DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 1st & 2nd May 2019

Singapore Real Estate

New Halal Hub to cost up to S$100m
Elite Partners Capital and the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SMCCI) have entered into a strategic partnership to develop a 600,000 square foot Halal Hub in the western region of Singapore. The project is estimated to cost between S$80 million and S$100 million, with construction taking about two years to complete.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/new-halal-hub-to-cost-up-to-s100m

Collapse of Hillview, Joo Chiat projects stokes fears of more small developers going bust
In what is likely the first case of a Singapore developer going bust since the Asian Financial Crisis, the party behind two unfinished projects have been put under receivership – sparking fears that there may be other such cases. The Business Times understands that three partners of KPMG led by Bob Yap are acting as receivers for the projects…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/collapse-of-hillview-joo-chiat-projects-stokes-fears-of-more-small-developers

Oxley confirms S$1.025b sale of Chevron House
Property developer Oxley Holdings announced on Tuesday that it had signed a deal to sell Chevron House for up to S$1.025 billion, just 16 months after acquiring the prime office building in Raffles Place for S$660 million. Oxley said that on April 29, it entered into a sale-and-purchase agreement (SPA) with Golden Compass (BVI) for the latter to buy the entire interest in its wholly-owned subsidiary Oxley Beryl, and take over the existing bank loans for an aggregate value of up to S$1.025 billion.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/oxley-confirms-s1025b-sale-of-chevron-house
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/oxley-inks-deal-to-sell-chevron-house-for-1025b

Winter has come for property loans
The property cooling measures are starkly biting, with housing loans growth decelerating to its weakest pace since at least 1992, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Tuesday showed. Growth in mortgages stood at just 0.9 per cent in March from a year ago to S$203.4 billion, suggesting that new housing loans are being taken up at a slower pace than that of the housing loans paid off by consumers.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/winter-has-come-for-property-loans

Some shop owners resistant as Queensway Shopping Centre gears up for collective sale
A number of shop owners at Queensway Shopping Centre have banded together to resist the proposed collective sale of the 45-year-old development, even as residents at the adjacent housing apartment Queensway Tower seem geared up for a sale. This is the first time the mixed development site – which sits on a land area of about 100,000 sq ft.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/queensway-shopping-centre-en-bloc-shop-owners-resistant-11491862
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/queensway-shopping-centre-en-bloc-attempt-faces-challenge-shop-owners

Singapore Economy

Singapore manufacturers, services firms less upbeat about next 6 months
Manufacturing and services firms in Singapore have become less optimistic about business prospects in the next six months, although both sectors expressed overall slight positive sentiment, two surveys released on Tuesday have found. The surveys, covering firms’ expectations for April till September, were released by the Economic Development Board (EDB) for the manufacturing sector, and the Department of Statistics (Singstat) for services.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-manufacturers-services-firms-less-upbeat-about-next-6-months-0
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/spore-manufacturers-services-firms-less-upbeat-on-outlook-for-next-6-months

Companies’ Brief

Ascott Reit posts 7% rise in Q1 DPU
Better operating performance, lower financing costs and a higher one-off realised exchange gain boosted Ascott Residence Trust’s (Ascott Reit’s) distribution per unit (DPU) for its first quarter. For the three months ended March 31, DPU rose 7 per cent to 1.45 Singapore cents, from 1.35 Singapore cents a year ago. Net income before changes in fair value rose 4 per cent to S$34.8 million.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/ascott-reit-posts-7-rise-in-q1-dpu

CapitaLand’s Q1 net profit falls 7.4% to S$295.6 million
Lower contributions from its China and Singapore residential projects, as well as lower writeback of impairments, took a toll on CapitaLand’s first quarter results. Its net profit for the three months ended March 31 fell 7.4 per cent to S$295.6 million. This decline was mitigated by gains from asset recycling and revaluation of a property in China, the group said on Tuesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/capitalands-q1-net-profit-falls-74-to-s2956-million

CDL pays S$77.7m for 12.4% of IREIT Global and 50% of trust manager
City Developments Limited (CDL) has paid S$77.7 million to acquire a 12.4 per cent stake in IREIT Global and half of the European property trust’s manager. CDL, a Singapore-listed property developer, bought the 50 per cent stake in trust manager IREIT Global Group (IGG) for S$18.36 million from Tikehau Capital, a pan-European alternative asset management and investment group.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cdl-pays-s777m-for-124-of-ireit-global-and-50-of-trust-manager
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/cdl-pays-78m-for-124-of-ireit-global-and-50-of-trusts-manager

CDL Hospitality Trusts’ Q1 DPU down 3.7%
Total distribution per stapled security (DPS) for CDL Hospitality Trusts (CDLHT) declined 3.7 per cent to 2.09 Singapore cents for the first quarter to March 31, from 2.17 Singapore cents a year ago. Total distribution to stapled securityholders, after retention for working capital, stood at S$25.3 million, down 3 per cent year on year. Revenue shrank 10.6 per cent to S$46.3 million for the first quarter…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cdl-hospitality-trusts-q1-dpu-down-37

Ho Bee’s Q1 earnings hit by lower recognition of Shanghai sales
Lower sales and profit recognition from its residential development project in Shanghai, as the project is almost fully sold, caused Ho Bee Land’s first-quarter net profit to fall 44 per cent to S$27.7 million, the company said on Tuesday. The year-on-year decline in net profit was primarily due to a drop in the share of profits from associates amounting to S$4.3 million, from S$28.5 million a year ago, it said.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/ho-bees-q1-earnings-hit-by-lower-recognition-of-shanghai-sales

Asean+3 to remain resilient, with growth slowing slightly: AMRO report
Supported by strong economic fundamentals and space to manage fiscal policy as needed, the Asean+3 region is expected to remain resilient over the next two years, with the pace of growth slowing only slightly in 2019 from the previous year. In its annual flagship report set to launch on Wednesday in Fiji, the Singapore-based Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) projected…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/asean3-to-remain-resilient-with-growth-slowing-slightly-amro-report

Eight Roads Ventures hires Dave Ng to head South-east Asia
Eight Roads Ventures, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International, has hired Dave Ng from B Capital as its head of South-east Asia with immediate effect. Mr Ng will be based in the Eight Roads Singapore office set up in October last year. He will help the firm to enhance ongoing efforts in the region to back entrepreneurs of early-growth and growth-stage businesses…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/eight-roads-ventures-hires-dave-ng-to-head-south-east-asia

Manulife US Reit raises US$94 million
Manulife US Reit has raised US$94 million by issuing 114.1 million new units at US$0.824 apiece. The issue price represents a 5.29 per cent discount to the unit’s closing price of US$0.87 on Tuesday. The real estate investment trust (Reit) said that the latest private issuance exercise was oversubscribed with strong participation from existing unitholders and new institutional investors.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/manulife-us-reit-raises-us94-million

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Sustaining Asean resilience amid global economic worries
Despite ongoing US-China trade tensions, the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) seems to have developed a certain level of immunity to the current economic concerns facing the world economy. A miniature ecosystem of intra-regional trade between diverse markets, Asean’s trade is somewhat insulated from the larger effects of world superpower tensions. However, work remains to be done to ensure that the region maintains its immunity and continues to work towards a stronger logistics network.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/sustaining-asean-resilience-amid-global-economic-worries

Climate change: Radical Marketing the way to go
Here is a reality: successful organisations today could see drastic financial declines in the future because they didn’t invest in the green innovations necessary to ensure sustainable living for future generations. How would your stakeholders react to such a scenario? Climate change is an existential threat. Take into account that 97 per cent of climate scientists agree that mankind’s activities for the past 100 years have helped accelerate climate change…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/climate-change-radical-marketing-the-way-to-go

Shifting facilities below ground: City planners must find out what lies beneath the surface
Ever taller buildings used to be the way to go when urban planners ran out of land in growing cities. No longer. Increasingly, they are breaking new ground by digging deeper underground and finding new ways to free up the precious space above. Overcrowding is eased and the cities become more liveable, not least through ease of travel and more room for open-air recreational facilities.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/going-underground-singapores-new-frontier

New rules for e-payments: 5 things to note when using e-payment services
A new set of e-payment guidelines will kick in on June 30, making reckless e-payment users fully liable for unauthorised transactions if they cannot prove they have taken steps to protect themselves. The rules – dubbed E-Payment User Protection Guidelines – may serve as a reference for the Payment Services Act, which may take effect by the end of the year.
https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/new-rules-for-e-payments

Work trends change, but a strong labour movement still crucial
Strong labour movement remains crucial to Singapore – even as the future of work looks very different, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his May Day Message for this year. Mr Lee called on unions to continue to be constructive and cooperative with employers and government – as they have done in the past 50 years to deliver better incomes for workers and steady progress for the country.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/work-trends-change-but-a-strong-labour-movement-still-crucial

Disability inclusion is a win-win, achievable goal
For all of the progress that Singapore has made over the years, the country remains a laggard when it comes to employing persons with disabilities (PWDs). But hiring PWDs need not be a daunting task for businesses, advocates for the disabled tell The Business Times. Thanks to the ample resources on inclusive hiring now available to employers and the many options they can choose from to create accessible workplaces, disability inclusion is doable for everyone to the mutual benefit of all parties.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/disability-inclusion-is-a-win-win-achievable-goal

Call for tripartite partners to ensure growth is inclusive
Even as Singapore pursues economic growth, the Government, unions and employers must ensure that growth remains inclusive, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat yesterday. In particular, lower-wage workers, seniors and those who had left the workforce early warrant special attention, he said, calling on the labour movement to consider what more can be done for their well-being.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/call-for-tripartite-partners-to-ensure-growth-is-inclusive

Close relationship between PAP, NTUC helped Singapore weather early crises: DPM Heng
Singapore might not have weathered its early crises or industrialised so rapidly were it not for the close relationship between the People’s Action Party and NTUC, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat. Faced with the threat of massive job losses in the early years of independence, the Government had to act decisively to welcome investors, industrialise and create jobs, said Mr Heng in his first May Day Rally speech on Wednesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/close-relationship-between-pap-ntuc-helped-singapore-weather-early-crises-dpm
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/tripartite-model-has-helped-spore-weather-crises-heng