The Hour Glass carries out buybacks; iWOW substantial shareholders raise stake
OVER the 4 trading sessions between Apr 15 and Apr 21, the Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.4 per cent while the KLCI in Malaysia rose 0.2 per cent. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 3.9 per cent.
Share buybacks
There were 10 primary-listed companies that filed notifications on share buybacks over the 4 sessions, with a total consideration of S$7.7 million.
The Hour Glass led buybacks for the week, with the luxury watch retailer buying back 2.31 million shares for a total consideration of S$5.58 million.
The bulk of this was on Apr 20, when it repurchased some 2.27 million shares for a consideration of S$5.48million. The volume of shares it repurchased exceeded the average volume of around 310,000 shares traded per day in 2022 prior to Wednesday.
The company’s number of issued shares excluding treasury shares fell to 680 million, after the recent buybacks. The Hour Glass also announced on Wednesday that the shareholding percentage of its single largest shareholder TYC Investment has crossed 50 per cent of the total issued shares, excluding treasury shares.
Since the beginning of its share buyback mandate last July, the company has bought back some 16.6 million shares out of a total of 69.7 million allowed for under its mandate.
Shares of The Hour Glass have been on a tear over the past 2 years, rising from just S$0.62 in Apr 2020 to S$2.48 on Apr 21. Its share price performance comes on the back of strong revenue and profit growth as consumer sentiment within the watch industry remained positive despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Hour Glass – which sells brands including Rolex and Patek Philippe – reported revenue of S$472.4 million for its first half ended Sep 30, 2021, up 63 per cent on year. Net profit during the same period more than doubled to S$62.6 million, or S$0.0895 per share, up from S$29.7million or S$0.0422 per share in the prior year period.
Raffles Medical was another company that made significant share buybacks over the past week, with a purchase of 1 million shares on Apr 19 for a total consideration of S$1.2 million.
Since the beginning of its share buy-back mandate a year ago, Raffles Medical has repurchased a total of 18 million shares out of a maximum of 186.7 million authorised.
Secondary-listed Hongkong Land also notified on share buy-back activities during the week. Over the 4 trading sessions, it repurchased some 2.2 million shares, at prices between US$4.72 and US$4.90.
Director and substantial shareholder transactions
The 4 trading sessions saw 61 notifications of changes of interest for directors or substantial shareholders for some 20 companies.
iWOW Technology
Substantial shareholders of wireless technology firm iWOW Technology raised their stakes in the newly-listed company during the week.
Chief executive Raymond Bo made an acquisition of 125,000 shares for S$31,250 on Apr 18, raising his stake to 22.9 million shares or 9.1 per cent of the company.
Chief technology officer Mah Kian Yen also raised his stake in iWOW on the same day, with the purchase of 125,000 shares for S$31,250, raising his total interest in the company to 6.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, substantial shareholder Kau Wee Lee bought 215,900 shares on Apr 18 for S$51,600. She bought an additional 48,500 shares for S$11,640 on Apr 19, and on Apr 20 purchased 200,000 more shares for S$47,000 – or S$0.235 apiece.
The 3 transactions raised her total direct and deemed interest in the company to 122.4 million shares, or 48.9 per cent of the company. This is inclusive of the stake held by her spouse Soo Kee Wee, who is chairman and non-executive director of iWOW.
iWOW made its debut on the Catalist on Apr 14, ending its first trading day at S$0.26, up from its initial public offering price of S$0.25.
The company, which is one of the manufacturers of TraceTogether tokens, sold 26 million shares via a placement during its initial public offering to raise gross proceeds of about S$6.5 million. This placement constituted about 10.4 per cent of iWOW's enlarged share capital of 250.4 million shares.
Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JCNC)
Majority shareholder Jardine Matheson Holdings (JM) made a single off-market block trade of 80,000 shares around the prevailing market price on Apr 21, JCNC said in response to queries from Singapore Exchange Regulation.
JCNC shares had risen 5.4 per cent on that day to close at S$26.87 on heavy volume, triggering a query from the regulator.
JCNC said the purchase did not trigger any disclosure obligations by JM, and hence no disclosure had been made.
JM held 296.4 million shares or 75 per cent of JCNC according to the latest annual report showing shareholdings statistics as at Mar 3, 2022.
Wilton Resources
Chong Thim Peng has ceased to be a substantial shareholder of Wilton Resources. In a filing on Apr 18, the company notified that Chong’s shareholding in the company has fallen from 8.3 per cent to 4.5 per cent, after he transferred 100 million shares “as a gift to his family member”.
Earlier this month, the gold mining company announced that it had sold some 742 million shares in its subsidiary Wilton Makmur Indonesia for about S$3.5 million in cash, effectively reducing its stake in the company from 91.34 per cent to 86.56 per cent.
Chong Thim Pheng, who is executive chairman of Hotel Re! Singapore and his son-in-law Ong Kok Heng were the buyers of the Wilton Makmur stake.
The duo have also been granted an option to buy 530 million more shares in Wilton Makmur, representing a further 3.41 per cent interest in the company, for S$3.5 million in cash.
Wilton Makmur is an investment holding company listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Its subsidiaries are principally engaged in gold mining activities in Indonesia.
