This week, the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or SIAS, celebrates its 20th anniversary with a series of commemorative events.
In 1999, the group that now came to be known as SIAS was the voice that campaigned for the interests of more than 170,000 retail investors in Singapore who invested in stocks on the Malaysian-run Clob (an over-the-counter trading platform) and were left stranded after Malaysian authorities suddenly banned trading and implemented capital controls.
Today, SIAS continues to serve retail investors in three main areas: investor education, championing investors’ rights (working things out with management in the boardroom, and not the courtroom) and encouraging good corporate governance among listed companies.
To recognise excellence in these three areas, SIAS instituted the Investor’s Choice Awards, which was held on 26 September 2019.
For this week’s episode of 4 Stocks This Week, we will highlight 4 companies that were recognised by the SIAS Investor’s Choice Awards 2019.
Incidentally, DollarsAndSense is humbled to receive the Financial Journalist Award for Investor Education this year, which encourages financial journalists to uplift reporting standards and provide information that are beneficial to the investing community at large. We are the only non-mainstream media publisher to win in this category.
Food Empire (SGX: F03)
Food Empire Holdings Limited manufactures and markets food and beverage products in over 50 countries, with its biggest markets Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, China, Indochina, the Middle East, Mongolia and the United States.
The company’s portfolio of products includes instant coffee mixes, chocolate drinks and flavored fruit teas; frozen convenience food; confectionery, snacks and instant breakfast cereal, sold under brands like MacCoffee, Petrovskaya Sloboda, Klassno, Hyson, OrienBites and Kracks.They also sell raw ingredients to other food manufacturers, such as instant coffee and non-dairy creamer.
The company operates 8 manufacturing facilities in India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam and is listed on Catalist since 2000.
In this year’s SIAS Investors’ Choice Award, Food Empire won the inaugural Sustainability Award under the Small-Cap category.
The award came as a result of rigorous evaluation by a selection committee (with inputs from retail investors and institutional funds) on criteria like stakeholder engagement, leadership and culture, ESG practices, and Thomas Reuters scores.
Food Empire closed this week at $0.50.
Read Also: 10 Food Discount Apps Every Singaporean Foodie Should Be Using To Save Money
Micro-Mechanics (SGX: 5DD)
Founded in 1983, Micro-Mechanics (Holdings) Ltd. designs, manufactures and markets high precision tools, parts and assemblies for the semiconductor, medical, aerospace and other technology industries. The company also manufactures precision parts and assemblies on contract for tier-one companies in aerospace, medical and other industries.
Micro-Mechanics has operations in Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, Thailand, the United States and China. The group serves a worldwide base of customers from five manufacturing facilities located in Singapore, Malaysia, China, the Philippines and the USA, and has a direct sales presence in Taiwan and Europe.
The company has been listed on SGX since 2003, and they were awarded the SIAS Investors’ Choice Awards 2019 under the Shareholder Communications Excellence Awards category for their high standards of corporate governance, quality and speed of disclosure, transparency and investor relations.
Micro-Mechanics closed this week at $1.70.
Read Also: 7 Things We Learnt About Bonds From The SIAS Fixed Income Conference 2019
Tuan Sing (SGX: T24)
Tuan Sing Holdings Limited is primarily engaged in property development, property management, property investment and hotel ownership regionally. Their hotels segmentowns Grand Hyatt Melbourne and Hyatt Regency Perth, which both managed by Hyatt International.
The company also has an Industrial Services segment, which trades and markets industrial commodities, retreads and tires and, as well as the manufactures polypropylene woven bags. This segment is primarily run by SP Corporation Limited, another SGX-listed company that Tuan Sing has a 80.2% equity stake in, and Hypak Sdn Berhad, which Yuan Sing has a 97.9% interest.
Tuan Sing also has two other subsidiaries: Gul Technologies Singapore (GulTech) is a printed circuit boards (PCB) manufacturer with operations in Singapore and China, while Pan-West is a retailer of golf-related products.
Having sold most of their completed development properties in Singapore and China, the company is now focusing on regional development opportunities in Sanya, China, and Batam, Indonesia.
In Singapore, their ongoing development properties include Kandis Residence, Mont Botanik Residence and the freehold residential site at 333 Thomson Road, while their main investment properties are 18 Robinson, Robinson Point and the commercial building at 896 Dunearn Road.
Tuan Sing was also a winner of the Shareholder Communications Excellence Awards at this year’s SIAS Investors’ Choice Awards and the stock closed this week at $0.34.
Read Also: What The Latest Round Of Cooling Measures For Singapore’s Property Market Means For Investors
Vicom (SGX: V01)
Majority-owned by ComfortDelGro (SGX: C52), VICOM’s principal activities include the provision of motor vehicle evaluation services as well as non-vehicle testing, inspection and consultancy. Some of their services provided include vehicle assessment, emission test laboratory, motor insurance, road tax renewal and other services.
VICOM’s subsidiary, Setsco Services Pte Ltd, engages in providing testing, calibration, inspection, consultancy and training services. Setsco is involved in the soil testing works from Package 1 to Package 2 for the Changi Terminal 5 Project and secured a two-year contract to conduct water testing, industrial hygiene and indoor air quality for a semiconductor client.
The “zero-growth” policy towards private cars and motorcycles since 2018 certainly poses concerns for VICOM’s growth prospects, with the total number of vehicles inspected in Singapore falling from 702,716 in 2015 to 625,940 in 2018.
This concern has been somewhat offset by the implementation of more stringent testing requirements for a cleaner and greener vehicle population, such as Euro 6-compliance for all petrol and diesel vehicles by 1 September 2017 and 1 January 2018 respectively.
At the SIAS Investors’ Choice Awards 2019, VICOM won the Singapore Corporate Governance Awards under the Mid-Cap category.
VICOM closed this week at $7.59.
Read Also: Here’s How Much It Costs To Own A Car In Singapore Over 10 Years
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