Hot stocks: Sembcorp shares rise on ex-entitlements basis; SMM sinks 13.5%
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Fiona Lam
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INVESTORS piled into shares of Sembcorp Industries (SCI) on the counter's first day of trading excluding entitlements, while its marine arm's stock tumbled.
On Wednesday, SCI climbed to trade at S$1.17 as at 11am, with 32.3 million shares changing hands, making it the second most heavily traded by value on the Singapore bourse for the morning.
Its latest price is 21.6 per cent or S$0.208 above its theoretical price ex-entitlements of around S$0.962, calculated based on the stock's closing price of S$1.91 on Tuesday.
SCI had hit a high of S$1.20 about 10 minutes after Wednesday's opening bell, and again at 9.46am, according to Bloomberg data.
The conglomerate on Monday said that its shareholders would receive 4.911 Sembcorp Marine (SMM) shares for each SCI share held.
SMM, meanwhile, tumbled 8.8 per cent or S$0.017 to trade at S$0.176 on Wednesday as at 11am.
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It clocked the highest volume traded on the bourse, with 78.5 million shares changing hands.
Within the first 15 minutes of early trade, the marine firm's shares had sunk to a low of S$0.167, down 13.5 per cent or S$0.026 from Tuesday's close.
Shareholders last month gave the green light for SMM and its parent SCI to proceed with their two-part proposal, which includes a demerger.
Analysts have said that SCI now looks more attractive without SMM weighing it down, especially when evaluated against some of its peers.
Based on SCI's closing price on Tuesday, the stock has gained 3.2 per cent since shareholders approved the demerger on Aug 11, and analysts are expecting more gains over the next 12 months. Nine of the 11 calls for SCI are "buy" calls, according to Bloomberg data.
CGS-CIMB analyst Lim Siew Khee told The Business Times: "Relative to pure play power names, SCI is more diversified and also operates in different markets in addition to a variety of products.
"It is not easy to compare them with regional peers but given that they are now considered as a purer play in the market, investors could start to give them that credit."
READ MORE: Sembmarine carve-out should make Sembcorp attractive versus peers
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