If you are looking for new growth stocks to add to your portfolio, you may want to consider BreadTalk Group Limited (SGX: CTN) and HRnetGroup Ltd (SGX: CHZ). Despite lower profits in its most recent quarter, BreadTalk is poised for international growth, while recruitment firm, HRnetGroup, is making big strides both in the North Asia market and its core market in Singapore. The world is its oyster BreadTalk certainly needs little introduction. The group owns F&B chains in Singapore such as Michelin star-rated Din Tai Fung, Toast Box and BreadTalk, which is well-loved for its famous pork floss buns. In its most recent quarter, BreadTalk delivered a mixed performance with higher revenue but a sharp drop in profit. However, if we look beyond these numbers, there are good reasons to belie

BreadTalk Group Limited (SGX: CTN) 2018 third-quarter earnings announcement may have disappointed some investors, as its stock slid slightly more than 5% since its announcement on Monday, 5 November. However, here are four things that may interest long-term investors. The financial numbers Here are some financial highlights from the latest third quarter: 1) For the quarter, revenue increased 2.3% to S$157.7 million; 2) Net profit dropped 29.2% to S$2.7 million; 3) Core F&B profit also declined 29.2% to S$2.7 million over the quarter; 4) Earnings per share declined 29.4% to 0.48 cents per share; 5) Over the 9-month period from January to September, net profit was down 62.5% but core F&B net profit grew 5.2%; 6) The group is in a net debt position of S$42 million but has a manageabl

On Friday, amidst escalating global trade tensions, Singapore and the European Union (EU) signed the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In the agreement, Singapore agreed to axe all tariffs on EU products, including duty-free access for beer and stout imported from the EU, while the EU agreed to remove 84% of tariffs on Singapore products and the remaining 16% over the next 3 to 5 years. The move is expected to improve accessibility to European markets for Singaporean small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and is expected to translate into lower prices for local consumers in both markets. Closer to home, Singapore-based water-treatment company Hyflux received a $530 million lifeline from SM Investments, a consortium formed by Indonesian conglomerate Salim Group and energy titan Medco

Ever since PM Lee’s proposal for Singapore’s hawker culture to be included in Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, things have been eventful in Singapore’s hawker scene. In September, NTUC Enterprise announced that it will be acquiring Kopitiam by the end of the year, operating it alongside its own NTUC  Foodfare subsidiary. Earlier this month, hawker champion and Makansutra founder KF Seetoh wrote an open letter to Senior Minister of State Dr Amy Khor about how landlords are “killing” local hawkers with fees and contract terms, some of which were allegedly predatory and not transparent. In this week’s column of 4 Stocks This Week, we’ll take a look at four SGX-listed companies that operate coffee

There are two things that I like to do. Eat, and invest in companies with cheap shares. There are times when I can combine both passions: By investing in cheap restaurant shares. To search for cheap restaurant shares in Singapore’s stock market, I recently compared the valuations of three well-known restaurant companies, namely, BreadTalk Group Limited  (SGX: 5DA), Kimly Ltd (SGX: 1D0) and JUMBO Group Ltd (SGX: 42R). The three valuation numbers I looked at were the price-to-book (PB) ratio, price-to-earnings (PE) ratio, and dividend yield. The businesses BreadTalk Group is perhaps most famous for running its namesake BreadTalk bakery outlets in Singapore and other parts of Asia. But, the company also has a portfolio of restaurants and food atriums in its banner. Some of the res

Benjamin Graham, who was Warren Buffett’s mentor, once said: “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” What Graham meant is that in the short-term (days and months), stocks can fluctuate wildly. But in the long-term, companies with strong earnings tend to do better than those without. The best shares of the decade Over the past 10 years, the 15 best-performing stocks in Singapore’s market are: 1. AEM Holdings Ltd (SGX:AWX); 2. Best World International Limited (SGX:CGN); 3. BreadTalk Group Limited (SGX:CTN); 4. CITIC Envirotech Ltd (SGX:CEE); 5. Straco Corporation Limited (SGX:S85); 6. UMS Holdings Limited (SGX:558); 7. Tianjin Zhong Xin Pharmaceutical Group Corporation Limited (SGX:T14); 8. China Sunsine Chemical Holding

Hello, everyone. Here are three things about the local stock market and investing in general that you might be interested in today. 1. It was a sea of red today as the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) tumbled 54.2 points, or 1.7%, to 3,156.3. Of the 30 index components, 27 were in the red; two were unchanged while one finished in the green. Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd (SGX: C07) was the biggest loser of the index. Its shares came down 5.0% to S$30.25 apiece. Among the banks, DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05) fell the most, tumbling 2% to S$24.49. For those who wish to know about the bank’s stock history and more, do check out our newly-released ultimate guide here. On the other hand, the only index stock that posted gains happened to be Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust (SGX: A