StarHub is the second-largest telecommunications (telco) operator in Singapore after Singtel. StarHub offers a ‘quad-play’ package that includes mobile, pay-TV, fixed broadband, and business solutions. An ongoing price war is being fought among telco players as a result of increased competition, with each telco offering more data at ever lower prices in an attempt to gain — or at least maintain — market share. As a result, StarHub’s profit has decreased in recent years, together with a gradual decline in its stock price. Thus, I attended StarHub’s 2021 AGM to understand how the company would tide through the pandemic and continue to compete with peers in its industry. Here are seven things I learned from StarHub’s 2021 AGM: 1. StarHub’s revenue fell 13

I have been known to wear many hats, from writing about personal finance, index investing, wealth management, financial independence and commentating on all the affairs surrounding me with regards to money. The way that I been doing my wealth accumulation is through active individual stock investing. What that means is that I spend my time prospecting the stocks in Singapore, Hong Kong to find stocks that I can invest for the long term, to speculate on the short term in order to accumulate my wealth. As part of demonstrating the great benefit of my Stock Portfolio Tracker, you can have a glimpse of my current portfolio through the demo as well. You may have read some of my past write up on whether M1 and Starhub is a value trap, or the Transportation business of ComfortDelgro. People give

This article was first published on 31 January 2019 and updated with the latest information. All three major telcos – Singtel, StarHub and M1 –  offer prepaid SIM cards, giving you plenty of options depending on your intended usage. Different bundles vary in terms of validity period, amount of local/roaming data, talk time and SMS. Some also provide features such as unlimited usage on certain social messaging apps. For your convenience, you can use this handy guide we compiled to help you find the right prepaid SIM card that suits your needs. All prices in this article are inclusive of GST. Long Validity Prepaid SIM Cards A longer validity prepaid SIM card is suitable for those who live in Singapore and prefer prepaid SIM card over a post-paid plan. All these SIM cards have bundled

While this may seem like an unfamiliar term to you, Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) have become a part of your daily life. Circles.Life, MyRepublic and Grid Mobile are all examples of MVNOs. With the entrance of MVNOs, Singaporeans have access to a larger variety of value-for-money and flexible mobile plans. So what does it mean to be an MVNO, and what difference does it make to your mobile plan? What Is A Mobile Virtual Network Operator? MVNOs are communication service providers that do not operate on their own wireless network infrastructure.  Instinctively, you may see MVNO as a competitor to the traditional Telco service provider (otherwise known as mobile network operator). Yes, in the sense that they belong to the same industry. But to a larger extent, they work on a partne

1. SPH Reit  --  29th Mar 2021 2. SPH  --  30th Mar 20213. Kep Infra Trust  --  19th Apr 2021  (Business Update)4. Kep Pac Oak US Reit  --  19th Apr 2021  (Business Update)5. Kep DC Reit  --  20th Apr 2021  (Business Update)6. Kep Reit  --  21st Apr 2021  (Business Update)7. Mapletreelog Trust  --  21st Apr 20218. Kep Corp  --  22nd Apr 2021  (Business Update)9. MNACT  --  22nd Apr 2021  10. Frasers Cpt Trust  --  23rd Apr 202111. Parkway Life  --  23rd Apr 202112. Ascendas Reit  --  23rd Apr 2021  (Business Update)13. CICT  --  26th Apr 2021  (Business Update)14. Starhill Global  --  26th Apr 2021 

This article was first published on 1 October 2018 and updated to reflect the latest prices. It has been 2 years since the Open Electricity Market (OEM) was launched nationwide, and until today, less than half of residential households have switched away from SP Group. This means that these households have been paying the tariff rate over the past 2 years – and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable, since neither incentives, educational outreach, nor the lack of major issues for OEM customers have seemed to convince them to make the switch. But for the rest of us, here is an overview of the choices available so you can make the best choice for your needs – whether that’s for your new home, or your existing OEM contract expiring and you’re wondering wh

This article is updated to reflect the latest price plans. Additional reporting by Angela Koo. Many of us spend several hundred dollars or more each year on our mobile phone plans but rarely consider whether there are better mobile subscriptions in the market when our contracts run down. The main reason – we are often lured by seemingly lucrative deals on the latest handphone models rather than trying to source for the best mobile subscription that actually fits our usage requirement. Often, we end up opting for more expensive plans just to enjoy an initial handset subsidy. To lower the cost of buying the new phone, we also typically trade-in our perfectly working mobile phones which may have nabbed us a better deal if we sold it on Carousell, eBay or even mobile stores on our own.

1. SPH Reit  --  13th Jan 2021  (Business Update)2. First Reit  --  14th Jan 20213. CICT  --  21st Jan 20214. Frasers Cpt Trust  --  21st Jan 2021  (Business Update)5. SGX  --  22nd Jan 20216. Kep Reit  --  25th Jan 20217. Mapletreelog Trust  --  25th Jan 20218. Parkway Life Reit  --  25th Jan 20219. Kep DC Reit  --  26th Jan 202110. Suntec Reit  --  26th Jan 202111. Kep Pac Oak US Reit  --  27th Jan 202112. Kep Infra Trust  --  27th Jan 202113. Ascott Reit  --  27th Jan 202114. MapletreeCom Trust  --  27th Jan 2021  (Business Update)15. Kep Corp  --  28th Jan 202116. Starhill Global Reit  --  28th Jan 202117. MNACT&n

This article was last published on 28 October 2020 and updated with the latest 2021 prices. Due to the working from home arrangements during COVID-19, and possibly changing work trends in the future, having a good broadband plan at home has gone from a nice-to-have to a must-have for many households. When it comes to deciding the best broadband plan for our home, there are six main players in the market to consider. No Internet Service Provider (ISP) 1 M1 2 MyRepublic 3 SingTel 4 StarHub 5 ViewQwest 6 WhizComms   When applying for a home broadband service, there are two types of fees that we may be charged, outside of our monthly subscription. NLT Service Activation Fee: We have to pay $56.71 for the NetLink Trust (NLT) Service Activation fee for every new fibre

This article was first published on 28 March 2019 and updated with the latest information. We’re all spoilt for choice when it comes to content we can consume on our mobile phones. There is a wealth of news, articles, streaming music, online videos, virtual courses, apps and games available at the swipe of your finger, as well as communicating with others via video calls, voice calls over data, and multimedia chats. Increasingly, we are also tapping on our mobile data for work. All these great use cases all require data, and not everyone has the luxury of waiting until they are home or in the office to tap on a fast and secure Wifi connection. To satisfy Singaporeans’ need for more data, the various telecommunication companies (telcos) in Singapore have begun to offer a variety of ch

As I reflect on the happenings of 2020, the one thing that troubles me most was the number of people asking me for financial advice because their investment portfolio had performed poorly.  I am especially perturbed as many of them are ordinary people with extraordinary (and avoidable) losses in the stock market. After listening to the many sob stories from fellow investors based in Singapore, I can list four reasons for their poor market performance: #1 Overconcentration in Singapore Economy/ Stocks Many Singaporean investors have the majority of their investments in stocks listed in Singapore.  According to Bloomberg, the Singapore stock market is officially the worst performing one in Asia. If you were to look at the chart above, in 2020, the Singapore stock market, represented by th

This is a continuation of the previous post.The replacement of OCBC is Singtel.The joke is on me. Many months ago, for those that asked me about Singtel, I will tell them I do not like it. The main issue is cash burn in the future and the “traditional” management. But recently a friend changes my thinking and it kept me thinking on all the future possibilities. Basically, in my opinion, the opportunities exceed its own weaknesses. Thus, let me get into the reasons.1. Digital BankingGrab-Singtel JV (GSJV) has been awarded for the full digital banking license. Singtel has a 40% stake in the S$1.5bn entity (around at least S$600million outlay from Singtel).Recently, I have a deep discussion on the Fundamental Scorecard Telegram Group on Digital Banking. Basically, I commented th

STI closed at 2843.81DBS  ($25.04)UOB ($22.59)SPH   ($1.13)NetLink Trust ($0.965)SingTel ($2.31)StarHub ($1.31)CityDev ($7.97)Keppel Infra Trust ($0.545)Olam ($1.53)SIA ($4.28)SIA MCBZ300608 ($0.972)Keppelcorp ($5.38)SembCorp ($1.71)Sembmarine ($0.143)SIA Engineering ($1.97)CDL Trust ($1.27)AsiaPay TV Trust ($0.119)Capital China Trust ($1.39)Ascendas India Trust ($1.38)Lippo Malls Trust ($0.062)SuntecReit ($1.49)OUE Comm Trust ($0.385)StarHillGlobal Reit ($0.505)MapleLogistics Trust ($2.01)SATs ($3.98)First Reit ($0.235)KReit ($1.12)SoilBuild Trust ($0.535)HPH Trust ($0.26)AscotReit($1.08)SingPost ($0.705)Comfortdelgro ($1.67)Dutech ($0.24)Ezion ($0.046)*SunningdaleTech($1.53)Kimly($0.315)UOL ($7.71)ST Engineering($3.82)SBDEC17 GX17120W (25,000)SBOCT18 GX18100V (13,000)ATREA

Elon Musk is planning to launch its SpaceX's Starlink services soon. Starlink is actually a satellite internet constellation being constructed by SpaceX providing satellite Internet access. The constellation will consist of thousands of mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit, working in combination with ground transceivers. An estimated investment of more than US$10 billion has been pumped into this decade old project from Elon Musk. This space internet broadband project actually went on track as per forecasted with various beta testing being done already. It is scheduled to launch soon in USA and Canada this year and to rapidly expand to attain global coverage of the entire world by 2021. I was rather surprised that Elon Musk managed to pull this off and they are in the midst o

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is a media organisation with operations in print, digital, radio and outdoor media. It also has businesses in property, purpose-built student accommodation, and aged care. SPH has seen a steady fall in its share price over the last five years due to the digital disruption in the media industry. From January 2016 to date, SPH’s share price has fallen by around 70% as print circulation of its newspapers and magazines has steadily declined. How will SPH survive in the coming years? Here are seven things I learned from the 2020 SPH AGM. 1. Operating revenue fell 9.8% year-on-year to S$865.7 million in FY2020. This was mainly due to a drop in media revenue as advertisers cut back on advertising spending due to the pandemic. SPH continued to see a stead

1.  SPH REIT  --  6th Oct 20202. SPH  --  13th Oct 20203. Keppel REIT  --  19th Oct 2020  (Business Update)4. Mapletreelog Trust  --  19th Oct 20205. Keppel DC Reit  --  20th Oct 2020  (Business Update)6. Keppel Pac Oak US REIT  --  21st Oct 2020  (Business Update)7. Keppel Infra Trust  --  21st Oct 2020  (Business Update)8. CapitaCom Trust  --  21st Oct 20209. MapletreeCom Trust  --  22nd Oct 2020 10. CapitaMall Trust  --  22nd Oct 202011. Ascendas Reit  --  26th Oct 2020  (Business Update)12. MapletreeInd Trust  --  27th Oct 202013. Starhill Global REIT  --  28th Oct 2020  (Business Update)14. Kep Corp  --  29t

Netlink Trust seems to have weathered the current coronavirus storm well and its price shot up to S$1.010 per unit from S$0.945 per unit just 2 weeks back (13 Jan 2020). For its Q3 FY2020 results, Netlink Trust reported a 9.6% year on year increase in profit after taxation from S$19.6Mil to S$21.5Mil. For the 9mths YTD FY2020 performance, it was even more impressive with a 14.5% profit after tax increasing from S$57.3Mil to S$65.6Mil mainly due to the higher revenue generated from residential connections from the shift of Starhub cable subscribers to fibre optic which was completed by period ending September 2019.With the upcoming collaboration with telecom companies for the deployment of 5G infrastructure, Netlink Trust should be able to continue to deliver even higher revenue and profita

This will be a short post.I believe in investing, we need the connect the numbers to a story to make better sense of a business. U can call it growth modeling or revenue projection, but I feel both u can't really make it buy or sell call without both.For a stock that I owned, I usually sit up when it falls 20 percent. I will ask my self to do 3 things. 1) Buy more, 2) Sell some or all, 3) find out more so that I can do 1) or 2) within days or a week.This approach has mix results but it keeps me sanity and allow me to sleep well. I will share examples and what I have learn from themA few examples. Sembcorp Industries, SIA engineering etc. Both I have been accumulating as they retreat. SIA engineering has rebound from a low of near 2 dollars and to a high of close to 3 dollars before th

During my last review of Netlink Trust after its Q1 FY2020 results announcement (Netlink Trust- Stable Cash Cow Or Just Another Time Bomb Waiting To Explode?), I was disappointed that its free cashflow was insufficient to sustain dividends and seems to be using bank borrowings to fill the gap. But with the announcement of its Q2 FY2020 results, Netlink Trust has shown an amazing 17% increase in quarterly net profit relative to FY2019 on the back of the switch by many customers of Starhub from cable to fibre services. This is an awesome delivery of results considering the previous quarters of mediocre financial performance which lead to the prolong lackluster unit price since IPO. I have re-run the free cash flow testing using 3 scenarios:1. The first one is using Q1 FY2020 net operati