Stocks to watch: Aspial, Sunvic, Noble

THE following stocks had announcements or developments that may influence trading on Wednesday:

Aspial Corp has lodged a preliminary prospectus for a Catalist listing of its property arm, World Class Global.

The amount that will be raised and the timing of the initial public offering have not been set, but World Class Global will use the proceeds to fund property acquisitions and construction, as well as working capital.

World Class Global undertakes the property development business in Australia and Malaysia for Aspial, which also runs jewellery stores and pawnshops.

World Class Global non-executive chairman Koh Wee Seng, who is also chief executive of Aspial, and World Class Global chief executive Ng Sheng Tiong, who is Mr Koh's brother-in-law, will be selling shares in the offering. Each of them holds 5 per cent of World Class Global's pre-listing issued share capital.

Sunvic Chemical Holdings on Tuesday reported a narrower first-quarter loss as it sold more acrylic acid and acrylate esters and at higher prices. Net loss attributable to shareholders decreased to 3.7 million yuan (S$750,600) for the quarter ended March 31, 2017, from a net loss of 60.9 million yuan the year before. Revenue grew 40 per cent to 589.0 million yuan, from 422.3 million yuan.

Noble Group remains a stock to watch. On Monday, Moody's Investors Service cut its rating on the commodity trader to Caa1 from B2 with a negative outlook in response to Noble's latest quarterly loss and guidance for more losses ahead.