DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 13 Nov 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Singapore real estate offers best Asia-Pac bets: report
Singapore’s real estate now offers the best investment prospects in the Asia-Pacific but investors will have to work hard to clinch their prized asset. Not surprisingly Hong Kong fared the worst, ranking 22 out of 22 cities in the region, according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia-Pacific 2020 report, by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-real-estate-offers-best-asia-pac-bets-report
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/spore-tops-region-for-property-investment-prospects

Singapore condo resale prices extend climb in October: SRX
Resale prices for non-landed private residential properties in Singapore continued their rise in October following an increase in September, while volumes picked up from a slight dip, according to flash figures from real estate portal SRX Property on Tuesday. Condominium resale prices rose 0.8 per cent in October from the previous month, faster than the 0.4 per cent increase in September following three straight…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-condo-resale-prices-extend-climb-in-october-srx-0
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/condo-resale-prices-up-08-last-month-srx

HDB launches 4,571 BTO flats for sale, mostly in Tengah
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) launched 4,571 new Build-To-Order (BTO) flats for sale in the year’s last and biggest BTO exercise on Tuesday. Also up for sale are 3,599 flats under the Sale of Balance Flats scheme in mature and non-mature estates, such as Bishan and Clementi. This brings the total number to 8,170, which is also the biggest HDB flat launch in 2019.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/hdb-launches-4571-bto-flats-for-sale-mostly-in-tengah
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/8170-new-flats-on-offer-in-years-biggest-hdb-launch
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/first-bto-flats-in-ang-mo-kio-in-3-years-set-to-be-highly-sought-after
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/hdb-bto-sbf-launches-8-170-new-flats-november-sales-exercise-12085230
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/hdb-launches-8170-new-flats-including-4571-bto-units-tengah-ang-mo-kio-and-tampines

Singapore property portals face double-edged sword in regional expansion
Real estate portals in Singapore are being squeezed by hefty costs on the one hand and the lack of scale on the other, but the solution they seek – looking to the region for scale – may add further short-term pain. PropertyGuru’s short-lived journey towards an initial public offering in Australia last month had laid bare the financials of the market leader in the portal space in South-east Asia.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/singapore-property-portals-face-double-edged-sword-in-regional-expansion

Singapore Economy

Retail sales slip for 8th straight month in Sept
Takings at the till fell for the eighth consecutive month in September, but the decline could stabilise soon, analysts said. Retail sales slipped 2.2 per cent compared with the same month last year – less than the 4 per cent drop in August and better than the 3 per cent fall expected by analysts polled by Bloomberg.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/retail-sales-slip-for-8th-straight-month-in-sept
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/infographics/retail-sales-down-22-in-sept

Companies’ Brief

CDL Q3 net slides 33.7% on impairment losses
Impairment losses arising from two hotels and transaction costs from Millennium & Copthorne Hotels’ (M&C) delisting last month dragged down City Developments Limited’s (CDL) third-quarter bottom line, which sank 33.7 per cent year-on-year to S$114.96 million. Stripping out the impairment and privatisation costs, profit after tax and minority interests (PATMI) would have declined by 11.4 per cent for Q3 2019…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cdl-q3-net-slides-337-on-impairment-losses

Hot stock: MNACT down 4.9% after ‘extensive damage’ to Hong Kong mall from protests
Units of Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) faltered on Wednesday morning following updates on its Festival Walk property in Hong Kong in the midst of the city’s unrest. The counter sank 4.92 per cent or six Singapore cents to S$1.16 as at 9.31am. Some 9.2 million units changed hands, making it one of the most heavily traded counters on the Singapore bourse.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/hot-stock-mnact-down-49-after-extensive-damage-to-hong-kong-mall-from-protests

UOL Q3 net profit slips 7% to S$80m on lower earnings from development
UOL Group, which posted lower third-quarter net earnings, said the “Singapore residential market has shown signs of improvement with strong underlying demand”. The group’s net profit slipped 7 per cent to S$80 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30 from S$85.7 million in Q3 FY2018, due mainly to lower profit from property development, it said on Tuesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/uol-q3-net-profit-slips-7-to-s80m-on-lower-earnings-from-development

Eyes on Oxley as Yanlord raises UE cash offer
Yanlord Land Group has raised its cash offer for United Engineers (UE) to S$2.70 per share, after scooping up 39.2 million shares or 6.15 per cent of UE in married trades done at the same price just before noon on Tuesday. The Business Times understands that the sellers are likely to be multiple accounts aggregated by a broker. Oxley Holdings, the only other shareholder in UE with a sizeable block of shares…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/eyes-on-oxley-as-yanlord-raises-ue-cash-offer
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/yanlord-raises-cash-offer-for-united-engineers-to-270-per-share-from-260

Oxley reverses year-ago loss with Q1 net profit of S$12.2m
Oxley Holdings on Tuesday posted a net profit of S$12.2 million for the first quarter ended Sept 30, compared to a restated net loss of about S$655,000 a year ago. This came on the back of higher gross profit from hotels and development projects in Singapore and gains on revaluation of a property in Cambodia and mark-to-market of the derivative financial instruments, the property developer said in a…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/oxley-reverses-year-ago-loss-with-q1-net-profit-of-s122m

PropNex Q3 profit slips 15.2% to S$6.1m
Real estate agency PropNex on Wednesday posted a 15.2 per cent drop in its third-quarter net profit to S$6.1 million from S$7.2 million in the year-ago period, as it took in lower commission income while bearing higher staff costs and depreciation expenses. For the three months to Sept 30, earnings per share stood at 1.65 Singapore cents, versus 1.95 cents in the year-ago period.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/propnex-q3-profit-slips-152-to-s61m
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/propnex-q3-profit-slips-152-to-61m

Hatten Land Q1 profit jumps to RM2.6m on higher earnings from projects
Catalist-listed Hatten Land on Wednesday posted a first-quarter net profit of RM2.6 million (S$850,000) for the three months ended Sept 30, more than six times its net profit of RM424,000 in the year-ago period. Earnings per share for the quarter came in at 0.19 sen, from 0.03 sen last year.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/hatten-land-q1-profit-jumps-to-rm26m-on-higher-earnings-from-projects

Centurion posts 21% rise in Q3 net profit, makes new appointments
Net profit for Centurion Corporation rose 21 per cent to S$8.8 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, the student and worker dormitory operator said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Tuesday. Revenue rose 17 per cent to S$33.1 million on the back of new properties added to its operating portfolio as well as additional beds from an asset enhancement programme in RMIT Village Melbourne Australia and higher…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/centurion-posts-21-rise-in-q3-net-profit-makes-new-appointments

Cromwell E-Reit posts 1% rise in Q3 DPU to 1.01 euro cents
Cromwell European Reit (Cromwell E-Reit) on Tuesday reported that its distribution per unit (DPU) for the third quarter ended Sept 30 rose 1 per cent to 1.01 euro cents from one cent a year ago. This was 1.9 per cent lower than the 1.03 cents forecast in its prospectus when it listed in November 2017.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/cromwell-e-reit-posts-1-rise-in-q3-dpu-to-101-euro-cents

Dasin Retail Trust Q3 DPU falls 5.5%; to buy 2 Chinese malls from sponsor, chairman
Dasin Retail Trust, which holds five malls in China, on Wednesday posted a 5.5 per cent drop in distribution per unit (DPU) to 1.71 Singapore cents for its third quarter, down from 1.81 cents a year ago. This took into account a “distribution waiver”, through which major unitholders have waived a portion of their entitlement to distributions from the retail property trust.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/dasin-retail-trust-q3-dpu-falls-55-to-buy-2-chinese-malls-from-sponsor-chairman

Property tech startup Smarten Spaces raises US$12m from Hong Kong’s Symphony
Smarten Spaces, which offers an end-to-end digital platform for space management, has raised US$12 million in Series A funding from Hong Kong’s Symphony International Holdings. The Singapore-headquartered property tech startup digitises services for enterprise offices, commercial real estate, as well as co-working, co-living and warehousing spaces.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/garage/property-tech-startup-smarten-spaces-raises-us12m-from-hong-kong%E2%80%99s-symphony