Sunny Verghese ups Olam stake; OUE, Hong Fok lead buybacks

FOR the 5 trading sessions that spanned Jul 1 to 7, the Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.9 per cent, with the FTSE China A50 Index declining 0.8 per cent, the Hang Seng Index declining 0.2 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declining 1.4 per cent.

Overall, institutions were net sellers of Singapore stocks over the 5 sessions with S$58 million of net outflow, following S$194 million of net outflow for the preceding 5 sessions.

CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust : C38U 0%, OCBC : O39 0%, Keppel Reit : K71U 0%, Jardine Cycle & Carriage : C07 0% and Hongkong Land Holdings : H78 0% led the net institutional outflows for the 5 sessions through to Jul 7.

Meanwhile, DBS : D05 0%, Singtel : Z74 0%, Wilmar International : F34 0%, Mapletree Logistics Trust : M44U 0% and Keppel Corporation : BN4 0% led the net institutional inflows for the 5 sessions through to Jul 7.

Share buybacks

There were 16 primary-listed stocks conducting share buybacks over the 5 sessions ended Jul 7, with a total consideration of S$4.4 million, down from the S$27.3 million previous week’s consideration tally.

OUE : LJ3 0% and Hong Fok Corporation : H30 0% led the consideration tally, buying back shares at average prices of S$1.32, and 98.0 Singapore cents respectively.

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Director and substantial shareholder transactions

The 5 trading sessions saw close to 80 changes to director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for more than 30 primary-listed stocks. This included 25 company director acquisitions with 4 disposals filed, while substantial shareholders filed 13 acquisitions and 2 disposals.

AEM Holdings

The Employees Provident Fund Board’s (EPF) deemed substantial shareholding in AEM Holdings : AWX 0% crossed above the 7.00 per cent threshold on Jul 4. The EPF’s interest in AEM Holdings crossed back above the 5.00 per cent substantial shareholder threshold on Jun 9, then above the 6.00 per cent threshold on Jun 21.

Olam Group

On Jul 4, Olam Group : VC2 0% executive director, co-founder and group chief executive officer (CEO) Sunny Verghese acquired 500,000 shares of the company at an average price of S$1.54 per share, with a consideration of S$771,100, increasing his direct interest in Olam Group from 4.31 per cent to 4.32 per cent.

His preceding acquisitions between May 27 and Jun 2 saw him acquire 2 million shares at an average price of S$1.52 per share.

On Jul 1, the Olam Group announced the International Finance Corporation (IFC) agreed to provide a loan of up to US$200 million to Olam Agri.

The loan will be used to finance the purchase of wheat, maize and soya from Canada, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and the United States for delivery to the company’s processing operations, and customers in developing countries that rely heavily on imports of these staple foods. These include Bangladesh, Cameroon, Chad, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Thailand and Turkey.

Olam Agri is the food, feed and fibre agribusiness subsidiary of Olam Group and the project is part of IFC’s global efforts to address food insecurity, especially for poor and vulnerable populations that adversely impacted by food inflation.

Audience Analytics

On Jun 30, Audience Analytics : 1AZ 0% executive director Ryan Ooi Keim Fung acquired 1.92 million shares of the company in a married deal at 25.0 cents per share. With a consideration of S$480,000, this took his direct interest in the Catalist-listed company to 1.14 per cent.

As a non-executive director of Bain Equity, the controlling shareholder of Audience Analytics, Ooi also maintains a deemed interest of 84.54 per cent in the company, taking his total interest to 85.68 per cent.

On Jun 27, the company announced it had entered into an agreement to purchase the intellectual property (IP) rights for the prestigious Golden Bull Award, which complements the company’s existing award programme’s IP portfolio that includes the notable HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia and SME100.

EC World Reit

On Jul 1, EC World Asset Management’s executive director and CEO Goh Toh Sim acquired 231,100 units of EC World Reit : BWCU 0% (ECW) at an average price of 42.1 cents per unit. With a consideration of S$97,406, this increased his direct stake in ECW from 0.10 per cent to 0.13 per cent.

Goh has over 26 years of experience in the management of industrial parks, real estate development and business management in China. Prior to joining the manager, he was the chief representative in China for Keppel Corporation where he was responsible for government relations and business development.

On Jul 6, ECW announced it had extended the maturity of outstanding onshore and offshore facilities to Apr 30, 2023, with the refinancing exercise ongoing. With the announcement, Goh added that unlike the residential sector in China, which is still experiencing headwinds, the e-commerce and logistics sectors in China are resilient.

He added that ECW’s assets are mature e-commerce and logistics assets that are generating stable returns for investors in terms of regular quarterly distributions since its initial public offering (IPO).

UMS Holdings

On Jul 5, UMS Holdings : 558 0% executive director Stanley Loh Meng Chong acquired 75,000 shares of the company at S$1.09 per share. With a consideration of S$81,750, this increased his direct interest in the precision engineering group from 0.09 per cent to 0.11 per cent. Loh joined the company in September 2008 as group financial controller, and then appointed as an executive director in June 2010.

Back on May 10, UMS Holdings reported a record-breaking profitable performance for Q1 2022, surpassing S$20 million in quarterly profit for the first time.

Geographically, the group’s key markets except for Taiwan grew significantly in Q1, with Malaysia sales growing 240 per cent year on year, driven by higher material distribution sales and consolidation of JEP Holdings : 1J4 0%’ tooling distribution revenue.

Singapore sales also surged 75 per cent due to higher sales for semiconductor integrated systems, increased components for new equipment as well as consolidation of JEP Holding’s semiconductor component business.

UMS Holdings is expected to report its Q2 results in mid-August.

A-Sonic Aerospace

On Jun 30, A-Sonic Aerospace : BTJ 0% CEO Janet LC Tan acquired 81,000 shares of the company for a consideration of S$55,591, at an average price of 68.6 cents per share. This took her direct interest in the company from 60.01 per cent to 60.12 per cent. She has gradually increased her total interest in A-Sonic Aerospace from 53.35 per cent at the end of 2018.

Tan has over 20 years of extensive experience in the aviation industry, with her responsibilities at A-Sonic Aerospace including the setting of the overall long-term business direction, developing business strategies, and implementing growth strategies for the A-Sonic Aerospace and its subsidiaries.

Effective Jun 30, A-Sonic Aerospace was removed from the SGX-ST Watch-List with its average daily market capitalisation exceeding the required S$40 million over the 6 months since Nov 12, 2021.

Uni-Asia Group

Between Jul 4 and 7, Uni-Asia Group : CHJ 0% executive chair Michio Tanamoto acquired 250,000 shares of the company at an average price of S$1.02 per share. With a consideration of S$254,500, this took his direct interest from 3.56 per cent to 3.88 per cent. Appointed the executive chair of the group in April 2020, Tanamoto is one of the founders who established the company in 1997 and has been a director since then.

On Jul 5, Uni-Asia Group executive director Yukihiro Toda also acquired 30,000 shares of the company at an average price of S$1.06 per share. With a consideration of S$31,749, this increased his deemed interest from 0.12 per cent to 0.16 per cent. Toda joined the group in 1998, and has been chief investment officer of Uni-Asia Capital (Japan) since February 2000, responsible for overall real estate fund management business and property investment business in Japan.

Challenger Technologies

Between Jun 29 and Jul 4, Digileap Capital acquired 64,800 shares of Challenger Technologies : 573 0% at 56.0 cents per share. With a consideration of S$36,288, this increased the deemed interest of non-executive non-independent director Keith Tan Keng Soon in Challenger Technologies from 15.08 per cent to 15.10 per cent. This followed his acquisition of 104,400 shares also at 56.0 cents per share on Jun 27.

The Straits Trading Company

Between Jul 1 and 6, The Straits Trading Company : S20 0% independent and non-executive director Chua Tian Chu acquired 10,000 shares of the company at an average price of S$2.84 per share. This followed his acquisitions of 5,000 shares at S$2.92 per share on Jun 17, 7,000 shares at S$3.00 per share on Jun 13, and 5,000 shares at S$3.05 per share on Mar 8.

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