Stocks to watch: Rowsley, YuuZoo, SGX, industrial Reits

Rowsley: Billionaire Peter Lim's real-estate vehicle Rowsley has decided against waiting for the Iskandar residential market to recover.

Citing "prevailing market sentiment" and a "strong pipeline" for the residential segment there, the firm announced on Tuesday that it now intends to turn its long-delayed mega Vantage Bay project in Johor into a cluster of healthcare-related facilities with an expected total development value of RM5 billion (S$1.6 billion).

This figure is slightly less than the previous RM5.5 billion estimate for Rowsley's original plan for the 9.23 ha Vantage Bay, which was to have been an integrated development comprising a 75-storey condominium, a mall, office blocks and a hotel.

YuuZoo Corporation: The e-commerce company is appointing James Sundram as chief executive officer, starting Oct 1.

As CEO of YuuZoo, Mr Sundram will have full profit-and-loss responsibility for all YuuZoo operations, and will manage the company in line with the policies, goals and objectives established by the chairman and the board. Mr Sundram has significant international expertise in the online, multimedia, advertising and publishing industries.

Thomas Zilliacus, who has served as chairman and CEO for YuuZoo since its inception, will continue as executive chairman, and will focus on YuuZoo's strategic partnerships and merger-and-acquisition activities.

Singapore Exchange: The new head of SGX, which was hit hard in its derivatives trading by China's economic slowdown, could face his toughest questions yet at an annual shareholders' meeting on Wednesday as pressure mounts to find new sources of revenue.

Trading in one of the exchange's key futures contracts for Chinese shares has slumped by nearly three-fourths from a record high hit in early July, Thomson Reuters data shows, at a time when its derivatives business has been growing and contributes a rising share of its revenue.

Reuters reported that investors will be watching for chief executive Loh Boon Chye's response to the challenges, although his options were seen as limited.

Industrial Reits: Ratings agency Fitch on Tuesday said the industrial real estate investment trust (Reit) sector in Singapore will remain resilient in the face of the current economic slowdown, underpinned by its "robust" financial profiles.

Some 80 per cent of the sector's debt have fixed rates. This, coupled with the "narrow mismatch" between the duration and its lease-and-debt contracts, will help support the sector's resilience in a downturn, it added.