Being in the news could often go both ways for a stock. In this week’s edition of 4 Stocks This Week, we look at 4 counters that have been widely talked about in recent weeks.
Ascendas REIT (SGX: A17U)
Grab announced their new $181.2 million headquarters in one-north business park. The Grab headquarters is estimated to be completed in 2020, consolidating their current offices and housing all of Grab’s Singapore employees. It will be the first dedicated physical facility for the company and also home to the company’s largest R&D centre.
Ascendas Reit will be in charge of building and managing Grab’s headquarters. Grab has committed to a long lease commitment of 11 years, with a renewal option of five years for the building,providing Ascendas Reit with a stable income stream. This build-to-suit development takes Ascendas Reit’s business and science park investments to $3.8 billion, accounting for 34% of their total portfolio value of $11.3 billion.
Ascendas Reit has also recently released their earnings. Distribution Per Unit (DPU) went up 0.7% to 3.998 cents for the third quarter ending 31 December 2018. Net property income rose 6.6% to $168 million, mainly due to lower property tax expenses. Gross revenue increased 4.2% to $226.4 million. Since the start of 2019, Ascendas Reit has seen its stock price increase 6.6% to close at 2.730 on Friday evening.
Read Also: Complete Guide To Investing In Singapore REITs
Y Ventures Group Ltd. (SGX: 1F1)
Y Ventures is a data analytics driven e‐commerce retailer and distributor.
Y Ventures reported administrative errors in the 1H18 results that was published in August 2018. This resulted in an overstatement of US$1.3 million of profit for 1H18. Y Ventures has since rectified the errors and issued the restated 1H18 results. This meant that the initial profit of about US$130,000 reported was revised to a net loss of US$1.2 million.
The group expects to report a net loss for FY18. This is largely due to a drop in profit margin, increase in selling and administrative expenses as well as higher staff cost. More manufacturers selling their products online as well as the US-China trade war have also negatively impacted the company. Y Ventures also incurred higher expenses due to expansion of online sales to Southeast Asia markets and forming partnerships with new suppliers.
Since the start of 2019, Y Ventures has seen its share price drop 64.8%, closing at 0.081 on Friday evening.
ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited (SGX: C52)
With Go-Jek being the latest entrant to the market, Grab once again sees a competitor in the ride-hailing space. Go-Jek and Grab have both been on the news recently for largely negative reasons.
Recently, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has also raised the idea of licensing ride-hailing platforms such as Grab and Go-Jek. This proposal is a bid to tighten the oversight of players in this sector, especially when these ride-hailing platforms provide the same services as taxi operators.
This could bode well for taxi operators such as ComfortDelGro, especially when taxi operators are currently subjected to more stringent regulations and costs compared to private hire vehicles.
Since the start of 2019, ComfortDelGro has seen it shares increase by 10.6%, closing at 2.390 on Friday. ComfortDelGro earnings are set to be released on 13 Feb 2019.
Read Also: Grab Acquires Uber – Here Are 3 Valuable Lessons Singaporeans Can Learn
No Signboard Holdings Ltd. (SGX: 1G6)
No Signboard reported a net loss of S$573,643 for first quarter ended 31 December. In the latest quarter, revenue also fell 16.1% to $5.6 million. Known for its seafood restaurant business, No Signboard attributed the loss of revenue to the closure of their seafood restaurant outlet for a month for major repair works as well as a drop in customer spending.
In more positive news, No Signboard is launching more outlets under the Hawker brand and Mom’s Touch brand. The company is also working on plans to expand overseas as well as to develop new brands.
Besides its seafood business, No Signboard also has a beer business. With the completion of the beer business restructuring exercise, No Signboard’s beer business will work on expanding the distribution channels for the beer.
On Thursday 31 Jan, No Signboard saw its stocks surge close to 24%. This prompted a query from SGX and No Signboard also requested for a trading halt on that day.
Read Also: Why A $20 Bowl Of Bak Chor Mee At The Hawker Centre Makes No Financial Sense
4 Stocks This Week is not a recommendation from us to buy or sell any of these stocks. For investors who are keen to find out more, you should continue researching about them before making your investment decisions.
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