Stocks to watch: Lum Chang, Southern Alliance Mining, Metech International

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

Lum Chang Holdings: L19 The construction group on Saturday said its subsidiary, Wembley Properties, has entered into an agreement to dispose of its interest in several property assets in the UK. Based on the group's 70 per cent interest in Wembley Properties, the group expects to report a S$600,000 share of net gain from the transaction for the current financial year ending June 2022. Lum Chang shares closed unchanged at 41.5 Singapore cents on Friday.

Southern Alliance Mining (SAM): QNS On Friday the Malaysian iron-ore producer posted a more than 250 per cent jump in net profit to RM96.7 million (S$31.2 million) for the half-year ended July 31 this year, up from RM27.1 million a year ago. A final dividend of S$0.016 per share was declared for FY2021, up from S$0.006 per share declared the year before. SAM shares ended Friday at 98.5 Singapore cents, up 0.5 per cent or half Singapore cent, before the results were released.

Metech International: V3M Its wholly-owned subsidiary on Friday announced it had entered into a 51:49 joint venture (JV) with X Diamond Capital to manufacture and distribute lab-grown diamonds. The Catalist-listed group said the JV is in line with the group's strategy to expand into the environmental and sustainability business, as lab-grown diamonds are more sustainable to produce than mined diamonds. Metech shares were flat at 19.1 Singapore cents before the company called for a trading halt at 1.19pm on Friday, pending the announcement. The counter resumes trading today.