DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 16 Jul 2020 (Thu)

Singapore Real Estate

Condo, HDB rents slide further in June: SRX
Rents for private apartments and Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats continued their decline amid the Covid-19 outbreak, according to flash data released by real estate portal SRX Property on Wednesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/condo-hdb-rents-slide-further-in-june-srx
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/condo-hdb-rents-continue-decline-amid-pandemic

June new condo sales more than double on pent-up demand, foreigner buying
Developers in Singapore sold 998 new private homes in June, 105 per cent more than May’s 486, on pent-up demand and an increase in foreign buying as show galleries reopened. Despite the surge, buyers are choosing to remain prudent, with affordable homes making up over 90 per cent of units sold.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/june-new-condo-sales-more-than-double-on-pent-up-demand-foreigner-buying
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/new-private-home-sales-post-surprise-rebound

Green Court in Geylang relaunched for en bloc sale; owners expect more than S$28m
Green Court, a freehold mixed-use development along Geylang Road, has been relaunched for collective sale by tender, sole marketing agent Knight Frank Singapore said on Wednesday. It was previously launched for sale by tender in January, with owners also expecting offers above their S$28 million reserve price.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/green-court-in-geylang-relaunched-for-en-bloc-sale-owners-expect-more-than-s28m

Redevelopment of Marina Bay floating platform to start in 2022
The redevelopment works on The Float @ Marina Bay are scheduled to start in March 2022 and be done by end-2025, the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said on Wednesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/redevelopment-of-marina-bay-floating-platform-to-start-in-2022

Lazada helps South-east Asia’s malls go online
Clobbered by the crushing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of retailers from Bangkok to Singapore have rushed to set up online shops on big e-commerce platforms to stay afloat this year. Now, entire shopping malls are going virtual for the first time.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/lazada-helps-south-east-asias-malls-go-online

Singapore Economy

Casinos can’t survive on local ‘revenge gamblers’ alone
Singapore’s tourism attractions were given the go-ahead to reopen their doors this month – but the litmus test for the integrated resorts (IRs) will be whether their core casino operations can be sustained by domestic punters.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/casinos-cant-survive-on-local-revenge-gamblers-alone

Companies’ Brief

ESR-Reit and Sabana Reit propose merger
A union may be on the cards for ESR-Reit and Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (Sabana Reit), the latest in a string of consolidations in the Singapore real estate investment trust (S-Reit) universe.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/esr-reit-and-sabana-reit-propose-merger
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/industrial-property-landlords-esr-reit-and-sabana-reit-propose-merger

ESR-Reit cuts first-half DPU to 1.162 S cents
The distribution per unit (DPU) of ESR-Reit fell by 42.2 per cent to 1.162 Singapore cents for the half year ended June 30, 2020, from 2.011 cents in the year-ago period. The lower DPU was mainly due to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent “circuit-breaker”…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/esr-reit-cuts-first-half-dpu-to-1162-s-cents

Sabana Reit’s DPU for H1 tumbles 65.7% to 0.47 S cent
Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust’s (Sabana Reit) distribution per unit (DPU) fell 65.7 per cent to 0.47 Singapore cent for the half year ended June 30, 2020 from 1.37 Singapore cents a year ago.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sabana-reits-dpu-for-h1-tumbles-657-to-047-s-cent

Keppel bags two FPSO contracts worth S$73m
Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) has, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries in Singapore and Brazil, secured two contracts worth a combined value of about S$73 million. The contracts were awarded by Modec Offshore Production Systems (Singapore), a subsidiary of Tokyo-listed Modec Inc, which provides floating solutions for the offshore oil and gas industry.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/keppel-bags-two-fpso-contracts-worth-s73m
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/keppel-secures-two-vessel-contracts-worth-73m

Axe falls on Resorts World jobs; MBS not expected to be spared
Resorts World Singapore (RWS) held a “one-off workforce rationalisation” on Wednesday – just two weeks after the integrated resort (IR) reopened. A spokesperson declined to say what roles were axed and how many staff were affected, citing “business and team members’ confidentiality”.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/axe-falls-on-resorts-world-jobs-mbs-not-expected-to-be-spared
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/rws-retrenches-staff-to-cope-with-devastating-covid-19-fallout

Sembcorp unit sells 30% stake in Sichuan innovation park developer for S$138.8m
A subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries has agreed to sell a 30 per cent equity interest it holds in Sino-Singapore (Chengdu) Innovation Park Development Co (SSCIP) worth RMB 691.3 million (S$138.8 million), the mainboard-listed company said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sembcorp-unit-sells-30-stake-in-sichuan-innovation-park-developer-for-s1388m

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Pandemic-induced recession demands a different response
The recession that Singapore has now officially entered is unprecedented in many ways – not least its staggering scale, with a record 12.6 per cent plunge in gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of the year, according to advance estimates.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/pandemic-induced-recession-demands-a-different-response

Modest recovery likely as S’pore economy emerges from Covid-19 doldrums
Singapore’s economy is heading out of the Covid-19 doldrums and will continue to reopen and recover, but job losses are likely to persist. With the fundamental cause of the slump – the curbs imposed to contain the coronavirus – largely removed, economic activity in Singapore is set to improve.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/modest-recovery-likely-as-spore-economy-emerges-from-covid-19-doldrums

Business leaders must retain focus as Asia’s ‘riskscape’ evolves
While Asia-Pacific businesses are better prepared to address the adverse financial impacts of climate risk than global peers, a survey of chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) of the world’s biggest companies (that is, US$1 billion or more in annual revenue) showed that only four out of 10 businesses say they are fully prepared to address these impacts.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/business-leaders-must-retain-focus-as-asias-riskscape-evolves

There’s a pilot for the Asean travel bubble. Here is how to make it work.
The recently announced reciprocal green lane agreement between Singapore and Malaysia is a small but significant step forward, not just bilaterally but also in the broader context of how countries in South-east Asia can safely reopen their borders amid an ongoing pandemic.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/theres-a-pilot-for-the-asean-travel-bubble-here-is-how-to-make-it-work

Finding opportunities in a crisis
When life throws you a curveball, catch it. It could mean the difference between succumbing to a business crisis and rising above it with new insights and opportunities. That has been the experience of the four startups featured in Friday’s issue of Weekend magazine.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/weekend/finding-opportunities-in-a-crisis

Update on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Situation

Apple store, Bugis+ among places visited by patients
Apple Orchard Road is among the new places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were still infectious, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday. Tekka Centre and Bugis+ are also new additions to the list of places visited by infectious patients.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/apple-store-bugis-among-places-visited-by-patients

Coronavirus: Singapore’s testing rate is tops in Asean, with over 1m swabs done
As at July 13, Singapore has tested over one million swabs from around 520,000 people for Covid-19.Based on data on the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) website, about 143,000 swabs were tested between July 6 and 13. Testing is one of Singapore’s key strategies to contain the spread of the coronavirus here, as it allows for the early detection and ring-fencing of cases before they infect others.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/spores-testing-rate-is-tops-in-asean-with-over-1m-swabs-done

Eateries pull out all the stops to ensure customer safety
From rolling out digital menus to providing diners with antiseptic wipes for their cutlery, eateries here are doing what they can to keep Covid-19 away. A spokesman for the Restaurant Association of Singapore, which has more than 470 members, told The Straits Times that food and beverage (F&B) operators are complying with regulations, such as putting up signs to remind customers of safety measures like safe distancing.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/eateries-pull-out-all-the-stops-to-ensure-customer-safety
*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