Stocks to watch: OCBC, Oxley, Genting, Ascendas Hospitality Trust, OUE C-Reit, Maxi-Cash

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

OCBC Bank: The bank posted a first quarter net profit of S$1.23 billion for the three months ended March 31, up 11 per cent from S$1.11 billion a year ago. OCBC said this was underpinned by growth across its banking, wealth management and insurance franchise, the Singapore lender said in a regulatory filing on Friday. The last of the three local banks to report Q1 results, OCBC said total income for the first quarter rose 15 per cent to S$2.68 billion, from S$2.33 billion a year ago. Shares closed on Thursday at S$11.31, down 13 Singapore cents.

Oxley Holdings: Raffles Place property Chevron House has a market value of S$787 million as of end-June last year, the property company said on Thursday in response to Singapore Exchange queries while revealing more details about the sale conditions. It added that the Oxley unit that owns the property, Oxley Beryl, has a net tangible asset value of S$106.6 million and an enterprise value of S$1.025 billion. Oxley closed at S$0.30 on Thursday, 1.5 Singapore cents or 4.76 per cent lower before the announcement was made.

Genting Singapore: The integrated resort operator Genting Singapore on Thursday saw first-quarter net profit decline 5 per cent to S$205.5 million, as gaming revenue fell. Earnings per share for the first quarter ended March 31 stood at 1.7 Singapore cents, down from 1.8 cents last year. The company's shares closed unchanged at S$0.95 on Thursday before the results were announced.

Ascendas Hospitality Trust: The hospitality trust on Thursday posted a 2.9 per cent year-on-year rise in distribution per stapled security (DPS) to 1.77 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended March 31, driven by full-quarter contribution from the five hotels acquired during the year. Q4 DPS was further lifted by lower net finance costs and a partial distribution of the proceeds from the trust's divestment of its two hotels in Beijing. Units closed flat at 92 Singapore cents on Thursday before the results were released.

OUE Commercial Reit: OUE C-Reit on Thursday posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of 0.90 Singapore cent for the first quarter ended March 31. This was 47.5 per cent higher than the restated DPU of 0.61 cent for Q1 2018, which was restated to include new units issued in October 2018. Units of OUE C-Reit closed at S$0.50 on Thursday, up 0.5 Singapore cent or 1.01 per cent before the results were announced.

Frencken Group: The mainboard-listed technology solutions provider posted a double-digit jump in first-quarter earnings, as sales in the seasonal industrial automation segment made up for the slump in semiconductor-related revenues. Net profit came in 27.2 per cent higher for the three months to March 31 at S$8.6 million, on a 14.7 per cent year-on-year increase in turnover to S$159.1 million, it announced on Thursday. The counter closed flat at S$0.615 on Thursday before the results were released.

Maxi-Cash Financial Services: The pawnbroker's first-quarter net profit rose 55.2 per cent to S$2.8 million from the preceding year, helped by a decrease in operating expenses such as foreign exchange losses, it announced on Thursday. Revenue for the three months ended March 31 fell 13.5 per cent to S$46.6 million from the previous year, primarily due to lower sales from the retail and trading of jewellery and branded merchandise business. Maxi-Cash shares finished S$0.005 or 3.9 per cent higher at S$0.135 on Thursday.

Amendment note: In a previous version of this story, we reported that OCBC's Q1 income rose to $2.68 million, it is in fact S$2.68 billion. We are sorry for the error.