It houses foreign workers comfortably
Doing its job well has paid off for Centurion, whose stock is flying high this year
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AS THE only listed dormitory operator in Singapore, Centurion Corp has attracted a fair bit of attention in recent months, particularly after last December's riot in Little India. Two brokerage houses, AmFraser and DMG & Partners, initiated "buy" calls in quick succession. The riot highlighted a shortage of liveable spaces for workers such as dormitories - a gap that Centurion fills, analysts noted.
Now, the company's stock is flying high at over 70 cents a share last week - more than two-and-a- half times the 27 cents it traded at a year ago. Construction group and joint-venture partner Lian Beng also bought a 5 per cent stake in the company in March.
The key draw of the stock is how it gives exposure to cashflow- generating property assets in the undersupplied segment of foreign worker dorms, where the rent per bed has been increasing 20 per cent a year and Centurion's Singapore occupancy rates are almost full.
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