquisition of FS Mackenzie in 2014.

As 2019 draws to a close, it is timely to review the performance of the largest bank in Singapore – DBS Group. In a year which many analysts predicted to be a challenging year for DBS Group, the Singapore bank stunned many critics by posting a series of solid financial results. For nine months, net profit rose 13% to $4.88 billion. Total income grew 12% to $11.1 billion. Against this backdrop, DBS CEO can laugh all the way to the bank.

Piyush Gupta joined the bank in November 2009. In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed. Under the helm of the current DBS CEO, the Singapore bank has enjoyed a decade of tremendous growth.

Of course, there were challenges along the way, such as the European debt crisis (2011-2012), the oil slump (2014-2016) and the unfolding trade war between USA and China. Somehow, the DBS CEO managed to steer the bank to safe harbor and grew the bank to an even bigger scale than what it was ten years ago. Very impressive indeed.

According to SGX filing, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta held 1.84 million of DBS shares as at 25 February 2019. Most of the shares were awarded to him as part of his remuneration for being DBS CEO.

On 29 October 2018, I wrote that OUE share price plunged to a record 14-year low of $1.37. Since that fateful day, the counter confounded all critics by staging a magnificent run to reach a high of $1.80 on 12 April 2019. It certainly seemed like OUE share price is out to prove me wrong. Well, I have no problem with that as long as shareholders made money out of the rebound!

After that minor bull run, OUE share price tamed off quite a fair bit to reach the current level of $1.50. At current OUE share price, the Price/Book Value amounts to a mere 0.33. Is OUE share price undervalued or is it a value trap?

For sure, OUE is not in the league of CapitaLand, City Development or UOL. But this stock is no pushover either. With a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, OUE share is considered a large cap among SGX property counters. Furthermore, OUE boasts many premium grade assets under its stable, among them are OUE Bayfront, One Raffles Place, Lippo Plaza, Mandarin Orchard Singapore, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, Marina Mandarin Singapore and Mandarin Gallery.

Given the pedigree of OUE, the Group is in strong position to weather the cyclical nature of the hospitality and real estate industry.

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.