DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 9th and 10th August 2018

Top Story

We can reimagine Singapore with bold and creative planning: PM Lee
Singapore needs a strong economy and sound government finances to help build the country for the next 50 years, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Message. “We are not done building Singapore yet,” he said. “By planning boldly and creatively, we can reimagine Singapore, remake our heartlands and rejuvenate our communities.”
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/we-can-reimagine-singapore-with-bold-and-creative-planning-pm-lee
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/bold-creative-planning-key-to-reimagining-the-future-pm
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/pm-lee-national-day-message-kampung-admiralty-10600380
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-push-despite-external-uncertainties-pm-lee

Singapore Economy

Infrastructure gaps in region mean business for Singapore SMEs
If you were to order a can of Coke on a remote holiday island in the Philippines at midday, chances are it won’t be cold. With no central source of electricity, most food and retail establishments on such off-grid islands run on portable diesel generators, which are switched on for a mere four hours a day to cool their refrigerators.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sme/infrastructure-gaps-in-region-mean-business-for-singapore-smes

For Singapore startups, India is a land of fintech opportunities
A huge 1.3 billion population, strong government support for going cashless, and an “existential crisis” faced by traditional financial institutions (FIs), are among the factors that make India a promising land for Singapore fintech startups, The Business Times has learnt. As many as five Singapore fintech startups have set up shop in India or sold their solutions to companies in India in the last five years, according to Enterprise Singapore, the government agency championing enterprise development and internationalisation.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/startups/for-singapore-startups-india-is-a-land-of-fintech-opportunities

Singapore Real Estate

Latest cooling measures to bite harder than earlier ones: CDL
The group chief executive of City Developments Ltd (CDL), Sherman Kwek, says the impact of the property cooling measures rolled out last month will be rather different from that in the 2010-to-early-2013 period. Despite successive rounds of cooling measures being rolled out during those years, private home buyers managed to get round the negativity and continue pushing on, he recalled.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/latest-cooling-measures-to-bite-harder-than-earlier-ones-cdl

Singapore private home rents steady; boost expected from curbs, en-bloc sales
Rents for condominiums and private apartments continued to stabilise last month while the more volatile rents for HDB flats reversed direction and rose, with both markets enjoying a pickup in activity, according to a report yesterday. Flash estimates from real estate portal SRX Property show rents for non-landed private homes saw no month-on-month change in July after inching down 0.1 per cent in June.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-private-home-rents-steady-boost-expected-from-curbs-en-bloc-sales
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/condo-rents-hold-steady-hdb-rents-up-1

Tapering Singapore office supply gives landlords room to increase rents
Singapore — Singapore’s office market is in the early stages of a recovery as tapering office supply and strong pre-commitment levels have caused the office vacancy rate to decline, offering landlords higher bargaining power to increase rents. “Office rent is expected to increase by 20 to 25 per cent between 2018 and 2020, of which 12 to 16 per cent is expected in 2018,” said Ms Regina Lim, head of capital markets research at JLL in South-east Asia, adding that prime office rents have already risen by 6 per cent in the first half.
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/tapering-singapore-office-supply-gives-landlords-room-increase-rents

Latest property-cooling measures may present buying opportunities: CapitaLand CEO
Singapore — Singapore’s latest round of property curbs are probably enough to cool the market, and may present buying opportunities, the head of the Republic’s biggest developer said. “With the recent property curbs, we see new situations, new opportunities arising,” CapitaLand chief executive Lim Ming Yan said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday (Aug 8).
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/latest-property-cooling-measures-may-present-buying-opportunities-capitaland-ceo

12,600 households to benefit from S$33m lift replacement programme
Singapore: Three estates – Sembawang, Woodlands and Admiralty – will have 280 lifts replaced ahead of schedule under the Sembawang Town Council’s Lift Replacement Programme (LRP). In a press release on Thursday (Aug 9), the town council said that it will be footing the S$33 million bill for the programme from its Lift Replacement Fund (LRP).
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/12-600-households-to-benefit-from-s-33m-lift-replacement-10602522

Companies’ Brief

CapitaLand hits home run with capital recycling; posts 4.4% rise in Q2 earnings
Having achieved its annual capital recycling goal of S$3 billion half a year early, CapitaLand will continue to seek opportunities to unlock further value in its assets and reinvest the proceeds in new properties, its chief executive Lim Ming Yan said at the property developer’s results briefing on Wednesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/capitaland-hits-home-run-with-capital-recycling-posts-44-rise-in-q2-earnings
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/capitaland-records-44-rise-in-q2-net-profit
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/capitaland-q2-net-profit-up-4-4–full-year-capital-recycling-10599294

CDL gunning for recurring Ebitda of S$900m in 10 years
Property and hotels group City Developments, which posted stronger second quarter and first-half bottomlines, has set a 10-year target to grow its annual recurring earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to S$900 million. In the first half of this year, recurring Ebitda was S$290 million. For FY2017, the figure was nearly S$600 million.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/cdl-gunning-for-recurring-ebitda-of-s900m-in-10-years
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/cdls-q2-earnings-surge-80-on-strong-home-sales
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/cdl-posts-79-5-rise-in-q2-profit-on-the-back-of-strong-sales-10598848

Far East Hospitality sees room for variety as it grows
Mid-tier hotel operator Far East Hospitality’s chief executive Arthur Kiong acknowledges the rosy statistics for the hospitality industry: tourism arrivals were up to 17.4 million last year and hotel occupancy this year hovers around the mid-80s. Pointing to Singapore Tourism Board (STB) figures that show average room rates for the mid-tier segment between January to May standing at S$168.20, after falling from S$184.90 to S$167 between 2014 and 2017, he said a recovery could happen this year.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/far-east-hospitality-sees-room-for-variety-as-it-grows

Frasers Property’s Q3 profit up by 8.6%, anchored by recurring income
Recurring income from investment properties continued to anchor Frasers Property’s operating results as it posted a net profit of S$198.1 million for the third quarter, up 8.6 per cent from a year ago. Revenue fell 2.7 per cent to S$1.36 billion, but it continued to be supported by maiden contributions from the industrial and logistics parks in continental Europe and business parks in the UK.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/frasers-propertys-q3-profit-up-by-86-anchored-by-recurring-income
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/frasers-propertys-q3-profit-gets-lift-from-recurring-income

Fragrance Group’s net profit up 20.5% in Q2
Fragrance Group posted a net profit of S$5.38 million for its second quarter, up 20.5 per cent from a year ago. Revenue went up 62.5 per cent to S$56.8 million, on account of higher contributions from its City Gate development project in Singapore, rental revenue from commercial properties, and full quarter hotel operations income from ibis Styles Hobart, in Australia, which commenced operations in July 2017.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/fragrance-groups-net-profit-up-205-in-q2

Oxley to sell Tokyo property for 855.2m yen
Oxley Holdings announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Godo Kaisha Oxley Tokyo is selling its Akasaka property to three individual buyers for an aggregate price of 855.2 million yen (S$10.5 million). The property located at Lot Number 1603, Akasaka 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo comprises an 11-storey strata-titled residential building with total floor area of 623.89 square metres, sited on freehold land with a total area of 165.28 square metres.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/oxley-to-sell-tokyo-property-for-8552m-yen

PropNex Q2 net profit up 3.9% despite IPO-related costs
Real estate agency PropNex has turned in a second-quarter showing spurred on by the property price recovery in the first half of 2018. Net profit stood at S$4.2 million for the three months to June 30, an increase of 3.9 per cent on the previous year, according to unaudited results released on Wednesday. The company said that earnings, including minority interests, would have grown by 26 per cent from S$4.6 million to nearly S$5.8 million if S$1.1 million in listing-related expenses were excluded.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/propnex-q2-net-profit-up-39-despite-ipo-related-costs

Courts Asia warns of net loss in Q1
Courts Asia warned of net loss for its first quarter ended June 30, due to new consumer protection regulations that impacted the group’s Malaysia business as well as impact from higher impairment levels and the adoption of FRS 109 Financial Instruments (FRS 109) on the Indonesia business.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/courts-asia-warns-of-net-loss-in-q1

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Caught in the crossfire of trade tensions
The trade tensions between the US and China – the world’s largest and second-largest economies, respectively – are escalating. US President Donald Trump last month accelerated the risk of a trade war by more than doubling planned tariffs to 25 per cent on US$200 billion in Chinese imports in a bid to nudge China to re-think its behaviour.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/caught-in-the-crossfire-of-trade-tensions

Heady days: Use of drones to detect defects on HDB blocks takes flight
Singapore: It’s a bright, sunny day and you’re just stretching out to open your windows to let the warm rays into the house when you see a drone staring right back at you. Some residents, living in one of four Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks in Jurong East, could have experienced that recently.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/technology/heady-days-use-of-drones-to-detect-defects-on-hdb-blocks-takes-10599070