Stocks to watch: Chip Eng Seng, Boustead Singapore, Baker Tech, Sakae

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Friday:

Chip Eng Seng: Mainboard-listed developer Chip Eng Seng on Thursday said that it plans to do a renounceable underwritten rights issue of about 156.5 million new shares at S$0.63 each, to raise net proceeds of about S$96.3 million for its expansion plans. This will be done on the basis of one rights share for every four existing shares in the company held by shareholders. Proceeds will be used to finance the possible expansion of its property development business in Singapore and overseas, as well as to fund possible strategic investments and acquisitions in the education segment of its business, which is in line with the group's recent diversification into the education sector. The counter closed flat at 68 Singapore cents on Thursday, before this announcement.

Boustead Singapore: Boustead Singapore's subsidiary, Boustead International Heaters, has secured a contract worth about S$100 million from the oil & gas industries. The contract involves the design, engineering and supply of waste heat recovery units for a major energy infrastructure development in Europe. The latest contract raises the engineering and technology group's order book backlog to about S$823 million. This includes the unrecognised project revenue remaining at the end of June 2019, plus the total value of new orders secured since then. The counter closed half a cent lower at S$0.715 on Thursday.

Baker Technology: Oilfield services provider Baker Technology on Friday said that a claim of about US$3.7 million against its subsidiary, CH Offshore, will have a material impact on the company's cash reserves and profitability for the current financial year. CH Offshore is a vessel chartering firm, and the claim follows an arbitration brought about by three ship brokers for unpaid brokers' commissions and damages. Baker Technology noted that in the first final arbitration award made by the arbitration tribunal, the tribunal, in a 2-1 decision held in favour of the claimants, dismissed CH Offshore's counterclaims. Shares in Baker Technology closed at 42.5 Singapore cents on Thursday, up 1.2 per cent, or 0.5 cent.

Sakae Holdings: Sakae Holdings expects to record a loss for the financial year ended June 30, largely from a goodwill impairment of S$3.2 million, in connection with its purchase of a 51 per cent equity interest in Cocosa Export, the company said in a profit guidance late on Thursday night. It also saw an impairment loss of around S$2.8 million under other receivables associated with the group's investment in Cocosa Export and related entities. Cocosa Export is a Chilean frozen seafood production and trading company. Sakae Holdings last traded at 8.5 Singapore cents on Wednesday, down 0.5 cent or 5.56 per cent. The group disclosed on June 5 that it had been placed on the Singapore Exchange watch list.