iFAST chairman acquires more shares; UMS adds to JEP stake
BY GEOFF HOWIE
FOR the 5 trading sessions that spanned Apr 22 to 28, the Straits Times Index (STI) declined 0.4 per cent, with the FTSE China A50 Index declining 1.3 per cent, the Hang Seng Index declining 0.4 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declining 0.1 per cent.
Overall, institutions were net sellers of Singapore stocks over the 5 sessions with S$53 million of net outflow. DBS Group Holdings, UOB, OCBC, Yangzijiang Financial Holding and Mapletree Logisitics Trust led the net institutional outflows for the 5 sessions through to Apr 28.
Yangzijiang Financial Holding is the spin-off of the investment business of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings).
The company debuted on the Mainboard on Apr 28 and aims to become a lead investment manager in Asia, focusing on long-term value creation.
Meanwhile, Singapore Telecommunications, SATS , Keppel Corporation , City Developments and Sembcorp Marine received the highest net institutional inflows for the 5 sessions.
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Overall, the total net institutional inflows into Singapore stocks in the 2022 year to Apr 28 have totalled S$418 million, while the STI generated an 8.0 per cent total return.
Share buybacks
There were 11 primary-listed stocks conducting share buybacks over the 5 sessions with a total consideration of S$10.5 million, in line with preceding weeks.
Keppel Corporation, iFAST Corporation and The Hour Glass led the 5-session consideration tally.
Keppel Corporation paid an average price of S$6.87 cents per share, with the 866,000 shares the first shares bought back on the new 12- month mandate. The preceding mandate saw the company buy back 1.52 per cent of its shares (excluding treasury shares).
As reported on Apr 21, for Q1 2022, Keppel continued the positive momentum in 2021, and achieved a higher net profit year on year, with urban development the only segment that did not deliver higher profits.
The group’s Q1 2022 revenue was 9 per cent higher at S$2.1 billion, underpinned mainly by revenue growth in the energy & environment segment.
Director and substantial shareholder transactions
The 5 trading sessions saw 80 changes to director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for close to 30 primary-listed stocks.
This included 5 company director acquisitions with 3 disposals filed, while substantial shareholders filed 6 acquisitions and 6 disposals.
iFAST Corporation
On Apr 27, iFAST Corporation chairman and CEO Lim Chung Chun acquired 60,000 shares of the company for a consideration of S$281,200.
At an average price of S$4.69 per share, the acquisition took his total interest from 20.30 per cent to 20.32 per cent.
His preceding acquisition of 50,000 shares at S$5.96 per share was on Feb 15.
On Apr 23, the wealth management fintech platform reported its Q1 2022 results. The company reported that its net revenue declined 1.2 per cent year on year to S$28.15 million, as an 18.7 per cent year-on-year decline in non-recurring net revenue offset an 8.8 per cent year-on-year increase in recurring net revenue.
The group’s assets under administration declined 2.0 per cent quarter on quarter to S$18.63 billion as at Mar 31, 2022, as declines in stocks and bond prices globally offset positive net inflows of S$669 million during the quarter.
Lim co-founded the company with the launch of its B2C division Fundsupermart.com in Singapore in 2000, following which the B2B division iFAST Financial was launched in 2001 and has led the company's regional expansion efforts, extending iFAST Corp's presence beyond Singapore to Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and India.
With its Q1 2022 results, iFAST Corporation noted that the acquisition of the UK-based BFC Bank was completed on Mar 28, and the bank has been renamed iFAST Global Bank.
As guided previously, iFAST Global Bank is expected to contribute S$4.0 million in losses to the group in 2022.
However the group added that it is targeting to achieve profitability for iFAST Global Bank starting 2024.
Overall, the group expects to see a moderate growth in net revenue in 2022 as a whole, but also expects to see some declines in profitability.
Hong Fok Corporation
Between Apr 21 and 22, Hong Fok Corporation executive director and joint CEO Cheong Sim Eng disposed of 755,500 shares of the company for a consideration of S$734,023, at an average price of 97.2 cents per share.
This took his total interest in the property developer from 20.17 per cent to 20.08 per cent.
From the beginning of 2019 through to Apr 20, he had increased his total interest in Hong Fok Corporation from 19.56 per cent to 20.17 per cent.
Cheong is principally involved in the group’s overall operations and management, with greater emphasis in Singapore. He has over 37 years of experience in the property development business.
JEP Holdings
On Apr 22, UMS Holdings increased its interests in JEP Holdings above 73.0 per cent, with 1,654,200 shares acquired at an average price of 37.9 cents per share.
With a consideration of S$626,231, this increased UMS Holdings’ direct interest in the Catalist-listed stock from 72.92 per cent to 73.32 per cent. According to UMS Holdings, last year JEP Holdings provided readily available manufacturing facilities in Singapore to support its strong customer order flows, alleviating the production challenges faced in the group’s Penang campus due to the manpower crunch in Malaysia during the year.
UMS Holdings began acquiring shares of JEP Holdings in January 2018, with a mandatory unconditional cash offer triggered last year, with a final offer price of 20.0 cents per share that closed with valid acceptances representing 71.66 per cent of JEP Holdings.
JEP Holdings is a leading solutions provider of precision machining and engineering services, with a primary focus on the aerospace industry. For its H2 FY21 (ended Dec 31), JEP Holdings achieved record revenue and profit over a 6-month period, with a pre-tax profit of S$9.5 million for its FY21 compared to S$1.0 million in FY20.
Executive chairman and CEO of both UMS Holdings and JEP Holdings, Andy Luong, has more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing front-end semiconductor components.
He recently noted that the current focus of JEP Holdings pivots towards the semiconductor equipment segment, while awaiting the recovery of its core aerospace component manufacturing business.
In FY21, the aerospace industry and equipment manufacturing respectively contributed 19 per cent and 37 per cent of JEP Holding’s revenue, compared to 47 per cent and 30 per cent in FY20, and 63 per cent and 17 per cent in FY19.
Banyan Tree Holdings
On Apr 21, Banyan Tree Holdings independent director Arnoud De Meyer acquired 100,000 shares of the company at an average price of 29.6 cents per share. This approximately doubled his deemed interest in the independent, multi-branded hospitality group from 0.01 per cent to 0.02 per cent.
De Meyer was appointed an independent director of Banyan Tree Holdings on Jan 28, 2021.
De Meyer is a global academic leader with more than 35 years of experience in top international academic institutions in Europe and Asia and until December 2018, he served as the president of the Singapore Management University.
iWOW Technology
On Apr 25, iWOW Technology substantial and controlling shareholder Kau Wee Lee acquired 100,000 shares of the recently Catalist-listed company at 23.5 cents per share.
She maintains a 47.00 per cent direct interest in the technology provider, with a 1.90 per cent deemed interest due to shares held by her husband, Soo Kee Wee.
Soo is the chairman and non-executive director of iWOW Technology. He was appointed to the board in March 2017.
He began his career as an engineer at ST Microelectronics in 1995, and subsequently joined Citibank as a relationship manager from 1998 to 2000.
Thereafter, he invested in private companies and partnerships, before joining UBS' Singapore branch in 2003 where he was responsible for advising clients on wealth management, and eventually rose to the position of an executive director of UBS Singapore branch where he managed overall clients’ relationships with the bank.
After leaving UBS Singapore branch in 2012, he set up Pristine Capital, a company that provides financial services, in 2013, and has been its managing director since its incorporation.
iWOW Technology is a one-stop end-to-end wireless IoT technology provider that helps create values for its customers in every aspect of an IoT deployment.
Current services range from providing design and development for the hardware and software underlying the IoT solution, overseeing the manufacturing of the product, installation, maintenance and the operationalisation of the IoT solution.
Established in 1999, the company debuted on the Catalist board on Apr 14 with 26 million placement shares fully placed out, that were overall 3.0 times subscribed.
iWOW stands for inspiring the World of Wireless and is a technology provider specialising in integrated wireless IoT solutions as a service.
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