DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 7 Nov 2019

Singapore Real Estate

Younger, older HDB resale flats see slower price decline in Q3
The price slide of both younger and older flats slowed in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2018, OrangeTee & Tie said on Wednesday in its latest quarterly report on HDB trends. According to the report, younger flats are defined as those less than 10 years old, while older flats are defined as those 40 years and above.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/younger-older-hdb-resale-flats-see-slower-price-decline-in-q3
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/slower-price-decline-for-younger-and-older-hdb-resale-flats-in-q3

Faster check-in at Singapore hotels with new facial recognition technology
Checking in to a hotel can be a laborious process involving hotel staff manually examining travel documents but a new automated system under way here promises to get guests their room keys much more quickly. The system – called E-Visitor Authentication (EVA) – will help do away with those manual processes and reduce hotel check-in time by up to 70 per cent.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/faster-check-in-at-singapore-hotels-with-new-facial-recognition-technology
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/faster-check-in-at-spore-hotels-with-latest-tech
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/checking-into-spore-hotels-to-be-a-breeze-with-automation

Companies’ Brief

FLT’s DPU may be up or down, depending on choice of currency payout
Frasers Logistics and Industrial Trust’s (FLT) distribution per unit (DPU) rose 2.2 per cent to 1.82 Australian cents for its fourth quarter ended Sept 30, from 1.78 Australian cents in the same period last year. However, in Singapore-dollar terms, DPU fell by 2.8 per cent to 1.73 Singapore cents, from 1.78 cents previously, the real estate investment trust (Reit) said on Wednesday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/flts-dpu-may-be-up-or-down-depending-on-choice-of-currency-payout

SingHaiyi sinks into the red with Q2 net loss of S$4.6m
Property developer SingHaiyi Group has swung to a net loss of S$4.6 million for its second quarter ended Sept 30, from a profit of S$7.7 million a year earlier. This was mainly due to a slide in revenue from the decrease in recognised contributions for several projects. Finance costs for the quarter was also over seven times that of the year-ago period.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/singhaiyi-sinks-into-the-red-with-q2-net-loss-of-s46m

First Reit keeps Q3 DPU steady at 2.15 cents
Healthcare real estate investment trust First Reit will pay out a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.15 Singapore cents for the third quarter, unchanged from the same period the year before, manager Bowsprit Capital Corp said on Wednesday. Distributable income was up by 1.3 per cent year on year to S$17.2 million for the three months to Sept 30, even as net property income slipped by 2.5 per cent to S$28.2…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/first-reit-keeps-q3-dpu-steady-at-215-cents

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Eagle Hospitality Trust’s saga raises question mark over adequacy of IPO disclosure rules
There is always an element of opportunism to initial public offerings (IPOs). It’s natural for companies to want to fetch the best price they can get for their assets. But once a company becomes a public company, it also owes a duty to shareholders to be as forthcoming with information as possible, even if it is negatively perceived.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/eagle-hospitality-trusts-saga-raises-question-mark-over-adequacy-of-ipo-disclosure

When financial services sneeze, rest of the economy catches a cold
There is an old colloquialism in business that “when financial services sneeze, the rest of the economy catches a cold”. This may be particularly relevant if the symptoms relate to risk management, corporate culture and remuneration. When it comes to executive pay levels, incentive plans and risk adjustments (such as clawback and malus provisions), banks and insurance companies tend to lead the general market…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/when-financial-services-sneeze-rest-of-the-economy-catches-a-cold