Stocks to watch: OCBC, Keppel, Raffles Medical, Manulife US Reit, Sasseur Reit

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

OCBC Bank: OCBC Bank on Monday reported a net profit of S$1.21 billion for the second quarter of 2018, climbing 16 per cent from S$1.04 billion a year ago. The higher earnings were driven by strong performance across each of its banking, wealth management and insurance businesses. Strong loan growth and higher net interest margin drove second-quarter net interest income to a new high of S$1.45 billion, which was 8 per cent above the S$1.35 billion a year ago.

Keppel Corporation: Keppel Corporation, through its asset management arm Keppel Capital Holdings, has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Australian-listed retail property group Vicinity Centres to establish a new private fund which will invest an initial A$1 billion (S$1.01 billion) into property currently owned by Vicinity. Keppel also announced that, through Keppel Land China Limited, it has entered into an agreement with vendor Sichuan Shengdai Food Co to acquire the latter's stake in a 3.35 hectare (ha) plot of land in Chengdu, China for 373 million yuan (S$74.56 million).

Raffles Medical Group: Raffles Medical Group recorded nearly flat growth in its net profit for its second quarter, while revenue stayed steady. Net profit crept up 0.8 per cent to S$16.9 million from the previous year. For the three months ended June 30, revenue crept up 0.1 per cent to S$120.2 million from the preceding year, as revenue for its healthcare services division increased by 5.4 per cent, offset by a decrease of 2.3 per cent in the hospital services division.

Manulife US Reit: Manulife US Reit reported on Monday that its distribution per unit (DPU) for its fiscal second quarter declined 9.7 per cent to 1.30 US cents from 1.44 US cents for the year-ago quarter, largely due to the drag from the enlarged unit base from a preferential offering and only nine days of income contribution from its acquisitions of Penn and Phipps.

Sasseur Reit: Sasseur Reit announced a distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.587 Singapore cents in its first financial results after its mainboard listing on March 28 this year. The Reit's DPU - recorded from March 28 to June 30 - was 4.6 per cent higher than what was forecasted in its prospectus, as was its distributable income to unitholders, which at S$18.74 million was higher than the S$17.91 million forecast.