Stocks to watch: Keppel, Oxley, Great Eastern, Micro-Mechanics

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

Keppel Corp: Keppel Corp is selling a 70 per cent interest in a Vietnam township project to Nam Long Investment Corp for 2.3 trillion Vietnamese dong (S$136 million) in cash. Keppel Land, Keppel's real estate arm, is in the process of taking over complete control of Dong Nai Waterfront City LLC from its current joint venture partner in the project through a demerger. The deal is conditional upon certain conditions precedent being fulfilled, such as the completion of the demerger and regulatory approval. Shares in Keppel Corp closed flat at S$6.20 apiece on Friday.

Oxley Holdings: Oxley's wholly owned subsidiary, Oxley Docklands Quay Three Limited, and National Asset North Quays DAC have agreed to sell 268 residential units in Ireland to Greystar Europe Holdings for 175.5 million euros (S$270.8 million). Sale completion is targeted for Feb 27, 2019. The counter closed unchanged at S$0.29 on Friday.

Great Eastern (GE): The insurer which is majority owned by Singapore lender OCBC, has entered into a share and purchase agreement to divest a minority stake in Indonesia insurance firm, QBE Indonesia for some US$1.4 million. The buyer, PT Suryasono Sentosa, will receive a 5 per cent stake in QBE Indonesia following the transaction, which is subject to approval by Indonesia's financial services authority and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Shares in Great Eastern closed at S$26.65 on Friday, down 1.1 per cent or S$0.30, while shares in OCBC last traded at S$11.47 apiece, up 0.5 per cent, or six Singapore cents.

Micro-Mechanics Holdings: Amid moderation in the global semiconductor industry, Micro-Mechanics posted a 20 per cent fall in net profit to S$3.1 million for the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2018, down from S$3.9 million in the year-ago period. This was on the back of a 3.1 per cent fall in revenue to S$15.2 million, compared to S$15.6 million last year. Earnings per share for the quarter were 2.25 Singapore cents, compared to 2.81 Singapore cents in the preceding year. Micro-Mechanics will pay an interim dividend of four Singapore cents per share on Feb 18, the same amount as was paid out in the year-ago period. Micro-Mechanics shares closed down one Singapore cent or 0.59 per cent at S$1.69 on Friday.

Trading halts: China Kangda Food Company on Monday morning requested a trading halt, pending the release of an annoucement. The counter last traded at 7.6 Singapore cents apiece on Jan 23.

Oil and gas company Rex International also called for a trading halt on Monday morning before the market opened. The counter closed at 8.1 Singapore cents on Friday, up 0.2 Singapore cent.