PropNex executive director doubles down as stock rallies

FOR the five trading sessions that spanned July 9 to 15, the Straits Times Index (STI) gained 1.0 per cent, with the FTSE China A50 Index, Hang Seng Index and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI averaging a 1.8 per cent gain.

Within the STI, CapitaLand C31 , OCBC O39 , Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust BUOU , Ascendas Reit A17U and Keppel DC Reit AJBU : AJBU 0% received the highest net institutional inflows from July 9 to 15.

Outside the STI, AEM Holdings AWX , iFAST Corporation AIY , NetLink NBN Trust CJLU , UMS Holdings 558 and Rex International 5WH : 5WH 0% received the highest net institutional inflows over the five sessions.

Overall, institutions were net sellers over the five sessions, to the amount of S$135 million, with DBS D05 , Singapore Airlines C6L and ComfortDelGro Corporation C52 : C52 0% reporting the highest net institutional outflow.

Share buybacks

There were four primary-listed stocks conducting share buybacks over the five sessions with a total consideration of S$3,097,252 not far from the S$3,548,457 consideration for the preceding five sessions.

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The Hour Glass AGS : AGS 0% led the consideration tally, buying back 1,968,000 shares, at an average price of S$1.46 per share, a lower price than the S$1.49 paid per share for its buyback of 624,000 shares over the preceding five sessions.

This took the cumulative number of shares purchased by the company on the current mandate to 4.8 million shares or 0.68 per cent of its issued shares, excluding treasury shares.

For its FY21 (ended March), The Hour Glass recorded a one per cent decline in sales to S$742.9 million while profit-after-tax rose 9 per cent to a new high watermark of S$84.5 million.

The company's executive chairman Henry Tay Yun Chwan, maintains a 62.95 per cent total interest in the company.

In the FY21 Annual Report released July 6, he reiterated that the group was working towards technological and digital leadership, investing in technological applications to improve the organisation, communicate better with its clients, and reach new clients.

Director and substantial shareholder transactions

The five trading sessions saw 75 changes in director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for more than 30 primary-listed stocks.

This included 10 company director acquisitions with nine disposals filed, while substantial shareholders filed three acquisitions and seven disposals.

PropNex

On July 8, PropNex OYY : OYY 0% executive director Kelvin Fong Keng Seong acquired 300,000 shares of the company, for a consideration of S$540,000 at S$1.80 per share.

This took his deemed interest in PropNex from 8.50 per cent to 8.58 per cent and followed his acquisition of 391,500 shares between June 14 and 28, all at S$1.50 per share.

Mr Fong has gradually increased his deemed interest in PropNex from 7.63 per cent in February 2019.

He oversees the group's training development curriculum and administers the development of IT strategies and technology innovations to improve the group's competitive edge in the industry.

He has curated the signature PropNex bootcamp that empowers over 3,000 salespersons annually together with other team leaders.

While the integrated real estate services group - with core businesses in real estate brokerage, training, property management and real estate consultancy - ranks outside the 100 most traded stocks by turnover, average daily turnover in the stock has grown close to six-fold in the 2021 year, compared to 2020 when PropNex celebrated its 20th anniversary.

The share price rallied from 78.0 cents at the end of 2020 to S$1.53 at the end of June, and then to S$2.10 as of the July 15 close.

In response to questions posed at the April 28 AGM, PropNex outlined its strategy for the next five years, which includes growing to more than 10,000 salespersons, diversifying into consultancy services, enlarging its footprint in Asean, and pursuing innovation and investing in technology.

On the latter, PropNex noted that Covid-19 has provided for a greater technology impetus and faster rate of adoption by salespersons.

Management believes that innovation and technology will continue to be an area of focus for the group.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings

On July 8, ICH Invest & Trade sold its 300,000 shares of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings BS6 : BS6 0% (Yangzijiang) that it had acquired back on Jan 7.

It sold the shares at S$1.39 per share, after acquiring them at 98 cents per share, representing a return of 42 per cent.

ICH Invest & Trade is a wholly owned subsidiary of ICH Group.

Yangzijiang independent non-executive director Toe Teow Heng holds 31.67 per cent of the total issued and paid up share capital of ICH Group.

He was appointed an independent director of Yangzijiang on April 30, 2020.

Mr Toe previously worked at DBS and the investment banking division of JP Morgan Chase & Co.

He was also formerly an associate director of UBS AG in Hong Kong and Singapore, where he was actively involved in the transport, leisure and hotel industries' M&A advisory in Asia.

Yangzijiang executive chairman and CEO Ren Letian maintains a 4.31 per cent deemed interest in the company.

He joined the group in 2006, and was appointed CEO on May 1, 2015, and executive chairman on April 30, 2020.

Yangzijiang operates four shipyards in Jiangsu Province, along the Yangtze River, in China.

On June 30, the group noted that it had inked agreements for the building and delivery of six units of 15,000 TEU containerships, three units of 3,300 TEU containerships and two units of 82,300 dwt bulk carriers.

With these latest orders, Yangzijiang has recorded two new achievements in the group's history, the largest order wins in a fiscal year based on total contract value of US$5.6 billion, and a record-high outstanding order book of US$7.7 billion.

The order wins consist of 100 vessels, the majority of which are containerships, while the outstanding order book comprises 160 vessels.

The company is expected to report its H1FY21 (ended June 30) results around Aug 5.

On June 24, shipping organisation BIMCO noted that new orders for containerships was at a 14-year high.

Second Chance Properties

Between July 8 and 12, Second Chance Properties 528 : 528 0% founder and CEO Mohamed Salleh Marican acquired 458,000 shares of the company at 27.0 cents per share.

With a consideration of S$123,660, this increased his total interest in the properties and securities investor, apparel and gold retailer, from 69.11 per cent to 69.17 per cent.

Mr Salleh has gradually increased his total interest in Second Chance Properties from 67.13 per cent at the beginning of 2020.

Union Gas Holdings

On July 12, Union Gas Holdings 1F2 : 1F2 0% independent director Lim Chwee Kim disposed of 100,000 shares of the Catalist-listed company at S$1.11 per share.

This reduced his direct interest in the established provider of fuel products in Singapore, from 0.13 per cent to 0.09 per cent.

The transaction followed Mr Lim's disposal of 100,000 shares at 53 cents per share on Feb 5.

Mr Lim was the founder and CEO of RichLand Group where he formulated business strategies to chart the future growth of the group, and a director of Catalist-listed REVEZ Corporation RCU : RCU 0% .

July 19 is the scheduled effective date for the company transferring from Catalist to the Mainboard.

On June 10, Union Gas Holdings announced that it had received in-principal approval for a transfer to the SGX Mainboard, and this was subsequently approved by shareholders in the Extraordinary General Meeting on July 13.

For its FY20 (ended Dec 31) the company reported 64.7 per cent growth in net profit from FY19, on the back of revenue growth of 9.4 per cent, led by the LPG segment.

A-Sonic Aerospace

Between July 9 and 12, A-Sonic Aerospace BTJ : BTJ 0% CEO Janet LC Tan acquired 71,200 shares of the company at 57.9 cents per share.

With a consideration of S$41,195, this took her total interest in the company from 55.28 per cent to 55.40 per cent.

Ms Tan has gradually increased her total interest in the company from 53.35 per cent at the end of 2018.

A-Sonic Aerospace has two areas of businesses - aviation and logistics - and operates in 28 cities in 16 countries, spanning four continents in Asia, North America, Sub-Continent India, and Europe.

Ms Tan's responsibilities include setting the overall long-term business direction, developing business strategies, and implementing growth strategies for A-Sonic Aerospace and its subsidiaries.

On May 19, A-Sonic Aerospace announced that SGX had granted the company a 12-month extension for it to meet Watch-List exit requirements, to June 4, 2022.

In its quarterly update filed on May 5, the company maintained that it remained on the SGX Watch-List solely because it had not achieved an average daily market capitalisation of S$40 million over the preceding six months.

For its FY20 (ended Dec 31), A-Sonic Aerospace achieved 127.5 per cent year-on-year growth in profit before tax to US$7.92 million, with its net book value strengthening 21.5 per cent year-on-year to US$36.24 million as at Dec 31, 2020.

GCCP Resources

On July 8, GCCP Resources 41T : 41T 0% non-executive independent director Pay Cher Wee acquired 1,009,700 shares of the Catalist-listed company at 1.8 cents per share.

With a consideration of S$18,175, the acquisition increased his total interest from 2.29 per cent to 2.36 per cent.

This followed his acquisition of 300,000 shares at 1.9 cents per share on June 16.

Mr Pay has more than 25 years of experience in the audit, manufacturing, supply chain management, healthcare and private equity investment sectors.

He is also currently the CFO of Jurong Port.

Mr Pay was appointed to the board of GCCP Resources on March 1, 2016.

The company noted in May that its Gridland Quarry's production and sales was slowly picking up and although sales still remain low in Q1FY21 (ended March 31), management expected business activities and sales to pick up to some form of normalcy by Q2FY21.

In June, the placement of 93,750,000 new ordinary GCCP Resources shares to Wen International, at a price of S$0.016 per placement share was completed.

With a consideration of S$1.5 million, this took the direct interest of Wen International in GCCP Resources from 6.58 per cent to 12.8 per cent.

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