Inphyy Corner

Sound Global: Won The Bid For A BOT Project To Reconstruct And Expand A Sewage Treatment Plant In Yamalike Hill, Saybagh District, Urumqi City, Xinjiang, The People's Republic Of China

22 Jan 2014

soundglobal.listedcompany.com/newsroom/2...257C68002F9A05.1.pdf

Cordlife sues rival Cryoviva for alleged infringement of intellectual property rights

www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/money...llectual-property-ri

Cache Logistics Trust: As steady as ever
www.ocbcresearch.com/pdf_reports/company/CACHE-140122-OIR.pdf


Frasers Centrepoint Trust: Turning to acquisition for growth
www.ocbcresearch.com/pdf_reports/company/FCT-140122-OIR.pdf


Ascott Residence Trust: Awaiting acquisitions
www.ocbcresearch.com/pdf_reports/company/ART-140122-OIR.pdf

Midas Holdings Limited Priced S$85,000,000 5.75 Per Cent. Fixed Rate Notes Due 2017 To Be Issued Pursuant To Its S$500,000,000 Multicurrency Medium Term Note Programme

Jan 22, 2014

This announcement will be released on the website of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited as an Overseas Regulatory Announcement pursuant to Rule 13.10B of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.

midas.listedcompany.com/newsroom/2014012...257C6800402F64.1.pdf

DPU at CapitMall Trust Surges 9% for 2013

By Sudhan P - January 23, 2014

Our sunny island’s first & largest real estate investment trust (REIT), CapitaMall Trust (SGX: C38U), or CMT, released its fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q 2013) and the full year of 2013 (FY 2013) results on Wednesday.

For the quarter, gross revenue increased 7% to S$186 million, net property income rose 11% to S$125 million and distribution per unit (DPU) went up 15% to 2.72 Singapore cents, all year-on-year. For FY 2013, gross revenue increased 10% to S$729 million, net property income (NPI) rose 13% to S$502 million and DPU went up 9% to 10.27 Singapore cents, as compared to FY 2012.

CMT’s portfolio consists of 16 shopping malls located in the suburban areas and downtown core of Singapore, such as Tampines Mall, Junction 8, Funan DigitaLife Mall, Plaza Singapura and Bugis Junction. The full list of the assets in its portfolio can be found here.

The increase in gross revenue of 10% in FY 2013 was due to “higher rental income from JCube, Bugis+ and The Atrium@Orchard after completion of their respective asset enhancement initiatives (AEI)”. However, this was slightly offset by “lower contribution from Bugis Junction due to AEI”. Phase 1 of the AEI at Bugis Junction has been completed but Phase 2 will start in 1Q 2014 and will be completed by 3Q 2014.

NPI rise of 13% for the year was attributed to “higher NPI from JCube, Bugis+ and The Atrium@Orchard after completion of their respective AEI” but was “offset by lower NPI from Bugis Junction due to AEI and operating expenses from Westgate (including opening expenses)”.

As of the end of last year, CMT’s average cost of debt and gearing ratio were at 3.4% and 35.3% respectively. Average term to maturity of the debt is at 3.6 years. Net asset value was at S$1.74. The portfolio has an occupancy rate of 98.5%.

To put things into perspective, Frasers Centrepoint Trust (SGX: J69U), which released its earnings on Tuesday, has an average cost of debt of 2.7% and a gearing ratio of 29.7%. Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX: N2IU), which owns Vivocity, among others, spots an average cost of debt of 2.2% and a gearing ratio of 40.8%. It released its earnings on the same day as CMT.

Mr Wilson Tan, Chief Executive Officer of the manager of CMT, said, “For FY 2013, our tenants’ sales per square foot increased 2.5% and shopper traffic grew 3.1% year-on-year. During the fourth quarter, we completed Phase 1 of Bugis Junction’s asset enhancement works and opened Westgate shopping mall. Westgate started operations on 2 December 2013, with a committed occupancy of about 90.0% as at 31 December 2013. We are also happy to report that we have granted options to a consortium to purchase Westgate Tower. The consortium has up to 24 January 2014 to exercise the options. This year, we will embark on the asset enhancement works for Tampines Mall and Phase 2 of Bugis Junction, to further create sustainable value for our unitholders.”

CMT closed at S$1.89 on Wednesday. The historical PB ratio is at 1.1 and the distribution yield is at 5.4%.


Courtesy of The Motley Fool

5 Things You Should Know About Sheng Siong

By Alison Hunt - January 23, 2014

The story of supermarket chain Sheng Siong (SGX: OV8) is one with true Singaporean roots.

Sheng Siong CEO, Lim Hock Chee, grew up in the 1970s with his siblings in Punggol on his family’s sprawling 90,000 sq. ft. pig farm. However, in 1985, their successful Cheng Siong Pig Farm (which reared 3,000 pigs at its peak) like many others suffered when the government closed down the pig-farming sector.

But a visit to a Savewell provision store in Ang Mo Kio changed Mr Lim (and his new wife’s) fortunes. Noticing it didn’t sell pork, he proposed setting up their own counter in the store from which they could sell off the farm’s excess stock of the chilled meat. The owner agreed, accepting 20% of Mr Lim’s takings as rental.

Savewell collapse

However, the Savewell chain of stores was experiencing difficulties of its own, and was soon forced to put its stores up for sale and offered them to its existing tenants. Lim Hock Chee and his brothers, borrowing capital from their father bought their outlet for S$30,000, and the first Sheng Siong store was opened.

Sheng Siong

With only a skeleton crew to run the store made up of the three Lim brothers, their six sisters and a Savewell employee Lim Gek Heng, life was tough – compounded by the fact there were five other provision stores within walking distance of theirs. The store’s location at the foot of a slope not visible from the main road made things even worse.

No-frills, lower profit margins

However, the Lim family focused on offering no-frills products at rock bottom prices. The siblings also offered to carry heavy items for customers up the stairs – believing in the importance of offering “excellent customer service”.

Their hard work paid off. Takings rose from S$2,000 per day in 1985, to over S$19,000 per day in 1988. By 2004, only one of their local competitors remained.

Expansion

Sheng Siong soon opened a second store in Bedok, followed by another in Woodlands, which featured the novel (and popular) concept of a wet-market style fresh produce section. The company continued its no-frills strategy, buying in bulk and keeping prices low, whilst opening stores in areas with little competition that offered lower rents.

Thriving in times of trouble…

If shrewdly managed, supermarkets posses the unique ability to be able to thrive under all economic conditions – even following events such as financial crises and the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks. After all, we still need to eat.

As retail space rentals plummeted during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Sheng Siong seized the opportunity to open more stores. When diners avoided eating at restaurants due to the SARS outbreak, they bought more food from supermarkets to cook at home.

But did you know…
1.The names “Sheng” and “Siong” mean “rising” and “vegetable” in Chinese.
2.Sheng Siong offers its full-time workers one free meal per workday, with all food prepared in the company’s central kitchen.
3.Upon leaving school, Mr Lim undertook a two-year car mechanic course, with the aim of being able to fix cars. It stood him in good stead as until recently he was known as “Mr Fix It’ at Sheng Siong, regularly welding trolleys and fixing power outages.
4.Sheng Siong believes in profit sharing with its employees to promote brand ownership amongst its staff – in the past two years 20% of the Group’s profit before tax was distributed as a variable bonus to its employees.
5.Mr Lim was known as the “towkay” (meaning ‘boss’ in Chinese) who drives a lorry” due to this being his only mode of transport for many years. What’s more, to this day he spurns owning an electronic device such as a Blackberry, jotting down appointments and meetings in a trusty notebook instead.

Today, Sheng Siong is Singapore’s third-largest supermarket chain after NTUC Fairprice and Cold Storage, which is owned by Dairy Farm Holdings (SGX: D01), with 33 outlets and selling everything from groceries and seafood to stationery and electronics. It strongly believes in offering customers a quick and efficient service, and reckons it has the fastest cashiers and shortest queues.

TV

What’s more, the supermarket chain even has its own, live, Mandarin variety television game show on a Saturday night known as “The Sheng Siong Show”.

The towkay who drives a lorry…

But in spite of all of this (and featuring at position 35 in Forbes’ Singapore’s 50 Richest list) Lim Hock Chee remains a humble man, who still steadfastly refuses to waste money and who lives in a modest five-room HDB flat in Hougang.


Courtesy of The Motley Fool