Stocks to watch: Manulife US Reit, Ascendas Reit, ComfortDelGro, Yanlord Land

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Wednesday (Feb 9):

Manulife US Reit: BTOU The real estate investment trust (Reit) on Wednesday posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of US$0.0263 for the second half of the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021, up 1.5 per cent from US$0.0259 in the year-ago period. This was attributed to lower provision for expected credit losses and higher car park income. Units of Manulife US Reit closed flat at US$0.645 on Tuesday.

Ascendas Reit: A17U The Reit on Tuesday posted a DPU of 7.598 Singapore cents for the second half ended Dec 31, 2021, up 2.4 per cent from 7.418 cents a year ago. This brought the DPU for FY2021 to 15.258 cents, a 3.9 per cent increase from the 14.688 cents in FY2020. Units of Ascendas Reit closed up 2 cents or 0.7 per cent at S$2.80 on Tuesday, before the financial statement was released.

ComfortDelGro: C52 The transport company announced on Tuesday that it will raise its taxi fares for the first time in 10 years, starting from Mar 1, 2022. According to the chairman of the group, the hike is "necessary to help cabbies defray higher operating costs resulting from rising fuel prices and inflation". Shares of ComfortDelGro closed up S$0.03 or 2.1 per cent to S$1.44 on Tuesday, after the announcement.

Yanlord Land: Z25 The Chinese property developer posted 9.8 billion yuan (S$2.1 billion) in total contracted pre-sales from residential and commercial units and car parks in January 2022, a 87.7 per cent increase from the 5.2 billion yuan in January 2021. Shanghai was the biggest contributor to the group's contracted pre-sales and drove 78.9 per cent of the pre-sales. Shares of Yanlord closed flat at S$1.16 on Tuesday, before the announcement was made.

Mermaid Maritime: DU4 Mermaid Subsea Services (International), a subsidiary of the offshore services company, has entered into a 2 year charter-in contract for a DP2 diving support construction vessel, which has already taken delivery. In a bourse filing on Tuesday, Mermaid Maritime said its subsidiary will deploy the construction vessel to support its various subsea projects from February 2022. Shares of the company closed flat at S$0.077 on Tuesday, before the announcement.