iFAST leads buybacks, as chairman also adds to stake 

For the 5 trading sessions that spanned Jul 22 to 28, the Straits Times Index (STI) gained 2.2 per cent, with the FTSE China A50 Index declining 0.8 per cent, the Hang Seng Index declining 0.6 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gaining 2.3 per cent.

Overall, institutions were net sellers of Singapore stocks over the 5 sessions with S$111 million of net outflows, following on from S$65 million of net inflow for the preceding 5 sessions. Singapore Telecommunications : Z74 0%, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust : C38U 0%, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation : O39 0%, Yangzijiang Financial Holding : YF8 0% and Wilmar International : F34 0% led the net institutional outflows for the 5 sessions through to Jul 28. Meanwhile, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) : BS6 0%, Mapletree Industrial Trust : ME8U 0%, AEM Holdings : AWX 0%, Genting Singapore : G13 0%, and Frasers Logistic & Commercial Trust : BUOU 0% led the net institutional inflows for the 5 sessions through to Jul 28.

There were 8 primary-listed stocks conducting share buybacks over the 5 sessions ending Jul 28, with a total consideration of S$1.2 million, a similar pace to the S$1.7 million filed for the preceding 5 sessions. iFAST Corporation : AIY 0%, The Hour Glass : AGS 0% and Valuetronics Holdings : BN2 0% led the consideration tally. iFAST Corporation’s buyback of 106,900 shares on Jul 25 at an average price of S$3.75 per share was the company’s second filed buyback on the current mandate, with the preceding buyback of 400,000 shares on Apr 26. The previous buyback mandate saw iFAST Corporation buy back 0.22 per cent of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares). Meanwhile, The Hour Glass has bought back 3.49 per cent of its shares on the current buyback mandate through to Jul 28. Its buybacks between Jul 24 and 26 were conducted at an average price of S$2.15 per share. For its FY22 (ended Mar 31), The Hour Glass recorded a robust 39 per cent increase in sales to S$1.03 billion, which resulted in its after-tax profit rising by 86 per cent to S$157.0 million. The group believes that demand momentum will remain buoyant and continues its focus on organic development throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The 5 trading sessions saw over 80 changes to director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for more than 30 primary-listed stocks. This included 6 company director acquisitions with no disposals filed, while substantial shareholders filed 9 acquisitions and 5 disposals.

On Jul 26, iFAST Corporation chairman and chief executive officer Lim Chung Chun acquired 34,100 shares of the company for a consideration of S$129,474. At an average price of S$3.80 per share, the acquisition took his total interest from 20.30 per cent to 20.31 per cent. His preceding acquisitions included 60,000 shares at S$4.69 per share on Apr 27, and 50,000 shares at S$5.96 per share on Feb 15.

On Jul 23, iFAST Corporation reported its net revenue for Q2 2022 grew 13.3 per cent year on year to S$29.86 million, despite the group noting global financial markets had gone through a very difficult period. The Q2 2022 net revenue included an initial contribution of S$3.92 million from iFAST Global Bank in the UK. iFAST Corporation is a wealth management fintech platform, with assets under administration of S$17.68 billion as of 30 Jun, 2022. The main business divisions of the group include the business-to-consumer (B2C) division, the business-to-business (B2B) division, and the fintech solutions/business-to-business-to-consumer model. 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. He subsequently led the company’s regional expansion efforts, extending iFAST Corporation’s presence beyond Singapore to Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and India, building a well-established fintech ecosystem across the 5 markets.

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Between Jul 21 and 26, Tung Lok Restaurants (2000) : 540 0% non-executive director Sam Goi Seng Hui acquired 97,600 shares of the company at 11.5 cents per share. With a consideration of S$11,217, this took Goi’s total interest in the award-winning restaurateur from 19.77 per cent to 19.80 per cent.

Goi is also the executive chairman of Tee Yih Jia Food Manufacturing, mainboard-listed GSH Corporation : BDX 0%, PSC Corporation : DM0 0% and Tat Seng Packaging Group : T12 0%. He is also the vice-chairman of mainboard-listed Envictus International Holdings : BQD 0% and JB Foods : BEW 0%.

Tung Lok Restaurants (2000) currently operates 34 outlets of which 25 are directly owned, 3 are held by its associates and 6 others are under license/franchise. These restaurants are spread across Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, with the group’s business predominantly based in Singapore. While consolidating its outlet portfolio, the group has also been focusing its efforts to accelerate its digital transformation initiatives to streamline and optimise internal operational processes to improve productivity. Some digital solutions adopted in its FY22 (ended Mar 31) included virtual queuing systems, robot waiters, mobile ordering systems and voucher management systems.

The writer is the market strategist at Singapore Exchange (SGX). To read SGX’s market research reports, visit sgx.com/research.