In Singapore, Chinese New Year (CNY) is an important celebration as many Chinese families come together to usher in a new year with festivities and traditional ceremonies.
During CNY, families do a lot of shopping as they cater for their spring cleaning as well as take the opportunity to buy new clothes, replace old or broken home appliances, stock up on traditional snacks, Mandarin oranges and drinks for home visits. They may even buy jewellery as presents or wear them during home visits.
For businesses, this makes it a lucrative time to ramp up their marketing activities in order to reach out to their potential customers and drive up sales. It is for this reason that businesses have increasingly tried to outdo one another to promote and advertise their products and services during the period leading up to CNY.
In a commercial sense, everything could equate to higher sales for businesses – from selling more cleaning detergents for spring cleaning to ensuring they are the choice location for family reunion dinners and everything else in between.
As investors, it is possible for us to enjoy the commercial returns arising from CNY. Here are 8 SGX-listed stocks that will be celebrating this CNY with you.
#1 CapitaLand Mall Trust
CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) is Singapore’s first and largest listed REIT. With 16 shopping malls and over 3,100 tenant leases in its portfolio across Singapore, it will definitely be doing its bit in trying to attract as many people as possible to its malls leading up to CNY.
One thing some investors tend to overlook is that it also has a 14.5% investment stake in CapitaLand Retail China Trust, a REIT with its own network of malls in China that will also be trying to ride on the CNY wave.
More shoppers at its malls usually translate to better business for its tenants. This means that more tenants will want to be located in their malls, which ultimately means higher rents and earnings for the malls. Of course, other local retail REITs will also be doing their best to ensure shoppers flock to their shopping malls. Look out for CNY discounts, roadshows and freebies at the malls!
#2 Metro Holdings Limited
Operating three department stores in Singapore, Metro will be vying for sales in consumers’ purchases of new clothing, home appliances and related products and accessories.
Started as a retail outlet in Singapore, Metro quickly grew, and today, runs 12 department stores in Singapore and Indonesia. These regions also have a good-sized market for Chinese consumers seeking such products. Over the years, it has also expanded its business to property development in Singapore, China and the United Kingdom.
#3 Jumbo Group Limited
With more than 16 outlets under its flagship JUMBO seafood and other branded concepts in Singapore, Jumbo is another stock that will be actively promoting its food outlets for reunion dinners and company lunches and dinners. The business also has food outlets in China and Japan that will be doing the same in those regions. One more thing to note is that it recently signed a franchise agreement to open three restaurants in Vietnam.
Jumbo’s outlet, some of which are located in shopping malls, will have to vie with other F&B brands in Singapore for a slice of the reunion dinner pie, some of which are also listed on SGX. These include Soup Restaurant Group Limited, TungLok Restaurants (2000) Ltd and some others. Do research on them if you’re more interested.
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#4 Yeo Hiap Seng Limited
The Yeo’s brand by the company has over 100 years of heritage in Singapore. During CNY and other celebrations and events, its packet drinks offering many local flavours are a common sight. The company also has many other brands under its banner, including H-TWO-O, Pink Dolphin, Justea as well as other agency brands.
#5 Thai Beverage Plc
CNY is a celebration, and during celebrations, there tend to be a fair bit of drinking involved. ThaiBev serves up beers, other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Its Chang beer is also one of the most recognized beers in the region. There’s no doubt it will go toe-to-toe with the other beer brands to push its product during this CNY.
It also owns F&N’s extensive brands of beverages and food products after it bought out the company in an $11.2 billion deal in 2013.
#6 SunMoon Food Company Limited
SunMoon is a reputable supplier of fresh fruits and fruit-related consumer products to many established supermarkets and convenience stores as well as online distributors and wholesalers in Singapore and SouthEast Asia. Interestingly, it even sells to TigerAir.
One area where it can expect to ramp up sales is in the marketing of Mandarin oranges, which are exchanged, in pairs, whenever relatives or friends meet as a sign of respect and prosperity.
#7 Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd
Dairy Farm operates the Cold Storage, Jasons MarketPlace and Giant supermarkets, hypermarkets and convenience stores as well as Guardian outlets in Singapore. These are outlets where you are likely to find many CNY related products such as drinks and Mandarin oranges.
Dairy Farm will be ramping up its operations during CNY as many households stock up on snacks and other food and beverage options as friends and relatives visit one another. They should have good deals to compete with other brands such as Sheng Siong Group Ltd, in this market.
#8 Maxi-Cash Financial Services Corporation
Whether it is to give as a present or wear for good fortune (and to show-off a little bit), CNY presents an auspicious time to buy gold for Chinese households.
Maxi-Cash is Singapore’s first and largest listed pawnbroker allowing consumers to buy or sell pre-owned jewellery at competitive prices. It is a subsidiary of Aspial Corporation Limited, which owns several brands selling new jewellery.
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Takeaway
We are not advocating that you should buy these stocks or that these stocks will do particularly well during CNY in 2017. Rather, we’re highlighting how listed companies make money by selling their products and impacting your everyday life, and by taking advantage of festive seasons such as CNY.
Also, you should also choose one sector of the market that you’re already interested in to do more research if you’re keen to start investing.
Do share with us on Facebook if you think there are other companies that will be looking to CNY for improved sales as well.
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