Stocks of F&B players can be a defensive play

Singapore

RISING operating costs eating into margins as well as a lack of international presence for some are among the factors weighing on the share prices of the listed food & beverage players (F&B) on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) as investor attention appears to have waned.

Based on information compiled by SGX, shares in the 10 biggest restaurant or food court operators, which have a market capitalisation of close to S$2 billion, returned an average of -1.2 per cent since the start of the year, just underperforming the benchmark Straits Times index (STI), which has seen a 0.32 per cent gain over the same period.