JEP, XMH chairs up stakes; AGT becomes OKP substantial shareholder

[SINGAPORE] For the five trading sessions spanning Apr 17 to 23, institutions were net sellers of Singapore stocks, with net institutional outflow of S$631 million. This took the accumulated net outflow for the first half of the year to Apr 23 to S$1.03 billion.

Stocks that had the highest net institutional outflow included Singtel , UOB , Singapore Airlines , DBS , Keppel , Keppel Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), CapitaLand Ascendas Reit , Hongkong Land , OKP and Sats .

Meanwhile, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding , Nanofilm Technologies International , ComfortDelGro , UOL Group , City Developments Ltd , First Resources , Singapore Exchange (SGX), Wilmar International , Frencken Group and PC Partner Group led the net institutional inflow.

Share buybacks

Over the five sessions, 18 primary-listed companies conducted buybacks with a total consideration of S$95.7 million.

Singtel led the consideration tally, buying back 15.2 million shares, of which seven million were acquired on Apr 17 and 8.2 million on Apr 20. These were pursuant to the telco’s S$2 billion value realisation share programme, in which purchased shares are cancelled.

Director transactions

Over the five sessions, more than 70 director interests and substantial shareholdings were filed for around 40 primary-listed stocks. Directors or chief executive officers reported eight acquisitions and four disposals, while substantial shareholders recorded 10 acquisitions and nine disposals.

These included CEO or director acquisitions filed for Hyphens Pharma International , JEP , Nera Telecommunications , UltraGreen.ai and XMH .

JEP

On Apr 22, JEP executive chairman and CEO Andy Luong acquired 588,000 shares of the Catalist-listed provider of precision machining and engineering services at S$0.38 a share. 

This took his direct interest from 0.18 per cent to 0.32 per cent. He also holds 14.04 per cent of the issued share capital of UMS Integration , which in turn holds 79.55 per cent of the issued share capital of JEP. This brings his total interest in the company to 79.87 per cent.

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On Feb 27, JEP reported that its 2025 financial year (ended Dec 31) net attributable profit was up 7.2 per cent from FY24 at S$3.4 million. This was on revenue of S$53.8 million, with precision machining contributions up 14.2 per cent at S$39 million.

The group said it will expand its engineering and specialised component capabilities to support aerospace production and advanced semiconductor packaging requirements.

XMH

On Apr 17, XMH chairman and managing director Tan Tin Yeow acquired 37,000 shares at S$2.01 apiece. This lifted his direct interest from 65.37 per cent to 65.4 per cent.

His interest has increased from 41 per cent in August 2018. He has been managing director since 1991, and was appointed chairman and managing director in September 2016.

XMH distributes marine and industrial engines and power systems, assembles and installs standby generator sets through its projects business, and provides after-sales servicing and spare parts across Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

With a market capitalisation of about S$240 million, a return on equity of 37 per cent and price-earnings multiple of about nine times, the stock traded at fresh all-time highs last week.  

XMH completes its FY26 on Apr 30. For its H1 ended October, the group posted revenue of S$93.95 million, an increase of 40.5 per cent year on year. Meanwhile, its profit attributable to shareholders rose 22.6 per cent to S$15.45 million.

Revenue was driven by the distribution segment with S$49.94 million, followed by projects with S$35.57 million, and after-sales with S$8.44 million.

OKP

OKP is a Singapore-based transport infrastructure and civil engineering group engaged primarily in public-sector construction and maintenance works, including roads, commuter infrastructure and drainage, with additional activities in property development and investment.

The stock is among the cohort of small to mid-cap stocks in Singapore that have experienced a significant increase in average daily turnover, which for the year to Apr 23 was S$1.06 million. This is compared with S$213,000 a day for the same period in 2025.

OKP’s market capitalisation is around S$420 million, and as at Dec 31, the group maintained net tangible assets of S$237.6 million.

On Apr 21, Ginko-AGT Global Growth Fund became a substantial shareholder of the company, expanding its direct interest from 3.54 per cent to 6.51 per cent through a married deal. The 16 million shares were acquired at an average price of S$0.735 apiece.

This corresponded with Or Kim Peow Investments filing a married-deal disposal of 16 million shares. The Ginko-AGT Global Growth Fund is managed by AGT Partners, a Singapore-based fund manager, which reported gross assets under management of about S$450 million as at end-March.

During the same session, CS International (S) ceased to be a substantial shareholder of OKP, reducing its direct interest from 14.05 per cent to 4.89 per cent through a married deal.

There were corresponding reductions in the deemed interests of China Sonangol International, Veronica Fung, Lo Fong Hung, Newtech, New Bright International Development and Sonangol.

Or Kim Peow Investments also filed a married-deal acquisition matching the same number of shares disposed of by CS International (S). Or Kim Peow Investments filed additional married deals during the session as well, lowering its direct interest from 55.91 per cent to 55.33 per cent.

For FY25, OKP reported revenue of S$223.5 million, with construction accounting for about 69 per cent of turnover, and net profit of S$43.6 million.

During the year, the company secured a S$258.3 million Land Transport Authority contract for an eastern region cycling path network. As at Dec 31, the group’s net construction order book stood at S$588 million, providing visibility on contracted work until the end of 2031.

Valuetronics

On Apr  20, Amova Asset Management Asia grew its deemed interest in Valuetronics from 5.89  per cent to 6.11 per cent – crossing the 6  per cent threshold – after first becoming a substantial shareholder on Mar  25.

During its H1 FY26 (ended Sep 30) results briefing in November, Valuetronics said it would continue to rebalance its product portfolio towards higher-margin industrial and commercial electronics, supported by new customers in network access solutions, as well as cooling solutions for high-performance computing environments.

It added that it would concurrently phase out legacy consumer electronics projects, with an exit from low-margin lifestyle products expected by end-FY26.

Valuetronics is slated to report its full-year results around the end of May.

MoneyMax

On Apr 16, MoneyMax Financial Services entered into a placement agreement for up to 53 million new shares at S$0.835 each, raising gross proceeds of up to S$44.3 million. CGS International Securities Singapore, DBS and OCBC acted as joint bookrunners. 

The placement represents around 6 per cent of the company’s existing issued share capital. It was undertaken primarily to meet the minimum public shareholding requirement for its proposed transfer from the Catalist to the mainboard, following shareholder approval on Mar 19, while also enlarging the capital base and strengthening the balance sheet.

The net proceeds of about S$43.4 million are intended to be used for general working capital, including support for growth in the pawnbroking portfolio and purchases of retail inventory.

In the placement announcement, management also indicated that the transaction supports balance-sheet capacity as the group continues to expand its pawnbroking and retail footprint in Singapore and Malaysia.

This is including through organic store openings, selective acquisitions and a further roll-out of its drive-through format.

CICT

CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) launched a fully underwritten private placement on Apr 20, with the book closed the same day and results announced on Apr 21. Citigroup Global Markets Singapore, DBS, JPMorgan, OCBC and UOB acted as the joint bookrunners and underwriters.

Strong demand led to an upsizing of the deal. CICT raised about S$750 million through the issuance of 326.1 million new units at S$2.30 apiece. The placement was around 4.8 times covered.

The proceeds are intended to partially finance CICT’s proposed acquisition of Paragon, a freehold integrated development on Orchard Road, with a small portion allocated to transaction costs.

The manager framed the deal as strengthening CICT’s prime retail exposure while remaining distribution-accretive with sustainable pro-forma leverage. 

For 2026, the Reit’s priorities are focused on executing announced developments and asset enhancement initiatives, recycling capital and maintaining balance-sheet discipline.

CICT has also agreed to divest its 100 per cent interest in Asia Square Tower 2 for S$2.48 billion, crystallising a near-S$200 million gain and redeploying capital into Paragon.

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