ST Engineering's US shipyard wins $350m ConRo vessels contract from Crowley
Singapore Business Review – 1 hour 36 minutes ago
Construction begins in 1H 2014.
Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (STE) has announced that its US Shipyard, VT Halter Marine, Inc has won a shipbuilding contract from Crowley Maritime Corporation (Crowley) to build two Container ROll-on/Roll-off (ConRo) vessels, reported OCBC.
The value of this contract is in the region of US$350m (~S$420m).
The vessels will be built at the Pascagoula facility in the US, with construction taking place in the first half of 2014 with deliveries in mid and late 2017.
"While there is no material impact to near-term earnings, we still see the contract as a testament to STE's shipbuilding capabilities," said OCBC.
SGX hunting for 89,000 investors with $68.3m in unclaimed shares, dividends
Singapore Business Review – 1 hour 48 minutes ago
You could be richer than you think.
According to a release, Singapore Exchange (SGX) wants to locate 89,000 investors who own $68.3 million in unclaimed shares and dividends.
These unclaimed assets comprise: 1) $14.6 million of SingTel shares and dividends belonging to investors without Central Depository (CDP) accounts. The 15,000 individuals who own these shares bought them at $2.00 each in the company’s 1993 IPO. The shares have returned more than twice that amount since.
2) $53.7 million of dividends belonging to investors who cannot be contacted. Each year, thousands of shareholders do not cash their dividend cheques.
Unclaimed dividends are returned to the relevant listed companies after six years. Currently, 74,000 investors have yet to claim $53.7 million in dividends which SGX is safe-keeping.
“This initiative highlights the benefits Singaporeans enjoy when they invest in shares over the long term. We hope to locate the rightful owners of these assets through this exercise while making Singaporeans more aware of the role share investing can play in their financial planning for their retirement and other needs,” said Chew Sutat (周士达), Executive Vice President at SGX.
“Many listed companies pay sizeable dividends. In the past 12 months, the 30 companies making up the Straits Times Index paid $15.5 billion in dividends, equivalent to a 3% yield. We encourage investors to take advantage of SGX’s direct crediting service which automatically deposits their dividends into their bank accounts,” said Lynn Gaspar (葛惠玲), Head of Retail Investors at SGX.
“It is always encouraging to hear real-life examples of investors who invested in shares for the long term and enjoyed healthy returns. There are two lessons here for all of us; first, share investing is a crucial part of financial planning and second, investors should monitor their company’s corporate actions and developments,” said David Gerald (大卫。杰乐), President and CEO of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore).
To encourage investors to come forward during this initiative, SGX is waiving the administrative fee for the re-issuance of dividend cheques and dividend crediting u
Noble Group hits 5-month high; leads index performance
Written by Reuters
Tuesday, 26 November 2013 15:21
Singapore shares were little changed on Tuesday, reflecting lacklustre sentiment in regional markets, while commodities firm Noble Group led the index as its investment in an Australia coal company remained on track.
Noble shares climbed 2.8% to a five-month high of $1.12, topping the list of most traded stocks by value. Earlier in the day, coal explorer Blackwood Corp said its directors recommended accepting a takeover offer from Cockatoo Coal.
Noble had planned to sell its 51.2% in Blackwood, and take a 21% stake in Cockatoo. Blackwood shares rose more than 5% on Tuesday.
Though the statement did not provide fresh information, Noble shares were still buoyed by the positive sentiment in a market that otherwise lacked direction, analysts said.
The benchmark Straits Times Index was little changed at 3,177.92 points by 1:07 p.m., while the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan barely moved.
Among the worst performers on the index were telecommunications company StarHub and Singapore-based real estate investment trust (REIT) CapitaMall Trust . StarHub shares and CapitaMall Trust units fell more than 1% to intraday lows of $4.26 and $1.93 respectively.
Written by Reuters
Wednesday, 27 November 2013 11:19
Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings and ABN AMRO are among the suitors to place final bids for Societe Generale’s Asia private bank, in a US$400 million ($501 million) deal, as smaller players exit the region’s competitive private banking business.
A successful deal would make it the third major transaction in Asia’s competitive private banking landscape since the global financial crisis, as smaller players struggle to generate enough revenue to support expensive bankers and rising regulatory costs.
Swiss bank Credit Suisse is another suitor submitting a final bid, people familiar with the matter said, after Societe Generale whittled down the initial list of 10 companies to five after the first-round bidding. It was unclear if the remaining two bidders submitted final bids.
Societe Generale’s Asian private bank unit manages about US$13 billion ($16.3 billion), below the US$20 billion mark that the industry has come to see as necessary for critical mass in the region.
Economic growth has led to a surge in Asian millionaires and billionaires. Their combined wealth, at US$6.6 trillion this year, is expected to overtake that of their European counterparts in 2017 and US peers in 2024, according to a Wealth-X and UBS World Ultra Wealth Report.
But profit margins are thin for the industry’s smaller players, especially those managing less than US$20 billion, because the asset bases at the level don’t generate enough revenue to support expensive bankers and cope with rising regulatory costs and technology spending.
Initial price expectations for the Societe Generale business ranged from between US$300 million and US$600 million, but a person with direct knowledge of the matter said the business is being valued at around US$400 million.
Sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to talk to the media.
A Societe Generale spokeswoman in Singapore declined to comment. DBS, Credit Suisse and ABN AMRO also declined to comment.
DBS, which managed US$46 billion in private banking assets at the end of 2012, is seen by many as a leading contender for the unit and CEO Piysuh Gupta told an earnings briefing this month the bank would look at Asian wealth businesses.
JPMorgan is advising Societe Generale on the sale, sources said. The US bank declined to comment.
Have you ever wondered why Warren Buffett is so vehemently opposed to investing in airlines? He even once joked that if he gets an urge to buy an airline stock, he would call a toll-free number and say: “I am Warren and I am an aeroholic“. And they would quickly talk him down.
Buffett has a point about airlines.
Airlines suffer from what is known as high operating gearing. This is different to financial gearing, which is all about leverage and borrowings. High operating gearing, instead, means that fixed costs form a big proportion of the business’ total costs. Put another way, an airline must recover all of its high overheads before it can start to make a profit.
In the case of Singapore Airlines (SGX: C6L) it is faring better than many other airlines but that is still not quite good enough. The Singapore flag carrier has over the last three years delivered a Return on Equity (RoE) that is below the market average.
Whilst the RoE for the 30 companies that make up the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) is around 9%, SIA only managed to deliver a return of 2.4% last year.
SIA’s problem stems from its low Net Income Margin. At just 2.2% it is significantly below the market average of 19%. That said, SIA is doing better than, say, International Consolidate Airlines, which owns BA and Iberia. The European airlines Net Income Margin is minus 5.2%.
Interestingly, SIA is very good at making use of its assets. Its Asset Turnover of 0.6 implies that the company is generating 60 cents on every dollar of asset used in the business. The airline is also not too heavily leveraged. A Leverage Ratio of 1.7 is roughly in line with the market average.
By unpacking Singapore Airlines’ Return on Equity, it is easy to see where its problem lies. It’s disappointing RoE of 2.4% is the product of a low Net Income Margin of 2.3%; an acceptable Asset Turnover of 0.6 and an average dose of leverage of 1.7.
