Singapore

• Back in December 2022, agri-food play Japfa Ltd (JAP SP) spun-off its 62.5% stake in AustAsia Group (2425 HK), as discussed in Japfa Ltd: Trading Cheap After AustAsia In-Specie Distribution 
• Last Friday, Bloomberg reported its key shareholder, Renaldo Santosa and his family, who collectively control ~75.5%, are considering taking Japfa private.
• The family acknowledges it has been approached by various financiers, investment banks, but nothing definitive has emerged. Still, Japfa is worth a revisit.

• More than 250 Singapore-listed stocks have booked net institutional inflow over the past 10 weeks.
• The most traded of the 16 stocks includes three STI stocks, in addition to incoming STI constituent Frasers Centrepoint Trust.
• Of the 250 stocks that booked net institutional inflow, 16 stocks also booked net retail inflow, with seven of these 16 stocks maintaining market average daily turnover of at least S$100,000 over the past 10 weeks.

• On March 8, Bloomberg reported that Japfa Ltd (JAP SP) owners were considering taking it private and started talks about a loan of around US$150 million. 
• Japfa has faced ongoing profitability issues since 2022 due to cost-of-living pressures. Privatisation interest is unsurprising, as the shares have been down 72% over the last three years. 
• An attractive premium would be required, irrespective of the offer structure. At a S$0.26 offer (20% premium to last close), Japfa would trade in line with peer multiples.  

• REIT Watch – Frasers Centrepoint Trust to join STI from Mar 18 At a market capitalisation of S$3.9 billion, FCT will join the STI with an approximate weight of 0.8 per cent.
• FCT is also the second Frasers Property-sponsored Reit to join the benchmark after Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust.
• The STI reserve list, which consists of the five highest ranking non-constituents of the STI, will be: CapitaLand Ascott Trust, ComfortDelGro, Keppel DC Reit, Keppel Reit, and Suntec Reit.

• Director filings and buybacks continue at stronger pace INSTITUTIONS were net sellers of Singapore stocks over the five trading sessions through to Mar 7, with S$224 million of net institutional outflow, as 26 primary-listed companies conducted buybacks with a total consideration of S$24.4 million, quadrupling the buyback consideration of the preceding five sessions.
• This increased his total interest from 53.27 per cent to 53.61 per cent.
• This followed his acquisition of 4.5 million shares between Feb 27 and 28.

• kopi-C with BRC Asia’s CEO: “We’ve become the leader in Singapore’s reinforcing steel fabrication industry’” After becoming one of Singapore’s largest reinforcing steel fabricators through an acquisition, BRC Asia plans to extend its reach to other markets.
• Incorporated in 1938, BRC Asia Limited (“BRC”) is a leading Pan-Asia prefabricated reinforcing steel solutions provider headquartered in Singapore and listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

• This is our first report on transportation and fintech platform provider, Grab Holdings Inc.
• The company had a pivotal year in 2023, delivering on key goals and achieving profitability in adjusted EBITDA since the third quarter and earning a positive net profit in the fourth quarter.
• The company experienced a series of enhancements, including a successful rebuild of their mobility business which had been vastly impacted by the pandemic.

• The FTSE ST Small Cap Index comprises multiple companies that represent the Industrials Sector, with the segment of stocks operating across APAC and averaging an 11% ROE.
• Samudera Shipping has led the segment of stocks with a 14% gain in the 2024 YTD, while also being the strongest performer of the segment over the past 5 years.
• The FTSE ST Small Cap Index currently includes seven companies that represent the Industrials Sector, with average daily trading turnover for each of the stocks ranging from S$60,000 a day, to S$3.0 million a day.

• Sea (SE US) has completed a full cycle of growth followed by a phase of profitability improvements/cost-cutting.
• Although substantial cost reductions have been implemented, these efforts have mainly focused on fixed costs.
• With marketing efficiency unchanged and significant improvements in gross margin difficult, the company appears no closer to achieving stable profitability than it initially was.

• Sea Ltd (SE US) released 4Q2023 and FY2023 results with a full-year net profit but another loss in 4Q but QoQ improvements for e-commerce and digital financial services. 
• E-Commerce core market growth rates where impressive, with strong growth momentum with Brazil seeing large profitability gains, whilst overall Shopee is gaining share with the additional benefits from greater scale.  
• Digital Financial Services saw a significant uptick in its loan book and profitability, whilst management pointed toward 2H2024 profitability for Shopee. Management is pointing towards 2024 being another profitable year. 

• Despite margin pressure, Sheng Siong (SSG SP) delivered resilient earnings for FY23. Revenue was up 2.3% YoY, and profits were up 0.3% YoY. 
• The company guided it had opened two additional stores at the start of 2024 (2023 end: 69), and six more locations were up for tender in 2024. 
• The stock trades at 17x FY23, with a 4% dividend yield and 15% of the market cap in cash. Margin pressure due to inflation will be a headwind in FY24. 

• Director filings and buyback momentum return Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engg) led the buyback consideration tally, repurchasing 500,000 shares at an average price of S$3.97 each on Feb 29.
• On Feb 26, LHT Holdings managing director Yap Mui Kee acquired 61,000 shares at an average price of S$1.05 per share.

• REIT Watch – Hospitality S-Reits record 21% DPU growth in FY2023 The five hospitality trusts recorded, on average, 21 per cent yoy growth in FY2023 DPU.
• Four of the trusts – ARA US Hospitality Trust (ARA H-Trust), CapitaLand Ascott Trust (Clas), CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT) and Far East Hospitality Trust (FEHT) – reported full-year FY2023 earnings ending Dec 31, 2023.

• Startale Labs, a Singapore-based Web3 startup, has raised US$3.5 million in a series A follow-up round, according to Alternatives.pe.

• UVM Signum Blockchain Fund, Sony Network, and Samsung Next Ventures were some of the investors in the round, which was raised at a post-money valuation of US$63.5 million.

• Founded in January 2023, Startale Labs specializes in Web3 infrastructure development. Helmed by Sota Watanabe, the company creates core infrastructure and applications for Web3 that is integrated onto the Astar Network blockchain.

• Amperesand, a Singapore-based electrical infrastructure company, has raised over US$12.4 million in seed funding.
• Xora Innovation, Temasek’s deeptech early-stage investment platform, co-led the round with venture capital firm Material Impact.
• TDK Ventures, the venture arm of Japanese electronics firm TDK, also participated, along with Foothill Ventures.

• Prefer, a bean-free coffee startup in Singapore, has raised US$2 million in seed funding led by Forge Ventures.
• 500 Global, A*ccelerate, Better Bite Ventures, Sopoong Ventures, SEEDS Capital, Entrepreneur First, and Pickup Coffee also participated in the round.
• The capital allows Prefer to make significant investments in growing the capacity of its production facility, expanding its ground coffee and ready-to-drink bottled beverages across Asia Pacific, starting with Singapore and the Philippines.

• UNOAsia, the company behind UNO Digital Bank in the Philippines, has raised US$32.1 million in a pre-Series B investment round comprising equity and debt.
• The investors include Gateway Partners, Creador Private Equity, and Nextinfinity Management.
• This round brings UNOAsia’s total raise to approximately US$75 million.

• Refy, an AI-powered green asset fintech financier in Southeast Asia, has secured a pre-seed investment of US$525,000 from Wavemaker Impact (WMi).
• This funding will allow Singapore-based Refy to execute secured pilot projects, develop its technical platform, and assemble a specialised team with experience in green assets and industrial projects.
• Globally, there are investors to support large-scale projects (worth upwards of US$5 million), such as solar, wind, hydro farms, and geothermal facilities.

• 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.
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