Following consolidation in STI’s trading range, DBS believes that a breakout is expected to happen in the next 1-2 months. DBS notes that STI will break out from its 3400-3500 range. However, the directional breakout will depend on the outcome of the US-China trade skirmish and the upcoming earnings season. How should investors navigate the month of April? According to DBS, there are three investment strategies that investors can consider for the month of April. Investors Takeaway: 3 Investment Strategies To Adopt In April Hedging Against Inflation Low inflation has long been a concern in the market. However, DBS believes that inflation could rise steadily, leading to a market re-focus on inflation. This is primarily driven by the Fed raising 2019 interest forecast by 20 basis points (

REITs with overseas assets has become increasingly popular and have proliferated on the SGX in recent years. These REITs span across all sub-sectors from classes from office, retail, industrial to even data centres. As an investor, what are the things to look out for before investing in REITs with overseas assets vs those that focus on Singapore only? We won’t mention REITs that have a mix of Singapore and overseas assets, such as Suntec REIT, because they are more difficult to analyze compared to those solely with foreign or Singapore assets. This difficulty arises because the local/foreign asset mix has a differing impact on performance, risk and returns. First up, let’s see which REITs have solely foreign assets and which only have Singapore assets. Singapore Foreign Office Ca

MARKET OVERVIEW- The market could be buoyed by the influx of fund flows arising from the stronger SGD following the tightening of monetary policy last Fri. - Oil-linked counters could benefit as crude soared to a 3-year high as US stockpiles drop. - Technically, the STI has broken above its downward trend channel since 24 Jan 2018 and could retest overhead resistances at 3,570 and 3,610.CORPORATE RESULTS*Keppel REIT- 1Q18 results in line, even though DPU slipped 2.1% to 1.42¢. - Gross revenue and NPI eased to $39.7m (-0.3%) and $31.2m (-0.6%), respectively, amid weaker contribution from 275 George Street.- Portfolio committed occupancy dipped 0.3ppt q/q to 99.4%, while aggregate leverage ticked lower by 0.1ppt q/q to 38.6%.- Offers annualised 1Q yield of 4.7%, and trades at 0.86x P/B.- MK

CapitaLand Commercial Trust (SGX: C61U) is Singapore’s largest commercial real estate investment trust by market capitalisation. Its portfolio consists of 10 commercial properties located in Singapore’s central area. Some of the prominent properties include Twenty Anson, Capital Tower, and the recently acquired Asia Square Tower 2. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the REIT posted some worrying results, including a fall in gross rental income and distributions per unit, and negative rental reversions. However, beneath these headline numbers, there are some interesting developments that could potentially boost future distributions from CapitaLand Commercial Trust. Contributions from Asia Square Tower 2 Late last year, CapitaLand Commercial Trust finally completed its much-anticipated acqui

Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are the people that run companies, make critical operational decisions that impact everything from employee morale to balance sheet health to futures business direction. This job usually comes with immense pressure to perform and long-hours to get the work done. Obviously, this job is not for the faint-hearted. This also often means that they are the most handsomely paid employee in the company. In this article, we look at how much the biggest listed companies in Singapore, those on the Straits Times Index (STI), paid their CEOs in FY2017. CEO Salary In FY2017 Three companies did not divulge the remuneration of their chief executive – Jardine Matheson Holdings; Jardine Strategic Holdings; and Hongkong Land. Also Read: How Much Money Do You Actually Take

There is some change in Tax Regulations that on first glance, will affect 2 REITs listed on the SGX. Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (LMIR), an Indonesian Retail Mall trust that provides a 9.4% dividend yield, announced that the Indonesian Government passed certain amendments to the regulations regarding payment of income tax on income received or earned from land and/or building leases in Indonesia effective from 2nd Jan 2018. This means if you are like LMIR, which received or earned from land or building leases, there will be a 10% income tax on the gross amount of the land value and/or building leases. Previously, property owners such as LMIR are not liable to pay this tax charges, as its paid by LMIR’s tenants to a third party operator. This third party operator does the maintenan

The Singapore earnings season goes into full swing next week with first-quarter numbers from Keppel Corporation (SGX: BN4). In the final quarter of 2017, the industrial conglomerate posted its first ever quarterly loss. It was pushed into the red after booking a one-off penalty from a bribery case in Brazil. The company will hope that this will draw a line under its offshore and marine business. Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68) will report third-quarter numbers. In the second quarter, higher marker activity lifted earnings from equities and fixed-income trading. SGX was also able to keep expenses under control, which helped to boost earnings. In the fourth quarter CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) raised its distribution per unit by 0.7%, thanks to an improvement in gross revenues. The com

Warren Buffett is someone who actively encourages companies to buy back their shares if the conditions are right. He once opined: “What you’d like to do as an investor is hook them up to a machine and run a polygraph to see whether it’s true. Short of a polygraph the best sign of a shareholder-oriented management — assuming its stock is undervalued — is repurchases. A polygraph proxy, that’s what it is.” On that note, let’s look at three companies picked at random that have repurchased their shares thus far during the week, as of market open today. Oxley Holdings Ltd (SGX: 5UX) Oxley is a home-grown property developer and investor with a presence across 12 geographical markets, including Singapore, Indonesia, China, and the United Kingdom. On 9 and 10 April 2018, the fir

Known to be a regional Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) listing hub, the Singapore bourse recently welcomed Sasseur REIT as it made its first appearance on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange on 26 March 2018. Touted as the first outlet mall REIT to be listed in Asia, Sasseur REIT opened trading at $0.805, 0.6 percent above its offer price of $0.80 per unit. In a symbolic move, the China outlet mall operator is the first REIT to IPO this year and it attracted subscriptions that were 3.7 times the number of available units in the public tranche. In addition, the REIT marked the largest IPO to date this year, raising about $396 million in gross proceeds. But while the book building indicated a reasonable level of interest, it was not aptly hot. So, for retail investors that had “mis

CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U) is Singapore’s first and largest retail real estate investment trust (REIT). Some of the malls in its portfolio include Tampines Mall, Junction 8, and Plaza Singapura. In 2017, the REIT under-performed both the FTSE ST REIT Index (SGX: FSTAS8670), and the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI). The indices gained 20.6% and 18.1%, respectively, for the year, while CapitaLand Mall Trust’s unit price increased by just 13%. Part of the under-performance could be due to the REIT’s muted financial performance and the slowdown in the retail environment. In 2017, CapitaLand Mall Trust’s gross revenue declined by 1.1% to S$682.5 million, while net property income (NPI) dipped by 0.3% to S$478.2 million. I looked through the Growth Strategies section of Capi

Here are three things about the local stock market that you might be interested in today. 1. The Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) ended the day at 3,479.8 points, gaining 0.4% or 13.4 points. Of the 30 index components, the biggest winner was CapitaLand Limited (SGX: C31). The property giant’s shares rose 1.7% to S$3.69. After the market closed, the group announced that it has established a wholly-owned subsidiary, CLC Investment Six Pte Ltd, for investment holding. On the other hand, the biggest loser of the index was Golden Agri-Resources Ltd (SGX: E5H); its shares tumbled 1.4% to S$0.345. 2. Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX: S68) (SGX) updated the market today that it will make available new India equity derivative products in June this year to “provide market participants with conti

CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX: C38U), or CMT for short, holds the distinguished title of being both the first and largest retail real estate investment trust (REIT) in Singapore. It has a portfolio of 16 shopping malls located around Singapore, which include prominent properties such as Tampines Mall, Plaza Singapura and Clark Quay. I recently wrote an article on three concerning trends that may affect CMT’s business. However, there are also some positives from its latest results that are worth a mention. Redevelopment of Funan on track Funan was closed for reconstruction in the middle of 2016. Management targeted the opening of the new mall for the fourth quarter of 2019. However, with the recent good progress of the construction works, they believe that there is a good chance that the

Following our first of the three-part coverage on DBS’ S-REIT roundup for Industrial REITs, we continue to look at the Retail and Hospitality REIT sectors that were covered in the DBS S-REIT investor conference. Investors Takeaway: DBS Investor Conference S-REIT Roundup (Retail, Hospitality) Retail REIT Plays CapitaLand Retail China Trust CapitaLand Retail China Trust has been recording positive rental reversion for its portfolio in FY17. This is partly driven by positive shopper data as CapitaLand Retail China Trust saw growth in shopper traffic and tenant sales. DBS notes that the manager continues to review its portfolio and re-cycles capital through strategic divestment. CapitaLand Retail China Trust recently sold CapitaMall Anzhen to purchase Rock Square, a property within the fi

In Singapore, real estate investment trusts (REITs) dominate the top spots when it comes to investing in strong companies that pay out the best dividends. According to SGX, Singapore REITs were also the second best performing segment in March 2018. It generated a market-capitalisation-weighted total return of 0.8%, only trailing the IT sector’s 1.0% total return. In comparison to the general market, the Straits Times Index (STI) declined by 2.6% in total return during the month. DollarsAndSense used SGX’s StockFacts platform to narrow down the companies that have 1) delivered steady revenue growth over the past three years of at least 5%; 2) had a market capitalisation of at least $1 billion; and 3) offered a dividend of at least 4%. The results that came back was packed full of REITs.

Warren Buffett is a huge advocate of businesses buying back their shares. He believes that share buybacks can reveal a thing or two about the company’s management. He once said: “What you’d like to do as an investor is hook them up to a machine and run a polygraph to see whether it’s true. Short of a polygraph the best sign of a shareholder-oriented management — assuming its stock is undervalued — is repurchases. A polygraph proxy, that’s what it is.” On that note, let’s check out three companies picked at random that have bought back their shares thus far during the week, as of market open today. CapitaLand Limited (SGX: C31) CapitaLand is one of Asia’s largest real estate firms with a global portfolio of assets such as integrated developments, shopping malls, and

Malaysian REITs have endured a stormy period in the past 2-3 months since February due to the election fever, rising interest rates, and uncertainty in the global economy. Share prices of almost all Malaysian REITs have dropped around 20% to 40% from their peak last year — especially retail REITs which face intense competition from new malls. CapitaLand Malaysia Mall Trust (CMMT) is one of the hardest hit as its share price fell 46% from a high of RM1.83 to a low of RM0.98. CMMT’s share price has rebounded slightly and is at RM1.08 as at 5 April 2018. With this in mind, we attended the 2018 AGM to find out more about the management’s plan to weather the storm and continue paying sustainable distributions to CMMT unitholders. Here are 10 things we learned from the 2018 CapitaLand

The Singapore private property market seems to be in a recovery mode, after a four-year bear market. Flash estimates by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released on Monday, 2 April, showed that private home prices in Singapore rose by 3.1% in 2018’s first quarter when compared to the preceding quarter. This is the steepest quarter-on-quarter increase since the second quarter of 2010. The latest statistic follows the turning point reached in the URA property price index in the third quarter of 2017. For those who believe in the long-term potential of properties here in Singapore, this could provide an opportunistic time to invest. However, not many may be able to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to pay the down payment for an investment property. For those who stil

CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) was listed on 11 May 2004 as the first commercial REIT on the SGX. It invests in a portfolio of 10 commercial properties in Singapore worth S$10.4 billion as of 31 December 2017 and, hence, remains the largest commercial REIT in the country. In this article, I’ll bring a detailed account of the performance of each property owned by CCT, their impact to CCT’s financial results, and discuss CCT’s plan to deliver sustainable returns in the future. Here are 15 things you need to know about CapitaLand Commercial Trust before you invest. Property portfolio 1. Capital Tower is a 52-storey Grade-A office building which is linked to the Tanjong Pagar MRT station. In 2017, the building is valued at S$1.36 billion, accounting for 13.1% of CCT’s total portfol

CapitaLand Mall Trust (SGX:C38U) is the largest retail real estate investment trust (REIT) in Singapore. It currently has an impressive portfolio of 16 shopping malls located around our Garden City. Some of the malls in its portfolio include prominent destinations such as IMM, Plaza Singapura, and Clark Quay. The REIT released its 2017 full year results a few months ago. Although the headline numbers of distributable income and distribution per unit both grew during the year, there are some worrying trends that investors should keep an eye on. Declining shopper traffic The retail market in Singapore is being disrupted by e-commerce, as online retail has reduced the need for shoppers to shop at physical malls. This is illustrated by a 0.3% decline in shopper traffic in 2017 in CapitaLan

Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (SGX: D5IU), or LMIRT for short, is an Indonesian retail REIT listed in Singapore. It owns a portfolio of 23 retail malls and seven retail spaces located across four cities in Indonesia. Last year, LMIRT increased its debt load to acquire two new properties, which prompted Moody’s to review the trust’s credit rating. If its credit rating is downgraded, LMIRT’s ability to secure additional loans or refinancing might be compromised. It might consequently have to obtain loans at a higher interest rate. A higher cost of debt, will, in turn, affect earnings and distributions. I have done some research on the REIT and have concluded that despite Moody’s review on the REIT’s credit rating, LMIRT has been able to manage its debt strategically over the