ST Index maintains 3,300 level; director buys vs sells at 5:1

THE five trading sessions spanning July 28 to Aug 3 saw the STI maintain its dividend-inclusive return for the 2017 year to date at 18.7 per cent, compared to an average 10.9 per cent return for the benchmarks of Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.

Over those five sessions, almost 50 stocks lodged 100 changes in director interests and/or substantial shareholders. The ratio of filed director acquisitions to disposals was five to one, while there was a similar number of acquisitions and disposals filed for substantial shareholders.

Six stocks conducted share buybacks over the five sessions with a total consideration of S$4.3 million, just over half of the buyback consideration of S$7.9 million during the five preceding sessions. OCBC bought back 160,000 shares on Aug 3 at S$11.27 per share, taking its number of shares bought back since the April 28 mandate to 8.36 million.

On July 28, Aspen Group listed on Catalist with a market capitalisation of S$199.3 million and offer price of S$0.23 per share. The Malaysia-based property development group is focused on developing affordable residential and mixed development properties at strategic locations. The group's flagship project, Aspen Vision City, is a 245-acre freehold mixed development project located in Penang's third satellite city.

Substantial shareholder transactions

On July 26, Prudential Singapore Holdings increased its substantial shareholding in Cache Logistics Trust to 6.02482 per cent (from 5.75711 per cent). This was by virtue of Prudential's deemed interest in the units which are managed by its subsidiary as a fund manager. The acquisition involved the purchase of 2,417,800 units of the Industrial Reit at an average price of S$0.9141 per unit.

On July 27, Aberdeen Global reduced its stake in Bukit Sembawang Estates to 4.9779 per cent (from 5.0208 per cent), selling 111,100 shares at an average price of S$6.7923 per share. Global Long Short Master Ireland, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs Group, also reduced its direct interest in Accordia Golf Trust from 11.00 per cent to 10.87 per cent with a disposal of 1.5 million units of the business trust at S$0.715 per unit.

Tung Lok Restaurants (2000)

On Aug 1, non-independent and non-executive director Sam Goi increased his total stake in Tung Lok Restaurants (2000) with the purchase of 691,200 shares at S$0.1648 per share, his largest purchase of the stock so far in the year to date.

Through 14 transactions since March 21, Mr Goi has increased his total stake in the company from 18.213 per cent to 19.375 per cent.

These 14 transactions included 13 purchases by Tee Yih Jia Food Manufacturing, totalling 2,814,900 shares at an average price of S$0.1380 per share, in addition to the purchase of 377,000 shares by Mr Goi at S$0.1180 per share on March 21.

Mr Goi is the executive chairman of the Tee Yih Jia Group - a global food and beverage group with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, the US, Europe and China. Mr Goi is also the executive chairman of regional developer GSH Corporation.

Tung Lok Restaurants (2000) owns and manages restaurants that specialise in Chinese cuisine in Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, China and Vietnam.

In the 2017 year to date, the stock has doubled in price to S$0.215 (as at the Aug 3 close). For its FY2017 which ended March 31, Tung Lok reported diluted EPS of 0.15 cents compared to 0.22 cents in FY16.

The company provided a corporate and business update on July 31 which highlighted its efforts to bring promising brands to new geographical markets, expand services and capabilities to offer greater convenience and further streamline operations.

The Tung Lok Group was established in 1984 by award-winning gourmand, and its current president and CEO, Andrew Tjioe. Through direct and deemed interests, Mr Tjioe maintains a 39.06 per cent stake in Tung Lok Restaurants (2000).

First Sponsor Group

On July 31, First Sponsor Group chairman Calvin Ho acquired 250,000 shares of the stock at S$1.36 per share. Mr Ho was appointed non-executive chairman in April 2015 and had previously served as the non-executive vice-chairman since Oct 1, 2007.

For the month of July, Mr Ho purchased a total 800,000 shares of First Sponsor Group at an average price of S$1.3397 which increased his stake in the group from 45.05 per cent to 45.19 per cent.

First Sponsor Group (with its subsidiaries and associated companies) is a mixed property developer and owner of commercial (including hotel) properties in the People's Republic of China and the Netherlands, and a provider of property financing services in the PRC.

Back on July 26, the group reported diluted EPS of 4.00 cents for H1 FY2017, up 13.3 per cent year on year. In the FY2016 Annual Report, Mr Ho noted that while 2017 was likely to be another challenging year for businesses in general, he said that the group remained ready to capture any good opportunities with its robust balance sheet, while remaining on the lookout for growth opportunities in the Netherlands, PRC and other regions. With the H1 FY2017 results, group CEO and executive director, Neo Teck Pheng reiterated this message, noting the group's then cash balance of S$379.7 million and un-utilised committed credit facilities of S$408.7 million.

mm2 Asia

Independent director Thomas Lei purchased 200,000 shares of mm2 Asia on July 27 at S$0.52 per share. This effectively doubled Mr Lei's stake in mm2 Asia from 0.02 per cent to 0.04 per cent.

Mr Lei's preceding purchase of 100,000 shares was on May 25, 2016 at S$0.59 per share, which was in addition to 85,700 share awards granted under the mm2 Asia share performance plan on May31, 2017.

Mr Lei is a partner of Lawrence Chua Practice LLC, was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 1989 and has been in active practice ever since, primarily advising on commercial law and litigation matters.

The largest shareholders of mm2 Asia include CEO Melvin Ang with a 39.88 per cent stake and STI constituent, StarHub, with a 9.83 per cent stake. Headquartered in Singapore, mm2 Asia is a producer of films and TV/online content.

The stock has a market capitalisation of S$605 million, P/E of 28x, and has gained 13 per cent in the 2017 year to date. For its financial year ended March 31,2017 (FY2017) the group reported diluted EPS of 0.0180 cents, comparable to 0.0181 cents in FY2016.

Today, mm2 Asia will transfer from the Catalist board to the Mainboard, and Hong Leong Group's appointment as Sponsor of mm2 Asia will cease.

Institutional flows

According to SGX fund flow data for July 28 through to Aug 3, the STI constituents that saw the largest amount of institutional inflows were Singapore Airlines (+S$30.3 million), Singtel (+S$29.4 million) and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings (+S$26.7 million). CapitaLand Mall Trust, United Overseas Bank and Singapore Press Holdings were subject to the largest outflows in the same period.

Non-STI stocks subject to the largest institutional inflows were Venture Corp, Wing Tai Holdings and Singapore Post, while the largest outflows were logged to Mapletree Commercial Trust, United Engineers and Rowsley.