Sean Lee adds to Marco Polo Marine stake; OCBC leads buybacks

FOR the five trading sessions that spanned Jan 6 to Jan 12, the Straits Times Index (STI) declined 0.8 per cent, with the Hang Seng Index gaining 0.5 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declining 0.5 per cent.

Overall, institutions were net sellers of Singapore stocks for the five sessions ending Jan 12 with S$96 million of net outflow. This brought the month-to-date net institutional outflow to S$66 million. UOB : U11 0%, Singtel : Z74 0%, City Developments : C09 0%, ComfortDelGro : C52 0% and Jardine Matheson Holdings : J36 0% led the net institutional outflow for the five sessions.

There were 16 primary-listed companies conducting share buybacks over the five sessions through to Jan 12, with a total consideration of S$11.0 million, up from the S$4.3 million for the preceding four sessions.

OCBC : O39 0% led the consideration tally, buying back 500,000 shares at S$12.59 per share. The bank has bought back 0.38 per cent of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares) on the current mandate. HRnetGroup : CHZ 0% also bought back one million shares at an average price of S$0.80 per share.

The five trading sessions saw fewer than 50 changes to director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for close to 30 primary-listed stocks. This included 11 company director acquisitions with three disposals filed, while substantial shareholders filed one acquisition.

On Jan 12, Marco Polo Marine : 5LY 0% Group chief executive officer (CEO) Sean Lee Yun Feng acquired 2.5 million shares of the marine logistic group for a consideration of S$100,000. At S$0.04 per share, the acquisition took Lee’s total interest in Marco Polo Marine from 4.73 per cent to 4.80 per cent.

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Lee is the key co-founder of the group, and is responsible for the overall management and day-to-day operations, as well as the formulation of the business directions, strategies, and policies of the group.

Lee has also spearheaded the shipyard operations since their commencement in December 2005. He also started the offshore ship chartering operation in 2011, which has remained the main growth engine. The revenue for the group’s ship chartering operations increased by 122 per cent to S$44.7 million in FY22 (ended 30 Sep) from S$20.1 million in FY21, mainly attributed to the consolidation of results of PT Pelayaran Nasional Bina Buana Raya Tbk and PKR Offshore from March and May 2022 onwards respectively.

On Jan 6, the non-executive director of the trustee-manager of Asian Pay Television Trust : S7OU 0% (APTT), Dai Yung Huei, increased his deemed interest from 19.18 per cent to 19.20 per cent. This saw 471,900 units of APTT acquired by Araedis Investment for a consideration of S$53,175 at an average price of S$0.11 per unit.

Dai has gradually increased his total interest in APTT from 18.27 per cent in September 2022. He is also the chairman of Da Da Digital Convergence and the founder of Dafeng TV Ltd, the first publicly traded cable TV provider in Taiwan, which operates in domestic markets including New Taipei City and Kaohsiung City.

Between Jan 9 and 11, A-Sonic Aerospace : BTJ 0% CEO Janet LC Tan acquired 17,000 shares for a consideration of S$11,680 at an average price of S$0.69 per share. This took her direct interest in the company from 61.05 per cent to 61.07 per cent and followed her acquisition at S$0.65 per share Dec 29 and Jan 5.

Tan has gradually increased her total interest in A-Sonic Aerospace from 53.35 per cent at the end of 2018. With over 20 years of extensive experience in the aviation industry, she is also the promoter-founder of A-Sonic Aerospace.

Between Jan 9 and 11, Singapore Shipping Corporation executive chairman Ow Chio Kiat acquired 40,000 shares at S$0.25 per share. With a consideration of S$9,925, this increased Ow’s total stake in the company from 42.62 per cent to 42.63 per cent. With a career spanning 60 years, Ow also serves as the executive chairman of Stamford Land Corporation. Singapore Shipping Corporation is a spin-off from Stamford Land Corporation (formerly known as Hai Sun Hup Group) when the latter de-merged its shipping and logistics businesses in 2000 to concentrate on its hotel and property businesses.

On Nov 10, Singapore Shipping Corporation reported its revenue for the first half of FY23 (ended Sep 30) decreased 0.1 per cent from H1 FY22, to US$23.2 million. The group noted it had continued to record stable results in both its ship owning and agency and logistics segments, and continues to evaluate acquisition opportunities, highlighting that net of cash, Singapore Shipping Corporation maintains no gearing.

On Jan 4, Eneco Energy : R14 0% executive director Colin Moran acquired four million shares at S$0.01 per share. This increased his direct interest in the company from 0.05 per cent to 0.22 per cent. Eneco Energy is the holding company of RichLand Logistics in Singapore and Indonesia, and has been in the logistics services sector since 1992 under the brand of Richland Logistics. The company is actively exploring to grow its logistics business, strengthen its market position and look into business diversification for new markets.

Moran was promoted to the role of CEO and executive director of Eneco Energy in 2019 after 10 years with the group, where he was responsible as CEO for the running of its logistics business unit.

He joined the group in 2010 and has been a key driver in the geographical expansion of RichLand and the transformation of the business into a true third-party logistics, contract logistics and supply chain management company. He has over 30 years of experience, expertise, and leadership and prior to joining Eneco Energy worked for one of the world’s largest logistics organisations for 20 years.

On Jan 4, 2023, Eneco Energy announced it had been removed from the list of Singapore-listed companies required to perform mandatory quarterly reporting as of Oct 31, 2022. This means the company will cease quarterly reporting with immediate effect. Its FY22 (ended Dec 31) financial results are scheduled to be released on or before Mar 1, followed by the H1 FY23 (ended Jun 30) financials to be released on or before Aug 14. The cessation of quarterly reporting was due to the company receiving an unqualified audit report for its FY21, as stated in the FY21 Annual Report.

In addition, the findings by the Independent Reviewer were announced by the company on Jul 8, 2022. This follows the Singapore Exchange (SGX) adopting a risk-based approach for quarterly reporting effective Feb 7, 2020.  Eneco Energy has been on the SGX Watch List (Financial Criteria) as per the watch list rules found in Part V of Chapter 13 of the SGX-ST Listing Rules Manual since Dec 4, 2019. The company has been granted a 12-month extension of time until Dec 1, 2023, to meet the requirements for removal from the watch list. 

On Nov 11, Eneco Energy reported revenue for the first nine months of FY22 of S$33.4 million, which was S$4.6 million higher than the S$28.8 million achieved in the first nine months of FY21. This was attributable to contributions from the logistics segment, where revenue has been derived from numerous contracts and services across Singapore and Indonesia.

In Q3 2022, the group disposed its oil and gas business and successfully placed out 1,660,000,000 ordinary shares at the issue price of S$0.009 per share, and 1.66 billion warrants, with total proceeds of S$16.6 million. The group added in its industry outlook that it would be looking out for new revenue and profit streams that will be sustainable in the mid-to-longer term.

RichLand Logistics employs over 900 staff, fulfilling more than 40,000 deliveries each month. RichLand Logistics is also equipped with a modern transport fleet of more than 400 trucks and trailers, and manages more than 1,500,000 square feet of warehousing capacity. The company maintained a market capitalisation of S$25 million as of Jan 12.

On Jan 4, iWOW Technology : NXR 0% substantial and controlling shareholder Kau Wee Lee acquired 20,000 shares of the Catalist-listed company at an average price of S$0.24 per share. Kau Wee Lee maintains a 47.09 per cent direct interest in the technology provider, with a 1.88 per cent deemed interest due to shares held by her husband, Soo Kee Wee. iWOW Technology is an Internet-of-Things solutions provider, specialising in smart tracking, smart metering and smart nation applications. Soo is the chairman and non-executive director of iWOW Technology.

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