Stocks to watch: ST Engineering, CapitaLand, Keppel, Frasers Property, Riverstone, EC World Reit

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

S63: The engineering conglomerate said on Wednesday it obtained more than S$1.55 billion worth of new contracts in the first quarter. Its order book is also at a level which is higher than pre-Covid-19 figures, contributed by all business areas. Separately on Tuesday, the group said it will set up a 50-50 joint venture with Temasek to build a US$600 million portfolio of freighter aircraft in five years. Shares of ST Engineering closed at S$3.70 on Tuesday, down S$0.05 or 1.3 per cent.

C31: The property giant said its operational recovery across asset classes from the second half of 2020 has carried on into Q1 2021. In a business update on Wednesday morning, the property giant noted a continued recovery for its overall portfolio, albeit at a varied pace across geographies. Fund management fee income for the quarter also picked up year on year due to improved capital recycling. Shares of CapitaLand closed S$0.04 or 1.1 per cent lower at S$3.58 on Tuesday.

BN4 : BN4 0%: Keppel Data Centres has tied up with four other industry partners to jointly explore the development of a supply infrastructure to bring liquefied hydrogen into Singapore to power Keppel's data centres. Shares of Keppel closed flat at S$5.31 on Tuesday.

TQ5 : TQ5 0%: The property developer on Wednesday posted a net profit of S$275.8 million for the first half ended March 31, up 18 per cent from S$233.8 million the year before, although revenue was down 26.6 per cent to S$1.57 billion, largely due to lower contributions from development projects in certain markets as well as poorer operating results from the group's hospitality properties. Frasers Property announced separately that its wholly-owned subsidiary subscribed for 22.8 per cent of Series A preference shares in Ross Digital - which owns robotics cafe startup Ratio - for US$7.2 million. The counter closed at S$1.20 on Tuesday, down S$0.01 or 0.8 per cent.

AP4 : AP4 0%: The Malaysian glove maker posted a net profit of RM522.7 million (S$169.7 million) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021, about 11 times its RM46.6 million net profit recorded the year before. Revenue was RM1 billion, which represented the largest quarterly revenue for the group from at least the start of FY2017. Riverstone shares rose S$0.01 or 0.8 per cent to end Tuesday at S$1.32.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

BWCU: The real estate investment trust's distribution per unit rose 32.3 per cent to 1.532 Singapore cents for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021, from 1.158 cents the year before. Gross revenue was up by 30.9 per cent to S$30.8 million and net property income also rose 30.9 per cent, to S$27.7 million. The increases were mainly due to the absence of one-off rental rebates given to tenants to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and the strengthening of the yuan. The counter closed flat at 73.5 Singapore cents on Tuesday.

BDF: The electronics component distributor posted a net profit of US$4.4 million for the first quarter ended March 31, about 19 times its net profit for the corresponding quarter the year before, on higher demand for semiconductors on the back of accelerated technology adoption. Revenue climbed 32.9 per cent to US$336.3 million. Shares of Excelpoint ended Tuesday at S$0.63, down S$0.01 or 1.6 per cent.

OU8: The operator of purpose-built student and worker accommodations saw a 13 per cent decline in revenue year on year to S$30.7 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021. Revenue and average financial occupancy from student accommodations generally fell from the year before. Revenue from workers' accommodations were flattish; average financial occupancy decreased slightly, excluding new assets. The counter closed flat at S$0.34 on Tuesday.

5CP: The financial services enterprise tech company saw its profit after tax rise 51 per cent to RM38.7 million (S$12.6 million) for the third quarter ended March 31, despite a 7 per cent fall in revenue to RM140.9 million. Silverlake Axis shares ended Tuesday flat at S$0.24.