Stocks to watch: M1, Moya, Yangzijiang, Chip Eng Seng, Ramba Energy, No Signboard, FCT

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

M1: Keppel Corporation and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) will compulsorily acquire all the remaining shares they do not already own in telco M1 at the offer price of S$2.06 apiece, after which they will delist the company. As at 5pm on Wednesday, Keppel and SPH, through their joint venture firm Konnectivity, holds 92.2 per cent of all the shares in the company. This came after the offer first crossed the 90 per cent threshold last week, causing M1 to lose its free float. M1 shares closed down one Singapore cent at S$2.05 on Wednesday.

Moya Holdings Asia: The water treatment company on Wednesday said its executive director, Simon Melhem, will be redesignated as a non-executive and non-independent director of the company, as he intends to pursue his personal interest outside the group. Mr Melhem will also be appointed as a member of the audit committee and the remuneration committee. Shares in the company closed at 7.5 Singapore cents apiece on Wednesday, down 1.3 per cent, or 0.1 Singapore cent.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding: The shipbuilder responded to queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on several points in its financial results for FY18 on Wednesday, including a 233 million yuan (S$47 million) write-off of trade and other receivables. It explained that a provision was for advance payment to a supplier which ran into financial difficulties and had ceased operations. The company said that it plans to recover part of the advance payment via legal proceedings against the supplier, which commenced in mid-2018. Yangzijiang shares closed down two Singapore cents on Wednesday at S$1.38.

Chip Eng Seng: Its wholly owned subsidiary CES Treasury on Wednesday launched its S$100 million 6 per cent notes due 2022. The Series 004 notes guaranteed by Chip Eng Seng are part of its S$750 million multi-currency debt issuance programme, to be issued on March 15, 2019 and mature on March 15, 2022. The notes will be issued at a price of 100 per cent of their principal amount and in denominations of S$250,000, bearing interest at a fixed rate of 6 per cent per annum payable semi-annually in arrear. Chip Eng Seng shares closed up one Singapore cent at S$0.775 on Wednesday.

Ramba Energy: The Indonesia-focused oil & gas exploration and production company on Wednesday responded to queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on its unaudited financial results for FY18. It clarified that its increase in other receivables (current) was mainly due to increase in receivables from its joint venture partner of S$3.3 million, increase in sundry receivables of S$1.3 million and increase in deposits of S$4.4 million. It also said that the decrease in other payables (current) was mainly due to lower cash calls advanced from a joint venture partner. Its shares closed down 0.1 Singapore cent at S$0.09 on Wednesday.

No Signboard Holdings: The seafood restaurant operator on Wednesday responded to queries from the Singapore Exchange on the rationale behind the significant restatement in its financial numbers after the adoption of actual group accounting principles for its first quarter 2018 results. In February, the group reported a net loss for the fiscal first quarter ended Dec 31, 2017, significantly worse than the S$1.4 million net profit it had initially reported under the old accounting rules. No Signboard shares closed down 0.4 Singapore cent at S$0.096 on Wednesday.

Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT): Moody's Investors Service has placed the trust's "Baa1" issuer rating under review for downgrade. This comes after FCT announced that it had entered into 12 conditional sale-and-purchase agreements to acquire a 17.13 per cent stake in PGIM Real Estate AsiaRetail Fund for S$342.5 million. PGIM Fund owns and manages six retail malls in Singapore, one office property in Singapore and four retail malls in Malaysia. Trading in its units closed down two Singapore cents at S$2.26 on Wednesday.

MMP Resources: The construction company announced after trading hours on Wednesday that its application for a time extension to satisfy requirements for removal from the financial watch-list has received approval from the Singapore Exchange (SGX). It has been on the watch list since March 3 2016, following the notice of three consecutive years of losses. MMP Resources was granted an extension of up to 12 months to March 1, 2020 to meet listing rules. Its shares last closed flat at S$0.004 on Wednesday.