Stocks to watch: SPH Reit, ESR-Reit, Q&M Dental, Cheung Woh Technologies, Capital World

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

SPH Reit: Retail landlord SPH Reit on Thursday reported a 2.1 per cent rise in distribution per unit to 1.46 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended Aug 31, up from 1.43 cents a year ago. Gross revenue rose 10.2 per cent year on year to S$58.37 million on the back of contributions from The Rail Mall in Singapore and Figtree Grove Shopping Centre in Australia, which were acquired in June and December last year respectively. Units in SPH Reit closed unchanged at S$1.11 on Thursday.

ESR-Reit: ESR-Reit has netted gross proceeds of S$50 million from a more than twice oversubscribed preferential offering, with no additional units alloted beyond the original amount it had set out to raise. The funds include sponsor ESR Cayman's acceptance of its alloted 8.8 million units, or about S$4.5 million based on the issue price of 51 Singapore cents per unit.  ESR-Reit's units, which are trading ex-dividend, closed down one cent or 1.9 per cent to 52.5 cents on Thursday. 

Q&M Dental: Dental Group Q&M has agreed to sell a 36 per cent stake in its associate Aidite (Qinhuangdao) Technology for net proceeds of S$49 million, the Catalist-listed company announced in a bourse filing on Thursday. Q&M currently owns 48.2 per cent of Aidite via its subsidiary Q&M Aidite International. Q&M plans to use part of the proceeds to declare a special dividend, subject to regulations and market conditions. The proceeds will also be used for working capital and business expansion. Shares of Q&M closed at 49 Singapore cents on Thursday, down one cent. 

Cheung Woh Technologies: Law Kung Ying, the chief executive of mainboard-listed Cheung Woh Technologies, will retire from the top job on Feb 28, 2020 due to health reasons. He will be replaced by his brother Law Kung Ming. The leadership change comes as the hard disk drive (HDD) components maker faces hard times. Cheung Woh saw earnings fall 87.4 per cent to S$106,000 for Q2 FY2020 ended August, hit hard by weakness in sales of its HDD products. This translates to an earnings per share of 0.04 cent, down from 0.28 cent a year ago. Shares of Cheung Woh closed at 14 Singapore cents on Thursday, down 1.4 cents.

Capital World: The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has queried Catalist-listed Capital World on the sustainability of entering a cycle of loans with increasing interest rates and high arranger fees. In a bourse filing on Thursday, SGX noted that Capital World plans to use about 90 to 95 per cent of the S$5.5 million from an Oct 3 convertible loan agreement (CLA) to repay another outstanding convertible bond. The Oct 3 CLA has a 15 per cent annual coupon. 

Transit-Mixed Concrete: Watch-listed Transit-Mixed Concrete saw losses from its continuing operations narrow 13 per cent to S$733,000 for H1 FY2019 ended August, amid continued challenges in the construction industry. This translates to a loss per share of 1.05 Singapore cents for the half-year, compared to the 1.21 cents loss per share a year ago. Shares of Transit-Mixed Concrete closed flat at 8.4 cents on Thursday.