Thanks AK71. For me, there were a few reasons why I didn\'t vested in Raffles medical group. 1) Raffles Hospital - though never been inside personally. Got a relative\'s dad admitted inside RH before. Was told by my relative that overnight hospitalisation stay at RH was expensive. Worse still, the facilities can\'t even match a government hospital. Any small service that u ask for in Raffles cost money... unless insurance covers for u, was told by many ppl that RH shld be avoided. 2) Raffles Clinic - Currently, i am working in fusionopolis. RMG has a clinic there. Rental there is high. And, yes.. didn\'t see many ppl at the clinic so i don\'t think business for that particular clinic branch is good. The only helpful thing it did to RMG for having a clinic there is the publicity and the image raised for its corporate clients. (Since RMG\'s name was also printed as part of the ads in the fusionopolis shuttle bus) Because of these two observations, I decided not to invest in Raffles. And, a look at RMG\'s board of director shows that most are probably academic, either doctors, or involved in some healthcare before rather than a business-minded/investor-minded ppl. I have asked a couple of doctors and these doctors don\'t work in either of the listed healthcare company in sg. Surprisingly, almost all told me that they didn\'t invest in any of the healthcare companies in Singapore. I would have thought that they would have at least one sg healthcare stock since it shld be an industry that they are familiar with. On the whole, most told me that they prefer to invest in big stable companies such as those in the US like Boston Scientific or Johnson & Johnson. i am not surprised by that since i think for most Singaporeans, to them, it may seem more practical and safer to invest in big stable companies that are cash rich and can give good dividend... rather than facing uncertainty in a growth stock and worry whether there would be enough capital appreciation to meet the returns they desired. \"I have friends who know Dr Wong personally. They told me he is hardworking and honest... \" -> Thanks for sharing that. Relieved a bit to hear that. Regarding directors opting for strip dividends- there could be different form of interpretations. What u say is true too since opting for strip dividends can be some form of commitment by the directors to the companies. But don\'t forget that the strip dividends are offered at a discount to the market value. So, imagine if u are a director, it makes more sense to receive the strip dividends and later sell it in open market. Because the discount of the strip dividend will translates to profit. This works if the dividend u collect is huge enough and u don\'t mind the higher brokerage fees and the inconvenience when selling odd lots. This could be one of the worst scenario out of this interpretation. But like u say, there could be a lot of personal reasons for insider trading so for now, i don\'t want to conclude or make any judgement... That\'s why i still have a bit of reservations abt the management... I am eagerly waiting to attend HW\'s AGM. Until I see the management personally and got the chance to speak to them, i will maintain a neutral rating view with regards to the management.
Hi, AK71, I found an article on this:
www.noahfinancial.com/Vantage.htm
- dated 6th Jun 2007. It seems like Vantage corporation attempted to acquire Healthway Medical for S$455m, probably in 2007 but it didn\'t materise. If HW in 2007 worth S$455 m, then i think the present HW in 2009 should worth at least much more now... I can\'t find much info on this on the internet... Do u know anything abt Vantage Corporation? Healthway website didn\'t any info on this as well... Any idea what happen to Dr Tan See Leng, one of the co-founders since he is not on the board right now in the present HW corporation? What\'s yr view that Dr Wong Weng Hong, being a co-founder, is not the majority sustantial shareholder now since Fan Kow Hin and Dr Jong Hee Sen have more shares than Dr Wong now. btw, a search reveals that healthcare companies seem to like to use the name \"healthway\". 1) In US, there is a company called Healthways.
www.healthways.com
2) In Philippines, there is also another Healthway Medical.
www.healthway.com.ph
3)In Guangzhou and Shanghai, there\'s also Healthway Medical Centre.
genrx.asia/
4) In Australia, Healthway is a health promotion foundation.
www.healthway.wa.gov.au/
Both the healthway in philippines, guangzhou, shanghai, hongkong etc are owned by this public listed company in Hong Kong called Genrx Healthcare. They also offer primary GP clinics. And they have nothing in relation to the healthway medical in singapore. Hard to say who copies whose name first... but i am not sure if that will affect healthway sg\'s expansion into China due to brand name issues. But since they manage to create a healthway china, then it shld be ok. But on an imaginative side, if the healthway in phillipines, hongkong etc plus singapore one could merge, it could become a strong medical corporation in Asia... but this is too far-fetched into the future... Guess this will be something that I would like to ask the management during the AGM....
I only took notice of Healthway as its price was recovering from its bottom this year. I was attracted to it because of its dominant position in the domestic primary healthcare sector. This, I viewed as a strength in times of recession as it did not depend so much on medical tourism like RMG and Parkway do. It is a business that, even if managed by a conservative management, would continue to benefit from strong cashflow and would in time amass a cash hoard. My first purchase was at 10c. This was below its NAV at the time. Since then, the more I learned about the company and the business, the more convinced I am about the future of the company. My concerns regarding the fundamentals of the business have been mostly addressed. In terms of the price, it is seeing some weakness. I believe that 12c should hold. It is exactly the halfway point of the cup pattern which I identified earlier. Price action might be going through what Darryl Guppy calls \"correction using time\". You have asked me questions on the history of the company but I\'m afraid I do not have the answers as I\'m quite a new shareholder (and do not have the emotional baggage and knowledge of older shareholders). Taking a leaf from Dr. Tony Tan\'s book, I do know that I have taken care of the downside in my fundamental analysis of the company. I will leave the upside to take care of itself. I can wait.
Thanks, AK71. Another article abt Healthway today: \"Healthway plans to invest another $20m in China; It is targeting a dozen first and second-tier cities there\"
www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Ac...091393885&isRss=true
Can tell that Dr Wong is an ambitious and visionary guy.
Thanks for the link to the Business Times\' article. Dr. Wong is really dynamic. There will be more growing pains, for sure. He is quite candid in saying that there will be more capital raising from the market for Healthway\'s expansion into China and continuing growth in Singapore. So, be prepared to dig deeper into our pockets. It will be a long trek to 2015 and I\'m trekking along with Dr. Wong.
