Singapore

• Following an Staits Times article this week – or perhaps just a coincidence – property play Wing Tai Holdings (WINGT SP) popped 8%. 
• Yesterday’s close of S$1.47/share, compares to its book value of S$4.24 (as at 31 Dec 2023). Cash on hand is S$684mn against borrowings of ~S$770mn.
• And the Cheng family has been buying up shares, almost every day since last September. That stake is currently 61.45%. Another Wing Tai Malaysia (WING MK) privatisation in the making?

• AEM (AEM SP) reported FY23 results which showed a decline of 45% in annual revenues and a small loss on the net income line. Guidance is only given for 1H24.
• Senior management will forego all bonuses, the CFO departs and the old CEO is coming back as a consultant. AEM’s stock closed down 20% after the FY23 results publication.
• A potential new Trump presidency would push an “America First” agenda likely benefiting Intel and indirectly AEM in a big way.

For our next Corporate Webinar we are glad to welcome iFAST’s Executive Director and Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Jean Paul Wong. 

In the upcoming webinar, Jean will share a short company presentation after which, he will engage in a fireside chat with Smartkarma Insight Provider, Alec Tseung.

Alec will also be providing an industry overview, featuring landscape commentary and returns analysis. The Corporate Webinar will include a live Q&A session.

In the spirit of giving back to our community, one of the attendees will also be awarded an Amazon Kindle as part of our exclusive lucky draw. 

The Corporate Webinar will be hosted on Thursday, 7 March 2024, 19:00 SGT.

About iFAST Corporation 

iFAST Corp (stock code: AIY) is a wealth management Fintech platform, with assets under administration (AUA) of S$19.83 billion as at 31 December 2023. Incorporated in the year 2000 in Singapore and listed on the SGX-Mainboard in December 2014, the Group is also present in Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, and UK. Through the years, the Group has built a well-established Fintech ecosystem connecting its product providers and clients. iFAST Corp holds the requisite licences in the various jurisdictions it operates in to provide a wide range of products and services.

As at end December 2023, the Group offers access to over 21,000 investment products including over 13,000 funds from over 320 fund houses, over 2,400 bonds, stocks and ETFs listed on the Singapore, Hong Kong, US, Malaysia, UK, and China A stock exchanges, as well as services including pension administration solutions, online discretionary portfolio management services, research and investment seminars, Fintech solutions, and investment administration and transaction services.

• Grab Holdings (GRAB US) recently posted another set of positive results, with another quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. We conducted a follow-up call to explore the outlook for 2024. 
• The company announced both a US$500m Buyback and the potential for improving margins in its deliveries business plus several new initiatives to drive growth in 2024 and beyond. 
• Grab Financial continue to grow its loan book through lending to drivers and merchants, which should help to improve margins plus its high-margin advertising income is becoming increasingly important.

• What you need to know about the SG market #whatstrending feat. #whatstrending is a series addressing some of the most trending questions/topics on the markets for investors.
• What’s Trending: How Airports of Thailand (AOT) Could Benefit From The Nation Waiving Visa Requirements for Chinese Tourists #2 – Increasing tourist arrivals.

Yanlord’s FY 2023 results were robust in our view. The company reported solid top-line growth, albeit the margin contracted from a high base as projects were delivered outside of Shanghai. Still, cash flows were healthy, which supported meaningful debt reduction.

Yanlord’s near-term debt repayment risks have eased materially, after the company fully redeemed the YLLGSP 6.78 ’24s at maturity yesterday and successfully refinanced the USD syndication loan due in February 2024. The company’s next bond maturity will be in May 2026, when the USD 500 mn YLLGSP 5.125 ’26s come due.

• Comfortdelgro Corp (CD SP) share price has underperformed its tourism related transport operator peers.
• Key drivers are still strong, including the expected influx of Chinese tourists from visa-free travel arrangements.
• Valuation is still compelling, and it is not too late to own it.

• Grab Holdings reported nothing short of an impressive set of results for 4Q2023, booking another positive adjusted EBITDA but also an actual net profit and positive adjusted cash flow. 
• The company saw its mobility GMV come in above pre-COVID levels and deliveries GMV growth reaccelerated, while also reaching positive adjusted EBITDA for a second quarter.
• Grab aims to deepen its engagement with users through affordable and premium offerings and a laddered pricing approach, with additional focus on financial services and advertising to come in 2024.

• REIT Watch – Healthcare S-Reits outperform in February The resilience of the segment can be seen from the price performance of Singapore’s two listed healthcare S-Reits as well – First Reit and ParkwayLife Reit (PLife Reit).
• PLife Reit announced a DPU of 14.77 Singapore cents for the full year 2023, a 2.7 per cent increase year on year.

• Earnings Focus Reduces Buybacks & Director Acquisition Filings The Hour Glass led the buyback consideration tally, buying back 795,000 shares at an average price of S$1.55 per share over two sessions.
• Directors or CEOs filed eight acquisitions and one disposal while substantial shareholders filed three acquisitions and two disposals.

• Shopee – Sea’s largest business unit and Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce platform – has reported negative EBITDA for most of the 8 or so years since its launch. 

• Investors now however appear to be looking for earnings growth. In 7 of the last 9 quarterly earnings reports, investors have rewarded the company every time it has reported earnings growth (its share price has gone up in the day after the release), and penalized when it has not.

• Based on our analysis (and subject to the disclaimer included below), we expect Shopee’s GMV and Revenue to improve in Q4 2023 (as compared to the previous quarter) along with its EBITDA, although earnings will likely remain in negative territory.

• We cut our SIA operating profit by 9% to S$2.6bn in FY24 and by 17% to S$1.5bn in FY25 versus consensus of S$2.1bn.
• SIA’s cost control is under-examined and we publish a deep dive on a concerning level of inflation relative to key peers, which actually escalated in 3Q24.
• Cargo broke even in peak season, and Scoot’s margins present a conundrum as it may need to be further utilization to help SIA with cost management.

• kopi-C with Lendlease REIT’s CEO The first Singapore REIT to reach net zero emissions, Lendlease Global Commercial REIT has its next target in sight: absolute zero by 2040.
• When it comes to sustainability, Lendlease Global Commercial REIT is ahead of its peers.

• THE iEdge S-Reit Index declined 5.6 per cent on a total return basis in the year to date, with declines also recorded in the FTSE EPRA Nareit Index series which track global Reits.
• The 10 S-Reits which recorded largest net retail inflows in the year to date were Mapletree Logistics Trust, Keppel DC Reit, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, CapitaLand China Trust, CapitaLand Ascott Trust, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, CDL Hospitality Trusts, and ParkwayLife Reit.
• These 10 S-Reits contribute S$250 million in net retail inflows, or nearly 90 per cent of the combined net retail inflows in the year to date.

• Over the first seven weeks of 2024, the 25 largest weights of the Manufacturing Index saw varied performances from a 31% decline for NIO to a 24% gain for Food Empire.
• The largest Manufacturing Index weight is currently ST Engineering, which has consolidated on its 2023 gains over the past 7 weeks and scheduled to report its FY23 results on 29 Feb before the market open.
• Venture has booked the most net institutional inflow over the past seven weeks within the Manufacturing Index with S$43 million of net inflow.

• THE net institutional fund flows for the first six weeks of 2024 showed a similar trend as the same period in 2023, with net withdrawals of S$463 million.
• The net institutional fund flows indicate the direction and level of institutional investor activity across all stocks in the Singapore market.
• As many as 18 of the 20 stocks that booked the highest net retail inflow relative to market capitalisation also booked declines in total return, while Pacific Radiance and Asia Enterprises Holding were the exceptions, booking respective total returns of 7.2 per cent and 9.1 per cent over the six weeks.