DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 31 March 2021 (Wed)

Singapore Real Estate

S$128.8m sale of Nassim Road bungalow sets record transaction price of S$4,005 psf
A record price of S$4,005 per square foot on land area has been set in the Good Class Bungalow market for a transaction in Nassim Road. Already, some market watchers are predicting that the next bungalow to be sold in the prized location is likely to surpass this price. The benchmark psf price achieved is for a S$128.8 million transaction last month. The buyer is Jin Xiao Qun, the wife of Nanofilm Technologies International founder and executive chairman Shi Xu.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/s1288m-sale-of-nassim-road-bungalow-sets-record-transaction-price-of-s4005-psf

Shares of office landlords surge on expected return of office workers
Shares of office landlords have been gaining since the government’s announcement last week that a bigger proportion – up to 75 per cent – of staff can return to the workplace from April 5. Units of Keppel Reit on Tuesday rose 0.8 per cent to hit a one-year high of S$1.24, the highest it has been in a year. United Industrial Corp, which owns assets such as Singapore Land Tower, Clifford Centre and SGX Centre, rose 1.1 per cent to a one-year high of S$2.67, while Suntec Reit added 1.3 per cent to S$1.58, and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust gained 1.4 per cent to S$2.18.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/shares-of-office-landlords-surge-on-expected-return-of-office-workers

JTC launches Tampines North site for tender
JTC has launched a site at Tampines North for tender under the first half of the 2021 industrial government land sales (IGLS) programme. This is part of the government’s efforts to offer more choices for industrial development, said the agency in a press statement on Tuesday. Located at Tampines North Drive 5 (Plot 10), the site has a 20-year tenure and a site area of half a hectare.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/jtc-launches-tampines-north-site-for-tender

Companies’ Brief

Hong Fok says it does not plan to privatise or delist company
Property group Hong Fok, whose shares have spiked on a bullish commentary in The Straits Times, has said that contrary to what was written in the article, there was no current intention by the board to explore or undertake any privatisation or delisting. It said on Monday evening that it has been making purchases of shares in the company through on-market trades on the Singapore Exchange, under the share purchase mandate approved by shareholders at last year’s annual general meeting.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/hong-fok-says-it-does-not-plan-to-privatise-or-delist-company
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/hong-fok-says-no-privatisation-or-delisting-of-company-planned

Soilbuild Reit trust scheme court order granted; delisting expected April 14
Soilbuild Business Space Reit’s (Soilbuild Reit) trust scheme of arrangement has been sanctioned by the court on March 30, the Reit’s manager said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Tuesday night. As the trust scheme court order has been granted, trading in Soilbuild Reit units has been suspended for the purposes of determining the entitlements of unitholders, as at the record date of March 30. In Soilbuild Reit’s indicative timeline, the disposal of its Australian assets – in conjunction with the trust scheme – is expected to be completed on March 31.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/soilbuild-reit-trust-scheme-court-order-granted-delisting-expected-april-14

SPH’s H1 net profit up 26.1% as non-media segments see improvement
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) had on Tuesday posted a 26.1 per cent increase in net profit to S$97.9 million for the half year ended Feb 28, due to improvements in its non-media business segments as the economy recovers gradually. Operating profit rose 16.6 per cent to S$119.8 million despite a 11.5 per cent dip in operating revenue to S$417.1 million.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sphs-h1-net-profit-up-261-as-non-media-segments-see-improvement
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/sph-posts-979m-net-profit-as-it-recovers-from-pandemic

SPH undergoing strategic review to ‘consider options for its various businesses’
Singapore Press Holdings is undergoing a strategic review “to consider options for its various businesses”, the firm announced on Tuesday after market close. “While SPH’s Media business continues to face a challenging operating environment and outlook, the board of directors believes that SPH remains undervalued and the objective of the strategic review is to unlock and maximise long-term shareholder value,” said SPH, which publishes The Business Times.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sph-undergoing-strategic-review-to-consider-options-for-its-various-businesses
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/sph-shares-jump-on-strategic-review

Banyan Tree shares hit 52-week high on hopes of Thai tourism rebound
The shares of Singapore-listed resorts operator Banyan Tree Holdings, which had eight hotels and six spas in in its Thailand portfolio as at last December, have been rallying lately. Last Friday, the counter closed at a 52-week high of S$0.39, with this optimism possibly linked to the recent easing of travel restrictions in Thailand.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/banyan-tree-shares-hit-52-week-high-on-hopes-of-thai-tourism-rebound

Sabana Reit manager says going beyond ‘business as usual’ is outside its purview
Activist unitholders’ calls for going beyond “business as usual” are outside the power or discretion of the manager board to fulfil, the manager of the Sabana Shari’ah-Compliant Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (Sabana Reit) said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Tuesday night. The Reit manager’s “clarification announcement” was made in response to various issues raised via e-mail, letters and public releases by investment funds Quarz Capital Management and Black Crane Capital, which collectively hold about 13 per cent of the total units of Sabana Reit.

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

To end pandemic, vaccines need to be distributed fairly to all countries
It is just over a year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak as a global pandemic. While the rate of infections are still a problem in many countries, not to mention the emergence of new variants of the virus that occur through mutations, there is some light at the end of the tunnel with the development and rollout of different types of vaccines. In Singapore, community cases are down to zero on most days in recent weeks, although there are still new imported cases – usually in the teens – on a daily basis.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/to-end-pandemic-vaccines-need-to-be-distributed-fairly-to-all-countries

Pandemic can’t end without the vaccination of kids
The United States’ coronavirus vaccine roll-out has finally hit its stride, with well over two million doses administered daily. Soon, vaccines will be available to all adults who want them. Children are the next vaccination frontier. When it comes time to vaccinate them, the same urgency and large-scale coordination efforts driving adult vaccination must continue if we want to sustainably drive down Covid-19 cases and ultimately end the pandemic.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/pandemic-cant-end-without-the-vaccination-of-kids
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/children-and-covid-19-the-next-vaccination-frontier-0

Centres ease foreign workers in safely
A pilot scheme to centralise the on-boarding process for migrant workers who arrive here will help smoothen their entry into the country, reassure Singaporeans who worried about how dormitories turned out to be flashpoints of infections during the early phase of the Covid-19 outbreak, and acclimatise arriving workers to health and employment conditions here. Making the pilot scheme on migrant worker on-boarding centres (MWOCs) permanent will also help Singapore to prepare better for the onset of Disease X – the next unknown infectious disease that could cause a future pandemic.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/centres-ease-foreign-workers-in-safely

Singapore takes lion’s share of venture dollars in South-east Asia
Singapore is staking a claim as the leader for venture capital dollars in South-east Asia, with tech startups in the city-state drawing in S$5.5 billion of capital over the past year, Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said on Tuesday. The S$5.5 billion is a dip from the S$8.5 billion raised in 2019, according to figures from Enterprise Singapore. Still, Dr Tan noted that amount of capital raised by Singapore startups last year was still almost three times what was received five years ago.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/singapore-takes-lions-share-of-venture-dollars-in-south-east-asia-0

Hotels in ‘shoulder season’ as arrivals, occupancy stagnate in February
The hotel industry faces a stagnant half year as visitor arrivals will see a significant upward bump only from July on, watchers suggested. Industry room revenue stood at S$58.63 million in February, lower by 13.9 per cent on January and by 69.3 per cent in the year before, the most recent data from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) showed.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/hotels-in-shoulder-season-as-arrivals-occupancy-stagnate-in-february

Travel is going to resume, but roaming revenue may not rebound
Singapore’s residents are a well-travelled bunch, it appears. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed a heavy reliance among the local telcos on roaming revenue. Citi analysts Arthur Pineda and Hussaini Saifee estimated that up to 15 per cent of Singapore mobile service revenues came from roaming contributions before the pandemic. This is well above the 2 per cent to 3 per cent in Malaysia and Thailand.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/travel-is-going-to-resume-but-roaming-revenue-may-not-rebound

Eight reasons to buy shares
The recent rise in bond yields has certainly put the cat among the pigeons. It has ruffled a few feathers by raising the spectre of inflation. More importantly, it has brought into question the purpose of central banks. Are they there to control inflation, or should they involve themselves in areas such as curbing unemployment and stimulating economic growth?
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/wealth-investing/eight-reasons-to-buy-shares

When does strong US growth get too much for Asia?
A key investor debate recently has been about the implications of stronger US growth on Asia.Under the Biden administration, additional fiscal stimulus of US$1.9 trillion has been added to the US’ growth equation. Stronger US growth typically bodes well for Asia’s exports, until markets start to worry about the impact from higher US rates and a stronger US dollar.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/wealth-investing/when-does-strong-us-growth-get-too-much-for-asia

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

26 new Covid-19 cases in S’pore, all imported
There were 26 new coronavirus cases confirmed yesterday, taking Singapore’s total to 60,347. They were all imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival in the Republic, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). All of them were asymptomatic, and were detected through MOH’s proactive screening and surveillance. There were no new cases in the community or in workers’ dormitories.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/26-new-covid-19-cases-in-spore-all-imported

Talks on vaccine cert the first step towards quarantine-less travel
Discussions on mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certification will be the first step towards re-establishing travel without quarantine or stay-home notice, said Singapore’s Ministry of Transport (MOT). In response to queries from The Straits Times, MOT said yesterday that it was looking to establish these new travel arrangements with countries and regions which have “successfully controlled the pandemic through surveillance and testing, contact tracing and social distancing measures”.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/talks-on-vaccine-cert-the-first-step-towards-quarantine-less-travel

Covid-19 lab leak possibility needs further investigation: WHO chief
Geneva • The World Health Organisation chief said a mission to study the origins of the coronavirus in China did not adequately analyse the possibility of a lab leak before it concluded that the pathogen probably spread from bats to humans via another animal. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that even though the international team of scientists determined a leak to be the least likely hypothesis for the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, it requires further investigation.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/covid-19-lab-leak-possibility-needs-further-investigation-who-chief

Trials turn spotlight on alternative ways of Covid-19 vaccine delivery
Beijing (Bloomberg, Agence, France-Presse, Reuters) – China’s recent approval of clinical trials of a Covid-19 vaccine administered by inhalation has cast the spotlight on alternative ways of delivery as the world continues to battle the pandemic. Chinese company CanSino Biologics said in a filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange on March 23 that the inhalation vaccine candidate is jointly developed with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/trials-turn-spotlight-on-alternative-ways-of-vaccine-delivery

Inhaled vaccines may be better at curbing virus spread: Experts
Covid-19 vaccines that are administered through the nose or mouth could potentially be more effective in blocking the virus at the upper respiratory tract and thus reduce its transmission, said infectious disease experts in Singapore. But the safety and efficacy of such vaccines still have to be proven in clinical trials, they stressed. The experts were commenting on Covid-19 vaccines delivered through ways other than injection, after China’s drug authority last week approved an inhaled vaccine co-developed by CanSino Biologics for clinical trials.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/inhaled-vaccines-may-be-better-at-curbing-virus-spread-experts

*For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health (MOH) website at www.moh.gov.sg and refer to go.gov.sg/mohupdates for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation