Stocks to watch: Sats, Hotel Properties, Manulife US Reit

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Friday (Jan 10):

Sats : The company and its wholly owned subsidiary Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) have clinched 14 new cargo and ground-handling contracts from Air India in major airports around the world. The group landed these deals in a global tendering process, which also saw Air India renew 11 existing contracts with the in-flight caterer and ground handler and WFS. Shares of Sats closed 1.1 per cent or S$0.04 lower at S$3.62 on Thursday, before the news.

Hotel Properties Limited (HPL): Property tycoon Ong Beng Seng has acquired 150,000 shares in the company via an off-market transaction for S$3.58 per share, bumping his stake to 60.22 per cent. Ong, the founder and managing director of HPL, now holds a deemed interest in about 206.5 million shares of the company. The counter closed 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$3.55 on Thursday, before the announcement.

Manulife US Reit : The portfolio value of the real estate investment trust (Reit) fell by 9.3 per cent or US$116.6 million to US$1.1 billion as at end-December 2024 as a result of higher discount rates and terminal cap rates for some properties, as well as weak occupancy performance across US office submarkets. On Friday, the manager said it expects the Reit to report a loss for FY2024 from fair-value losses arising from the valuation decline. The counter ended 1.1 per cent or US$0.001 higher at S$0.093 on Thursday.