Investing In What You Know: 20 Brands You See Daily That Are SGX-Listed

Newcomers to the stock market are often confronted with many investment choices. On the Singapore Exchange (SGX) alone, there are over 600 listed companies, across broad industry classifications including financials, industrials, consumer goods and consumer services. 

How do you decide where to start?  An obvious place to start is a piece of investment advice from renowned investment icon Warren Buffett “Never invest in a business you don’t understand”. In other words, if you’re familiar with a brand and how its parent company makes money, it may be worth putting some money behind it.

We use multiple branded products and services every day and across long periods of time. If you are a fan of the products and services, you’re likely to be familiar with the company behind it or at least inclined to learn more about it. This also means you’re less likely to panic should stock prices drop suddenly, because you’re confident in the brand’s long-term value and ability to ride out short-term setbacks.

Many of these familiar brands are owned or managed by companies that are listed on the SGX, which means you can invest in them. 

#1 Sheng Siong, DFI Retail: The Supermarkets & Retail Outlets

When you think of daily purchases, your first thought would probably be groceries, such as those from Sheng Siong. Since 2010, it’s been a fixture in Singapore on the strength of its unique “wet and dry” produce shopping experience. Other familiar supermarket names like FairPrice aren’t publicly listed, while Cold Storage and Giant have recently been sold by SGX-listed parent company DFI Retail to Malaysian retail group Macrovalue which is privately owned.

Speaking of DFI Retail, it also operates other leading household names like 7-Eleven in Singapore and in the Greater China region, including Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong, China.

DFI also operates brands such as  Guardian, in Hong Kong, Macau and Southern China, and IKEA in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Indonesia. If you frequent either, you would be familiar with the brand value even if these stores are not in Singapore.

With this as a starting point, you can also learn about the other brands under DFI Retail.

According to SGX, their dividend yields are:

Source: All 12-month Price Performance and Dividend Yield information are from SGX Stock Screener

#2 CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Mapletree PanAsia Commercial Trust: Shopping Malls in Singapore

The daily Singapore experience is often spent in one of the country’s many, many shopping malls. Many of these are managed under two REITs CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) and Frasers Centrepoint Trust.

CICT has 11 malls including, ION Orchard, Tampines Mall, Junction 8, Bugis Junction and Funan. It also owns 9 office buildings such as Capital Tower, CapitaSky, Asia Square Tower 2. Its integrated developments, such as Funan, Plaza Singapura and Raffles City Singapore, include both retail and commercial space.

Frasers Centrepoint Trust has 10 malls, including Tampines 1, NEX, Northpoint City, and Causeway Point. It also owns an office building, Central Plaza in Tiong Bahru.

Mapletree PanAsia Commercial Trust, as its name suggests, owns properties outside of Singapore as well. In Singapore, it owns VivoCity, the largest shopping mall in Singapore, as well as commercial spaces such as Bank of America HabourFront and Mapletree Business City. It also owns Festival Walk, a prominent mall in Hong Kong, as well as a collection of office properties in China, Japan and South Korea.

Read Also: Why It Might Make Sense To Invest In A Company That Is Older Than You

#3 Old Chang Kee, F&N, ThaiBev: Food And Beverages 

Nothing speaks to Singaporeans everyday like our food and drinks, and while there are several familiar names listed on SGX, such as Old Chang Kee, Tung Lok, Jumbo, Kimly and F&N, there may also be others like ABR Holdings, ThaiBev and YKGI that you may not have realised are the parent companies of popular F&B brands.

The first KIMLY coffeeshop was opened in 1990 in Yishun, and today, Kimly operates and manages 84 coffee shops and food courts under various brands across Singapore.

ABR Holdings started out as the franchisee for popular casual restaurant Swensen’s but today is also the parent company for several food brands including Tip Top Curry Puff, Chilli Padi Nonya Restaurant and caterer Chilli Api. While YKGI is the parent company for Yew Kee Duck Rice, Chicha San Chen and several other familiar F&B names.

ThaiBev is the parent company for Chang Beer and has a majority stake in F&N, which includes drink brands 100Plus, NutriSoy, Ice Mountain, Seasons and Fruit Tree Fresh. 

Read Also: The Old Chang Kee Index: Can Curry Puffs & Chicken Wings Be Used To Track Inflation In Singapore?

#4 Singtel, StarHub, Netlink NBN Trust: Telecommunications

The ubiquitous mobile phone often feels like an extension of our limbs, with how long we spend glued to our screens daily. Since we’re spending so much on mobile data, as well as paid television and broadband, why not get something back by investing in telcos? Two major telcos listed on the SGX are Singtel and StarHub.

Another household name in the telco sector, especially for those applying for new broadband lines, is Netlink NBN Trust, which owns and operates the fibre network infrastructure of Singapore’s Nationwide Broadband Network (NBN).

#5 DBS, UOB, OCBC: Local Banks

Almost everyone in Singapore is a customer of at least one of the three major local banks, DBS, UOB and OCBC. Some of the more financially savvy may even be a customer of all three, getting the best of all worlds by utilising their high interest bank accounts and credit cards on a daily basis. 

One benefit of investing in these stocks for the long-term are the relatively stable dividend yields each year. 

Read Also: DBS (D05); UOB (U11); OCBC (O39): Singapore Banks Dividend Yield And Share Price

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