Stocks to watch: Keppel, CDLHT, CapitaLand Ascott Trust, Thomson Medical, Japfa 

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Monday (Jan 27): 

Keppel : The company was granted a licence by the US to build a 20,000 km subsea cable system linking Singapore to the US. Keppel on Friday said it is co-developing the Bifrost Cable System with Edge Cable Holdings USA and Telekomunikasi Indonesia International. Keppel chief executive officer Loh Chin Hua said the successful deployment of Bifrost, expected to be ready for commercial service in the second half of this year, is set to “generate attractive returns” for Keppel and its private-fund co-investors. Shares of Keppel closed 1.6 per cent or S$0.11 higher at S$6.81 last Friday.

CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT) : Its managers on Monday posted a distribution per stapled security (DPS) of S$0.0281 for the second ended Dec 31, 2024, down 11.9 per cent from the previous corresponding period. The decline comes amid lower contribution from residential property in Manchester, higher interest costs, lower net property income, as well as absence of a one-off capital distribution. Stapled securities of CDLHT ended on Friday flat at S$0.865.

CapitaLand Ascott Trust (Clas) : The stapled group posted a 7 per cent fall in DPS to S$0.0355 for the second half ended Dec 31, 2024, from S$0.038 in the year-ago period. This brings DPS for FY2024 to S$0.061, down 7 per cent year-on-year. The distribution for H2 will be paid out on Feb 28, after the record date on Feb 6. Stapled securities of Clas ended on Friday 0.6 per cent or S$0.005 higher at S$0.88.

Thomson Medical : The hospital operator said on Friday that it expects a loss after tax for the first half of its financial year ended Dec 2024, after a preliminary review of its unaudited financial results. This is mainly due to poorer performance of its Malaysia market partly from the termination and discounts of certain insurance contracts. More details of its H1 financial performance will be disclosed on or before Feb 14, it said. Shares of Thomson Medical closed flat at S$0.049 on Friday, before the announcement.

Japfa : Relatives of Japfa’s founder are offering to privatise the agri-food company at an offer price of S$0.62 apiece. This is a 34.8 per cent premium to Japfa’s last traded price on Jan 15 and a 12.7 per cent premium to its net asset value per share as at Sep 2024. Japfa on Friday said that this is an opportunity for shareholders to realise their investments at a premium to prevailing market prices and that the move is set to give the offerors and the company’s management more flexibility to manage and grow the business. Shares of Japfa closed at S$0.53 on Friday, down S$0.015 or 2.8 per cent, before the announcement.