SINGAPORE (April 18): The following stocks may be in focus today:
Shareholders of OSIM International who sold their shares on April 5 below $1.39 each will receive an additional payment from the firm "on a goodwill basis". These shareholders "may not have had the opportunity to receive the equivalent of the final ex-dividend offer price of $1.39 in respect of those shares", Credit Suisse (Singapore) says on behalf of Vision Three Pte Ltd, a private vehicle owned by OSIM founder Ron Sim. "In view of this, the offeror will make a payment (the additional payment) on a goodwill basis to all shareholders who sold their Shares on the SGX-ST on April 5 at a transacted sale price below $1.39." The additional payment will be made to all affected shareholders, regardless of whether they sold their shares to the offeror or to third parties. Each affected shareholder will receive the difference between the transacted sale price for each share and the final ex-dividend offer price.
A subsidiary of Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation and Hong Kong Telecommunications respectively will jointly develop and market an international carrier exchange in Hong Kong. KT&T's Keppel Data Centres Holding and HKT's PCCW Global entered into a long-term collaboration agreement, the former says in a statement on Monday. Under the collaboration, the two companies will offer connectivity-related managed services to facilitate interconnects.
The Trendlines Group and the CropScience division of Bayer AG have signed a definitive agreement with Bayer for the establishment of a limited partnership in Israel, known as Bayer Trendlines Agtech Innovation Fund. Bayer will invest US$10 million ($13.6 million) in the fund, which will be managed by Trendlines. The fund will focus on investments in early-stage agtech portfolio companies of the group. It will also leverage on Trendlines' expertise in making early-stage agritech investments and invest in companies that could be of interest to Bayer.
China Environment Ltd expects to report a loss in 1Q2016. The firm says the loss in was mainly due to nil revenue in 1Q2016 and “the nil revenue is temporary”. It adds that it expects slowing economic growth, tight credit and intense competition in its industry in the near term.
Ascott Residence Trust has announced an advanced distribution per unit of 1.585 cents for 1QFY2016. The advanced distribution was in line with an equity placement exercise in March, where the REIT raised $100 million through the issue of 94.8 million new shares at $1.055 per unit. The placement was made to fund the REIT’s second property in New York. Excluding the equity placement, the DPU would have been 1.76 cents. Revenue rose 17% to $105.5 million, on the back of the new acquisitions made in FY2015, including its first acquisition in New York. That was offset by the $0.8 million decrease in revenue from the divestment of six rental housing properties in Japan, and the $0.1million decrease in revenue from existing properties.
Capitaland Mall Trust has announced a distribution per unit of 2.73 cents for 1QFY2016, a 1.9% increase over the 2.68 cents in 1QFY2015. Revenue rose 7.4% to $179.8 million during the quarter to March, on the back of the $14.6 million revenue contribution from Bedok Mall which was acquired in October 2015, higher rentals from IMM building after the second phase of asset enhancement works were completed in 4Q2015, as well as from the new and renewed leases from other malls. Net property income rose 8.6% to $127.9 million, while distributable income rose 4.2% to $96.7 million.
Viva Industrial Trust has completed the acquisition of 30 Pioneer Road for $45 million from GKE Corporation. The purchase consideration excludes an upfront land premium of $5.3 million for the balance of the initial 30-year lease term that was paid to JTC Corporation on April 5. The property comprises a four storey warehouse and a seven-storey ancillary office, with a total gross floor area of 281,090 sq ft. It has a remaining land lease tenure of 21 years.
Mitsubishi Corp and Olam International have formed a joint venture, MC Agri Alliance Ltd (MCAA), in Japan to import and distribute coffee, cocoa, sesame, edible nuts, spices, vegetable ingredients and tomato products in the Japanese market. Mitsubishi MC will hold 70% of the JV and Olam 30%. The JV will draw on Olam’s global supply chain networks for sustainable agricultural products and food ingredients and on Mitsubishi for its extensive distribution and sales network in Japan, Mitsubishi and Olam say in a joint press release.
Event services provider Cityneon Holdings says a "buy" call by UOB Kay Hian may have sparked a rally in its shares on Friday. UOB Kay Hian had initiated coverage on the stock and published a report with a target price of 72 cents. In its report, the research house projected strong earnings growth ahead for the company after its September 2015 acquisition of Victory Hill Exhibitions. The acquisition gave Cityneon the rights to use the "Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N." and "The Transformers Experience" franchises and open more exhibits based on Marvel comics and Transformers characters, according to UOB Kay Hian. Aside from the broker report, Cityneon says it was not aware of any other possible explanation for the trading activity in its stock.
Markets
Wall Street dipped on Friday as oil price declines weighed on energy shares and Apple dragged on the market, but major indexes still posted gains for the week. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 28.97 points, or 0.16%, to 17,897.46, the S&P 500 lost 2.05 points, or 0.1%, to 2,080.73 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 7.67 points, or 0.16%, to 4,938.22.
Singapore stocks inched up at the closing bell on Friday after China reported that its economy grew 6.7% y-o-y in the first quarter of the year. At 5.10pm, the benchmark Straits Times Index was up 10.01 points or 0.34% at 2,923.94, its best weekly gain in six weeks after rallying on rising oil prices earlier in the week.