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For most retail investors, real estate investment trusts (REITs) offers the best alternative to owning a real estate without the need of forking obscene amount of cash or the hassle of dealing with difficult tenants. But of course, like all investments, there are always pitfalls to watch out for when investing in REITs. In this article, I will share my insights on investing in REITs.

Over the years, the landscape for REITs had evolved significantly, with the change in the regulatory gearing limit, asset enhancement initiatives by the bigger REITs and the emergence of perpetual bonds (Mapletree Logistics Trust was the first REIT to use perpetual bonds in 2012). Against this backdrop, for sure there are REITs that outperformed the rest while there are those which may not worth your time and money.

Over in Sabana REIT, a group of irate investors called for the manager to be removed in 2017 over its poor performance and falling unit price. Although the revolt was unsuccessful, it has resulted in the change of the leadership. What are rules governing the removal of REITs manager and what are the rights that REIT investors can leverage to protect their investments?

Industry trends

Under Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), REITs are collective investment schemes that invest primarily in real estates and real-estate related assets.

It is a momentous year for Pan-United Corp as the group finally competed its de-merge of its port business which it started in 1997. Under Xinghua Port Holdings Ltd (“Xinghua”), the business was successfully listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on 12 February 2018.

The past year had been a revelation for Pan-United as the construction company restructured its businesses, implemented capital reduction, proposed distribution of 1-for-1 Xinghua shares to existing shareholders and completed a rights issue in 2017. In light of these major changes, what are the investment merits of Pan-United?

Business profile

Founded in 1958, Pan-United is essentially a home-grown enterprise that is family-controlled and family-managed. However, understanding Pan-United is not an easy feat because of its diversified business portfolio. It’s core competency is in the supply of concrete and cement business, with more than 40% and 34% market share in concrete and cement respectively. Pan-United is also one of the top two ready mixed concrete suppliers in Asia (ex-China), with an increasing footprint in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Besides the concrete and cement business, Pan-United operates a trading and port business in China, which it de-merged recently. Previously, it also had business activities in shipping line but it exited the business due to the downturn in the industry.

On 22 May 2018, Hyflux rocked the market by announcing that it is seeking High Court’s protection to reorganise their liabilities and businesses. Meanwhile, Hyflux also requested for a voluntary trading suspension of its shares and securities listed on SGX. But the biggest bombshell had to be the non-payment of the distribution on its $500 million 6.00% Perpetual Capital Securities, which will be due on 28 May 2018.

Previously, I have written an article on Hyflux perpetual securities and highlighted its risks. Readers can subscribe as members to access that article for reference. The perpetual securities were selling like hotcakes back in 2016 because investors were lured by the seductively high yield against the backdrop of low bank interest rates. The latest announcement would have left investors in a no-man land as they cannot sell their shares nor the perpetual securities for the next six months.

Given the non-payment of the coupon payment in 28 May 2018, holders of the bond would likely to face some form of impairments on their investments. It is also likely that when the counter reopens in six month time, there might be heavy short-selling or possibility of shareholders dumping their shares, causing the share price to crash.

Like many of its peers in the industrial REITs, the past few years had been an absolute nightmare for Cache Logistics Trust which saw the logistics trust facing declining occupancy rates, negative rental reversions and market oversupply issues.

Apart from the challenging operating environment, Cache Logistics Trust was also involved in an intriguing legal battle with Schenker Singapore in relation to an investment property at 51 Alps Avenue. And then there was the huge uncertainties arising from the acquisition of its sponsor, CWT Limited, by debt-laden Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.

But recent data revealed that the industrial REITs may have bottomed out. An amicable resolution had been reached in relation to the legal battle in 2017. The acquisition of CWT Limited had also been completed. So is Cache Logistics Trust currently a value trap or a hidden gem? In this article, the investment merits of Cache Logistics Trust are reviewed.

Company profile

Being a small-cap REIT, Cache Logistics Trust stood out among the S-REITs [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]

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Being Singapore’s first and largest listed business space and industrial real estate investment trust, Ascendas REIT has certainly come a long way. From eight properties valued at around $600 million in 2002, the Manager has grown the REIT to a market leader with total assets of about $10.4 billion, comprising 100 properties in Singapore and 31 properties in Australia. With such stellar track record, Ascendas REIT is definitely worth taking a look.

But the abrupt resignation of former CEO Chia Nam Toon in November 2017 had raised eyebrows among investors. After all, Mr Chia had joined Ascendas REIT for less than two years and resigned “for personal reasons”. Although the management had stressed that it would be “business as usual”, we all know the CEO plays an important role and to downplay the significance of the event would be ridiculous. Nevertheless, a new CEO – Mr William Tay Wee Leong – was appointed in February 2018.

But the reason why I would not invest in this REIT supremo is not because of the change in leadership, but because of my concern on its financial health. For FY2017/18, the cash and cash equivalent was a negative $23 million. The REIT needed a bank overdraft amounting to approximately $48.0 million as at 31 March 2018, thus allowing the cash and cash equivalents to be reflected as “$25 million” in the balance sheet.

At a time when Dairy Farm is selling its 7-Eleven stores in Singapore, arch rival Sheng Siong’s stunning financial performance attracted $100 million from Mondrian Investment Partners Limited which acquired 99,000,000 ordinary shares of Sheng Siong from the company founders. With a Price/Book Value of 5.3 and P/E of 21.7, is Sheng Siong share price inflated? Apparently, Mondrian doesn’t think so.

Mondrian Investment Partners, founded in 1990, is an independent global investment manager with offices in London and Philadelphia and a value-oriented, defensive investment approach. Given its investment mandate, Mondrian must have felt that Sheng Siong share price was undervalued, thus the explanation for the purchase.

Listed in the SGX mainboard only on 17 August 2011, Sheng Siong share price was trading at merely $0.33. Fast forward seven years later, the share price had shaken off its penny stock status to surge past the $1.00 milestone since 2016. The capital appreciation of Sheng Siong share price have created much wealth for long-time investors indeed.

2018 may prove to be another great year for Sheng Siong as the home-grown supermarket operator achieved increased revenue of 5.1% year-on-year to $228.3 million in 1Q2018, mainly contributed by new stores and comparable same store sales.

It is an explosive time-bomb waiting to be ignited. Being the largest telecommunication player in Singapore, SingTel enjoys an incredible massive investment moat with 685 million mobile customers spanning across 22 countries. This is an amazing feat which not many telco in the region can replicate.

But its overseas adventure came at a price as the Singaporean telco engages in various commercial disputes with foreign government authorities. Collectively, the commercial disputes involved liabilities amounting to a whopping $4 billion.

I have been a big fan of SingTel and had written a number of investment articles on this great company for several years. But the lurking commercial disputes had deterred me from investing in SingTel. Make no mistake, the amount involved is monstrously huge. So I had preferred to err on the side of caution although that would mean loss opportunities on the dividends and capital appreciation of SingTel share price.

Financial performance

Notwithstanding the above issue, SingTel share price continues to power ahead in the face of the multi-billion lawsuits and challenging operating environment. Operating revenue for the third quarter of FY2018 increased 4% to $4.60 billion while EBITDA rose 6% to S$1.29 billion. Net profit was down 9% to $890 million while [This is a premium article.

Managers of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) often have various reasons to raise funds from the capital market. The purposes could be for the purchase of assets, acquisition of another company or simply to pare down debts. To raise capital, the management may choose to issue rights offering, bonds, private placements or even borrow from the banks. In this article, I will share my perspective on rights offering from REITs.

Rights offering

Before proceeding further, it is important to understand the difference between a rights and options. The former is an offer to existing shareholders or unitholders of a REIT to purchase additional shares or units at discounted prices and the shareholders or unitholders may not take up the offer.

On the other hand, you do not need to be an existing shareholder or unitholder in order to buy options, which give you the right but not the obligation to purchase the underlying shares or units at a pre-set price. Nevertheless, if you choose not to exercise the option, you would have forfeited the fee relating to the option cost.

Basically, a rights issue is a form of equity financing for listed companies or REITs. It gives existing shareholders or unitholders the rights to purchase additional shares or units in proportion to their existing holdings, within a given timeframe.

It is the clash of the banking titans as Singapore no.1 and 2 banks slugged it out to achieve stellar first quarter 2018 results. On the basis of the latest financial results, DBS edged past OCBC to smash in a record $1.52 billion. Shareholders must be very pleased with DBS CEO Piyush Gupta’s performance because share price stormed to $30 upon the release of the results.

Notwithstanding the good performances, there are lurking risks from technology disruptions which had impacted SingPost, M1 and ComfortDelgro. To tackle this challenge, DBS CEO is leading the bank on an aggressive digital transformation. After all, Piyush Gupta once famously declared that “people need banking, not banks”. But then again, OCBC has not been resting on its laurels and had been making a series of significant acquisitions in the wealth management realms that may prove to be game-changers in the coming years.

It remains to be seen as who will be the ultimate winner but I firmly believe strategies made by DBS’ Gupta and OCBC’s Samuel Tsien would define the course of the banks’ destinies with the next five years.

DBS share price to reach $50 for 50^th anniversary?

Since the $30 mark, the share price of DBS has corrected slightly, presumably because some investors had cashed in on the profits.

Mapletree Logistics Trust was the first of the four REITs to be listed on SGX Mainboard after its sponsor, Mapletree Investments, was established in December 2000 to hold non-port properties transferred from PSA Corporation to Temasek Holdings.

According to SGX Research, this REIT delivered the best total returns among the four since IPO – at an incredible 336%. In my point of view, Mapletree Logistics Trust is at a cross-road as it tried to ride on the exciting wave of e-commerce in China.

Listed in 2005 with an IPO price of $0.68, the unit price had withstood the onslaught of the Great Financial Crisis and went on strength to strength to hit a peak of $1.37 in January 2018. In recent months, the unit price had experienced some form of correction, which I think could be due to the number of on-coming asset acquisitions.

Part of the reason for this article is the compelling growth project of Mapletree Logistics Trust. Its Sponsor, Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd has an incredible pipeline of 45 projects in China that could be injected to Mapletree Logistics Trust in the coming years. Henceforth, the value of its investment properties could potentially double in a couple of years.

Crisis? What crisis? Home-grown Micro-Mechanics shrugged off recent bearish trend in share price to post a set of good quarterly financial results. Of course, investors should not judge a company by one quarterly results. But if you look at the past five year’s performance, Micro-Mechanics’ growth had been consistently good. So the recent correction in share price should be a healthy one.

In retrospect, it is a mystery that Micro-Mechanics went under my radar until recently when a member requested me to do a coverage on this counter. The story of Micro-Mechanics is nothing short of fantastic. Within the span of four years, share price soared four-fold to reach a high of $2.40 in January 2018, creating immense wealth for shareholders.

From a penny stock as recent as 2014, Micro-Mechanics confounded critics to attain the status of mid-size cap in the SGX mainboard. Its meteoric rise was in part due to the sustaining growth in the semiconductor industry as there are ever increasing use of embedded chips.

Company profile

Micro-Mechanics started life in 1983 with a small factory in Singapore. Through the years, the Group [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only.

Will Wilmar International share price soar on the back of its impending IPO of its China unit? Being the largest listed agribusiness group by market capitalization on the Singapore Exchange, it is certainly a fascinating journey for Wilmar. From a start-up, Wilmar has overcome various challenges through the years to become one of the elites in the prestigious Straits Times Index (STI).

Many analysts have debated the need for Wilmar to list its Chinese unit in Shanghai while others had wondered the merits of announcing the plan at its infancy stage. In my point of view, the purpose of the initiative is more of business scaling rather than raising capital.

In recent years, Wilmar has struggled to meet great expectations due to the collapse of palm oil price, which was largely caused by overcapacity in the market. FY2017 results revealed that net cash flow from operating activities dropped significantly to USD 386 million, as compared to USD 1.1 billion in 2016. The terrible net cash flow was due to the huge increase in inventories (USD 1.2 billion in FY2017 as compared to USD 727 million).

Against the backdrop of ailing market demand, can Wilmar fight gravity? Ultimately, is this counter a value trap or potential multi-bagger?

Within the span of one year, share price of electronic contract manufacturer, Venture Corporation Limited, surged from $11 to $22. This is an impressive two-fold increase. What a majestic fine run! The fine performance led to Venture Corporation joining the prestigious Straits Times Index (STI) in January 2018.

Nonetheless, it is a mistake to view Venture Corporation as purely an electronic contract manufacturer. A close review of the balance sheet revealed stunning “goodwill assets” worth about $640 million. Read on to find out whether this counter is a potential multi-bagger or value trap.

Company profile

Founded in 1984, Venture Corporation’s capabilities span across research, design and development, product and process engineering, design for manufacturability, supply chain management, as well as product refurbishment and technical support of electronic equipment.

The products developed by Venture Corporation are used in a huge array of industries – advanced industrial, consumer, financial, healthcare, security and life science. Fundamentally, it should be noted that [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]

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FY2017 had been a year of reckoning as M1 celebrated its 20^th anniversary but continued to struggle in the midst of technology disruption. Revenue remained fairly stable at $1.07 billion. However, profit after tax dropped to a whopping 5-year low at $132.5 million.

Correspondingly, since my last coverage on 25 January 2018, M1 share price turned bearish, dropping from $1.88 to $1.70 in early April. It recovered only recently on the back of a decent set of 1QFY18 results.

For sure, investors would look back and lamented that the past 20 years had been a journey of lost opportunities as M1 had become the smallest telecommunication player despite being “the first to offer nationwide 4G service, as well as ultra high-speed fixed broadband, fixed voice and other services on the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NGNBN)”.

But is M1 really a lost cause? Should shareholders run for their lives? In this article, the investment merits of M1 are examined.

Market share

According to Info-communications Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) statistics, as of November 2017, Singapore’s mobile market penetration rate was almost 150%. This means that [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only.

Being one of the largest listed real estate companies in South East Asia, Capitaland remains an enigma in Singapore stock exchange. Share price reached a record high of $7.00 in 2007 and subsequent bombed out during the Great Financial Crisis.

Since then, this counter never really recover from the setback, presumably due to the slew of property cooling measures implemented by Singapore government. The slowing down of the China market could also played a part in the laggard of the share price. In this article, the investment merits of Capitaland are examined.

Profile of Capitaland

Formed in November 2000 following a “big bang” merger between DBS Land Limited and Pidemco Land Limited, Capitaland is 40% owned by Temasek Holdings. Black Rock also has a stake of 6% in this real estate giant.

Capitaland is famous for its Raffles City integrated projects. [This is a premium article. The rest of the content is blocked and can be accessible by SG Wealth Builder Members only. To read the full content, please sign up as member.]

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Singapore’s oldest bank, OCBC, delivered an excellent full year results for 2017, setting the share price on fire. The venerable bank reported on 14 February 2018 a net profit after tax of $4.15 billion, an increase of 19% from $3.47 billion a year ago. This is the first time the net profit of OCBC surpassed the $4 billion mark.

In my opinion, OCBC share price is poised to surge to another new level with the impending divestment of Great Eastern Life Insurance (Malaysia). There might even be special dividends for OCBC shareholders. Against this background, OCBC is deemed to be in the unique category of a stock which possesses features of growth, value and asset-rich.

There are a few important drivers for OCBC share price to rise in the next few months, not least because of its recent divestment moves to dispose its non-core banking assets accumulated in the past 100 years. Great Eastern Holdings remains the crown jewel of OCBC, setting the iconic bank apart from the rest of its competitors.

Unrealized Valuation Surplus

For FY2017, OCBC’s unrealized valuation surplus stood at $9.9 billion, 54% higher from S$6.45 billion as at 31 December 2016, mainly from [This is a premium article.

On 6 February 2018, OCBC Investment Research upgraded its rating on Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH Trust) from “hold” to “buy”. One wonders what had been going through the OCBC analysts’ minds when they made such a call. Following their upgrade, the unit price had been on an embarrassing downward trend and recovered slightly lately.

And every drop in the unit price seems like a slap to the analysts’ face. Of course, investors must be feeling unhappy. In my opinion, there is absolutely no basis to claim that “the worst is over” for this business trust.

When HPH Trust debut in SGX mainboard in 2011, the IPO price was between USD0.90 to USD1.10. There was much hype among investors, not least because the business trust was 30% owned by “Asia Superman”, billionaire Li Ka Shing. But after the dream debut, unit price had a horror run of decline. Currently trading at USD0.33, shareholders must be wondering what on earth has happened. Should investors cut loss or continue to hold?

Corporate profile

HPH Trust owns interests in deep-water container port assets such as Hongkong International Terminals(“HIT”) in Kwai Tsing Port, Hong Kong; and Yantian International Container Terminals (“Yantian”) and Huizhou International Container Terminals (“HICT”, an affiliated company of Yantian) in PRC. 

And so the dust has finally settled for Singapore’s iconic Fraser and Neave (F&N). Following the explosive takeover saga in 2012, share price languished at $2.20 level since. In the aftermath of the corporate drama, is F&N currently a value trap?

For a 135 years old company, Fraser and Neave (F&N) limited should be a household name to many Singaporeans. But understanding this venerable SGX-listed company is not an easy feat as corporate events unfolded between 2008 and 2013 transformed its destiny forever.

The takeover saga

On looking back, the appointment of Lee Hsien Yang as Chairman in 2008 must have heralded great things for F&N. Lee Hsien Yang had at that point of time, left SingTel as CEO and joined F&N as Chairman, overseeing the divestment of the Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) and the takeover of F&N by Thailand tycoon, Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, founder of Thai Beverage (ThaiBev).

As Chairman of F&N, Lee Hsien Yang unlocked much value for F&N investors. After the takeover battle, there were two capital reduction exercises which saw shareholders receiving a total of $3.70 per share. Then the listing of Frasers Centrepoint (FCL) saw F&N distributing two FCL shares for one F&N share (without any cash outlay).

SGX-listed Dyna-Mac to sink or swim? As an oil and gas player, it is so easy to write off this company like so many of its struggling peers (EMAS, Nam Cheong, Ezion, Marco Polo Marine, etc). But then again, every stock has its own story. So let’s examine whether Dyna-Mac stands a chance in winning the battle of survivorship.

The collapse of the oil price since 2014 had led to a long winter for the oil and gas exploration industry. Many companies in this sector had been embattled by the protracted oil slump and quite a number mid-sized players face the prospect of liquidation. With a market capitalization of only $130 million, Dyna-Mac is no exception. The oil services provider is currently hanging on precariously for its dear life as the devastating oil slump threatens to destroy its business.

In the good old days

When Dyna-Mac got listed in SGX mainboard in 2011, it was a market darling. The IPO price was $0.35 and many investors bought into its growth story due to the boom in the oil price. Share price surged almost 100% to reach nearly $0.70 within a few months. It even counts big boy, Keppel Corp, as one of its major shareholders.

From hospitality to the hospital industry, OUE Limited is certainly going places, But the question now is whether the share price of the real estate company is grossly undervalued? It certainly seems so as current trading price was $1.85 while Net Asset Value (NAV) amounted to a staggering $4.46.

In my opinion, the laggard share price performance could be due to legacy issues. Not many investors may be aware of the story of OUE and how it had unfolded through the years.

The company was formerly known as Overseas Union Enterprise Limited and changed its name to OUE Limited in August 2013. Read on to find out how corporate events had changed the destiny of this revered SGX-listed company. Recent developments may shed some light on its falling share price.

History of OUE

Founded in 1964, OUE had a rich history. The real estate developer started life as Overseas Union Enterprise Limited when legendary banker, Lien Ying Chow decided to enter the hotel industry. Many Singaporeans, especially those older folks, would remember Lien as the founder of Overseas Union Bank (OUB), the smallest bank among the “Big Four” in the 90s.

Like many family-owned businesses, OUB and OUE had cross-shareholdings. Thus, when OUB was acquired by UOB in 2001, it was briefly managed as a subsidiary by UOB.

As an investment blogger, my goal is always to add value and enhance my members’ investment knowledge. Thus, when a member asked me whether Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) and Frasers Commercial Trust (FCOT) are similar, I have deep concerns. This is because if they cannot get the basic fundamentals right, chances of losing money in the stock market is pretty high.

First and foremost, there is a need to reiterate that investing in a REIT is not the same as investing in stocks, though both are traded in the stock market. Basically, REIT is governed under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Collective Investment Scheme, which requires the REIT scheme to have a Manager and Trustee. Typically, many S-REITs also have a Sponsor which owns or develops a portfolio of properties.

Under a REIT’s structure, the Manager, Trustee and Sponsor all have different roles and responsibilities. Initially, the Sponsor will transfer its assets to the portfolio of the REIT and may provide or source for a pipeline of assets to grow the REIT. The trustee is an external party tasked to hold the assets on behalf of the unit holders. The Manager is given the responsibility to execute the strategic direction of the REIT.

For a real estate investment trust (REIT) that achieved eleven consecutive years of distribution per unit (DPU) growth, the trust manager of Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) must be doing something right. You don’t simply sleepwalk to such fantastic results with mediocre management.

On looking back, the management has done a great job in growing this S-REIT. Over the last 5 years, FCT had registered total returns of 55.2%, outperforming both the FTSE Straits Times Index and the FTSE REIT Index.  Net Asset Value (NAV) per Unit increased 4.7% year-on-year to $2.02 per unit, due to gains from revaluation of portfolio properties.

Nonetheless, in my point of view, Frasers Centrepoint Trust may be facing a baptism of fire in the coming months. Therefore, it may be prudent to adopt a wait-and-see approach before investing in this counter. Read on to find out why.

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It was a “mission impossible” come-back for Creative Technology. On 6 March 2018, I can imagine long-term investors punching the air and screaming in delirious as its share price ripped Singapore stock market apart. Creative Technology shares surged almost 10-fold to hit as high as $9.77 during the trading session.

But for those who have not invested in Creative Technology, it is best to avoid this counter. The latest financial statement revealed that this company is still suffering from huge losses. In fact, if not for the USD32 million legal settlement windfall, there would be massive net losses for 1H2017.

In August 2017, Creative Technology scored a legal victory by suing China’s Huawei over a failed broadband network project in 2012. It was awarded USD36 million by the High Court in 2017. The victory marked the third victory in a row for the Singapore company. It had successfully sued Apple twice for patent infringement for Ipod and Ipad products.

The Lost Decade

On looking back, it was surely a bitter-sweet journey for long-term investors as the local IT company endured a period of “lost decade”. From $40 in 2000 to $1.20 in February 2018, shareholders have every right to be angry with founder, Sim Wong Hoo.