DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 25th April 2017

Singapore Economy

New NTU sports hall makes waves with innovative timber construction technology
The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on Monday officially unveiled its new S$35 million sports hall called The Wave, the first large-scale construction project in South-east Asia to use Mass Engineered Timber (MET) – an innovative timber construction technology that reduced on-site manpower for the project by 25 per cent and structural construction time by 33 per cent. This is because the building process involves assembling parts that were pre-fabricated off-site.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/new-ntu-sports-hall-makes-waves-with-innovative-timber-construction-technology
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/push-for-more-efficient-building-techniques

Singapore Real Estate

Upcoming District 9 condos to stir buying interest
Two prime condominium projects are slated to hit the market in the second half of the year amid a significant pick-up in new private homes sales recently. Analysts say the District 9 projects – GuocoLand Group’s Martin Modern and New Futura by City Developments (CDL) – are likely to interest local and foreign buyers if developers can price the units “correctly”. Cushman and Wakefield research director Christine Li believes Martin Modern will be well-received, “as the high-end residential market seems to be bottoming”.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/upcoming-district-9-condos-to-stir-buying-interest

139 Cecil Street put up for sale with S$210m price tag
139 Cecil Street, which is undergoing a major refurbishment, has been put up for sale with an indicative price of S$210 million on a completed basis. This works out to around S$2,470 per square foot (psf) based on the net lettable area (NLA) of about 85,000 sq ft post refurbishment. The property is on a site with a 99-year leasehold tenure from Aug 20, 1981, which means the balance leasehold tenure will be about 62 years when the refurbishment works are completed next year.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/139-cecil-street-put-up-for-sale-with-s210m-price-tag

Companies’ Brief

Soilbuild Q1 net shrinks 91% to S$0.4m
Net profits for Soilbuild Construction Group plunged 90.7 per cent from nearly S$4 million to S$0.4 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2017, the construction company reported on Monday. Revenue dropped 35 per cent from S$102.5 million a year ago to S$66.6 million. Soilbuild attributed the fall to several projects contributing less revenue as they neared completion.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/soilbuild-q1-net-shrinks-91-to-s04m

Viva Industrial Trust: Building manager files for liquidation
A firm that provides rental income support for a light industrial building owned by Viva Industrial Trust has gone into liquidation. The plight of facilities manager Jackson International means Viva loses a guarantee that would have protected it from any drop in rental income at Jackson Square complex in Toa Payoh until November 2019. The guarantee was from November 2014 when Viva bought Jackson Square from Jackson International.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/viva-industrial-trust-building-manager-files-for-liquidation

Mapletree Industrial Trust’s DPU up 2.5% in 4th quarter
Higher rents helped Mapletree Industrial Trust offset lower occupancy levels and post a positive set of numbers for the fourth quarter. Distribution per unit (DPU) came in at 2.88 cents, up 2.5 per cent from the same period a year ago, while gross revenue was $87.8 million, up 4.5 per cent. This was due mainly to higher rental rates at the trust’s flatted factories, high-tech buildings and stack-up/ramp-up buildings, which made up for lower portfolio occupancy a year ago.
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/mapletree-industrial-trusts-dpu-up-25-in-4th-quarter

Australian player in collaborative workspaces eyes growth in S’pore, Asia
WOTSO, an Australia-based provider of collaborative workspaces, is looking to grow its presence in Singapore and Asia, mainly through joint ventures and franchise arrangements. It first set foot in Singapore last August, taking up 950 sq m of space in The Quadrant in Cecil Street under a joint venture with local management company Springboard Pte Ltd, in which WOTSO’s parent Blackwall Limited had bought a strategic stake.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/australian-player-in-collaborative-workspaces-eyes-growth-in-spore-asia

Views, Reviews & Forum

Will Reits continue to return 10% a year?
No question about it: real estate investment trusts (Reits) are performing astonishingly well on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Investors who bought them five years ago would have enjoyed a median and average compounded annual return of about 10 per cent a year as at April 21, assuming dividends were reinvested. By contrast, the Straits Times Index (STI) was around 3,000 points five years ago. It is barely above that today. An exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking the STI would have returned just 3.9 per cent a year if dividends were reinvested.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/will-reits-continue-to-return-10-a-year

Higher rents beef up MIT’s Q4 DPU
Higher rental rates as well as revenue contributions from the first phase of a build-to-suit project for Hewlett-Packard Singapore helped to bolster Mapletree Industrial Trust’s (MIT) results for its fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017. MIT reported a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.88 Singapore cents for the quarter under review, up from 2.81 cents from a year ago, or a 2.5 per cent increase. Gross revenue edged up 4.5 per cent year on year at S$87.81 million, due mainly to higher rental rates achieved in flatted factories, hi-tech buildings and stack-up/ramp-up buildings, as well as revenue contribution from phase one of the HP project. Net property income rose 6.4 per cent to S$65.97 million, in line with higher gross revenue and slightly lower property operating expenses. The amount available for distribution increased 2.7 per cent to S$51.75 million.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/higher-rents-beef-up-mits-q4-dpu