Stocks to watch: FCOT, Far East Orchard, SGX, ST Electronics

THE earnings season continues to offer a slew of reports for investors to chew on as market opens on Thursday.

The first to flash its quarterly report card in the morning was Frasers Commercial Trust (FCOT), which reported a 2.9 per cent increase in distribution per unit for the second quarter ended March 31, 2016, to 2.45 Singapore cents, mainly buoyed by the acquisition of an office building.

This came on the back of a 19.5 per cent rise in distributable income to S$19.35 million. Net property income grew 16.7 per cent to S$28.84 million, bolstered by Alexandra Technopark and Caroline Chisholm Centre and the contribution from 357 Collins Street, which was acquired in August 2015.

On Wednesday night, Far East Orchard reported a jump in net profit to S$16.88 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, from S$3.80 million a year ago, on lower currency translation losses and stronger performance from joint ventures.

Revenue fell 51 per cent to S$51.09 million, in the absence of progressive revenue recognised in the first quarter period of the previous year for the euHabitat residential development project.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) turned in an almost flat net profit of S$89.2 million for the third quarter ended March 2016 from S$88.2 million a year ago. It said on Wednesday its revenue rose 3 per cent to S$205.8 million for the quarter from S$199.3 million a year ago.

Group CEO Loh Boon Chye noted there was growth across the three business lines of equities and fixed income, derivatives and market data and connectivity.

Meanwhile, one good news came from Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics), which disclosed total contract wins of S$505 million for the first quarter of 2016. These contracts span rail electronics & intelligent transportation (S$41 million), satellite & broadband communications (S$91 million), as well as advanced electronics & information communications technologies solutions (S$373 million).

The deals were won from both local and overseas customers, and government as well as private-sector organisations.