Stocks to watch: Otto Marine, mm2 Asia, Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust

OFFSHORE marine company Otto Marine has secured orders worth US$131 million, mainly contributed by the group's chartering business, in the second quarter of its financial year 2015 till date.

The substantial increase in new chartering contracts was attributable to the group's strategy to improve the utilisation rate of the fleet, in view of the potential cost that idle vessels will incur, the group said in a statement on Monday morning.

Utilisation rate for the group's chartering business has also improved for Q2FY15 against the last few quarters, it added.

The notes, which will bear interest at the rate of 1.5 per cent per annum on the principal amount, are convertible into fully paid-up ordinary shares of the company or exchangeable into fully paid-up new ordinary shares of its cinema subsidiary, mm2 Asia said in a statement on Monday morning.

Phillip Asia currently holds 9.315 per cent of the issued share capital of mm2 Asia.The net proceeds will be utilised in connection with the proposed acquisition from Cathay Cineplexes of cinemas in two locations in Malaysia, as announced by the company on April 30, 2015.

Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (LMIR Trust) on Saturday entered into conditional sale and purchase agreements for the acquisitions of Lippo Plaza Batu and Palembang Icon for the purchase consideration of 265 billion rupiah (S$26.8 million) and 790 billion rupiah respectively. The total purchase consideration, including professional and other fees and expenses of approximately S$4 million in connection with the acquisitions, is estimated to be approximately S$110.8 million.

The acquisitions represent an opportunity for LMIR Trust to acquire income-producing quality properties below their independent valuations, and are in line with the manager's acquisition growth strategy of owning retail and/or retail related properties to optimise unitholders' returns, as well as providing potential capital appreciation and long-term growth, LMIRT Management, manager of LMIR Trust, said in a statement on Monday morning.

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Singtel to buy cyber security company Trustwave for US$810m

[SINGAPORE] Singapore Telecommunications Ltd will buy a 98 per cent stake in Trustwave Holdings Inc for US$810 million as Southeast Asia's biggest phone company seeks to expand in cyber security.

The deal gives the company control of businesses in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, Singtel said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange on Wednesday. Trustwave is expected to add to earnings from the third year, according to the filing.

Singtel is seeking new expansion as growth in its home market of Singapore slows. The company also gets dividends from stakes in emerging-market carriers including India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Indonesia's PT Telekomunikasi Selular. Chicago- based Trustwave had net tangible liabilities of about US$84 million and over three million business subscribers, it said.

Trustwave will allow Singtel to "capture global opportunities in the cyber security space," Singtel Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong said in the statement.

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SGX daily share trading down by modest 0.2% in March

Daily share trading activity on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) eased in March from year-ago levels, while derivatives trading continued to grow.

The securities daily average value (SDAV) slipped by 0.2 per cent year-on-year to S$1.1 billion in March, according to data by SGX. The average traded volume of securities experienced a sharper fall, by 38.4 per cent, to 1.4 billion shares.

Turnover velocity, a measurement that is closely tracked by SGX and that reflects how often a share is traded on average, fell to 37 per cent from 40 per cent a year earlier.

The derivatives market had more excitement. Average daily trading volume in derivatives grew 46.2 per cent year-on-year in March to 678,126 contracts. A total of 3.3 million open-interest positions were left overnight in March, a 5 per cent year-on-year improvement.

The FTSE China A50 Index futures were a key contributor to growth, with March's 7 million traded contracts more than double the year-ago 2.5 million volume.

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Singapore bond bankers vie for deals as OCBC closes gap on DBS

[SINGAPORE] Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp is closing the gap on top-ranked Singapore dollar bond arranger DBS Group Holdings Ltd, trailing by the narrowest margin on record last quarter.

OCBC helped issue S$1.56 billion of offerings at home in the three months to March 31, boosting its market share to 32.4 per cent, more than triple a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

DBS worked on S$1.62 billion of deals for a 33.6 percent market share. OCBC was the sole manager on two issues for Singapore Telecommunications Ltd this year while DBS was on all three of its previous local-currency deals.

Singapore's two largest lenders are vying for a smaller pool of profits, which has pushed them to expand overseas and into investment banking. New rules that require banks to reduce risky holdings, coupled with deposit rates less than 0.5 per cent in the island nation, have prompted companies to sell more bonds in the local currency in the past five years than in the previous decade.

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Singapore-listed Noble chairman boosts stake as stock falls

SINGAPORE[SGX} The chairman of Singapore-listed Noble Group, Richard Elman, has boosted his stake in the firm, according to a filing on Wednesday, after the shares dropped to more than a one-year low.

Noble shares have been under pressure since mid-February after a little known firm Iceberg Research raised questions about the company's accounting practises, claims denied by Noble.

Mr Elman increased his stake to 20.956 per cent from 20.926 per cent, the filing showed.

Noble shares slumped as much as 5.3 per cent to the lowest since late January 2014 on Wednesday before closing 1.6 per cent lower.

Noble was founded by Mr Elman in 1987 and currently ranks as one of Asia's biggest commodities trading firms

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Singapore: STI down 0.46%, trips on bumpy Wall Street

THE Straits Times Index [SGX] stumbled right off the blocks on Wednesday to slip 15.61 points or 0.46 per cent at 3,382.65 as at 9.04am, tripped up by a bumpy Wall Street that fell overnight on renewed fears of an early interest rate hike.

Leading the most active stocks as at 9.06am were Magnus Energy, down 0.1 Singapore cent at 0.3 Singapore cent, and Noble Group, down 4.5 Singapore cent at 89 Singapore cents.

A total of 123.4 million shares worth S$119.1 million were traded as at 9.06am. Losers outnumbered gainers 117 to 43.

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Stocks to watch: Noble, CNA, Yangzijiang

[SGX] NOBLE Group is seeking about US$3 billion of bank loans to refinance debt that will be due in May, according to reports.

The commodities trader has a US$2 billion 364-day revolving credit facility signed in May 2014, and in May 2012 it signed a multi-tranche loan that included a US$992 million three-year revolver and a 155 million euro (S$232 million) three-year revolver.

Noble is doing the refinancing as it deals with allegations of aggressive accounting by a research firm called Iceberg Research.

Noble shares closed at S$1 on Monday.

CNA Group has secured S$9.65 million of contracts from July 2014 to February 2015, the provider of building management systems said on Tuesday. Those contracts are expected to have a material impact on 2015 earnings.

The company's current order book stands at S$77.1 million.

CNA Group's shares last traded at 2.4 Singapore cents on Monday.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings executive chairman and group chief executive Ren Yuanlin will pass the CEO title to his son, Ren Letian, on May 1. The father will remain as executive chairman.

Mr Ren Letian joined the shipbuilder in 2006, and is currently general manager of Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co.

Yangzijiang shares closed at S$1.22 on Monday.

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Singapore STI stages rebound ahead of China inflation data

 

[SGX] THE Straits Times Index rebounded early on Tuesday to gain 3.23 points or 0.09 per cent and trade at 3.407.8 as investors awaited China inflation data and following a rebound in US markets.

A total of 47 million shares worth S$71.9 million changed hands as at 9am, with gainers outnumbering losers 86 to 37 right out of the gate.

The most active stocks were led by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings, up 0.4 per cent or half a Singapore cent at S$1.22 as at 9am. Lippo Malls Indo Retail Trust slipped 1.4 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to trade at 34.5 Singapore cents, while Noble Group was down 0.5 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to change hands at 99.5 Singapore cents.

China is expected to report inflation data at 9.30am.

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Singapore STI down 1.44 points, tracing slips in Europe, US markets

SINGAPORE[SGX] share prices opened lower on Wednesday with the Straits Times Index (STI) down 1.44 points to 3,420.67 at 9.06am, taking cues from slips in European and US equity markets.

Top gainers in early trading include DBS and ComfortDelgro. DBS is set to gain the most among its peers from higher interest rates, given its strong deposit base and that most of its home loans are pegged to a floating rate. ComfortDelgro is also expected to see an earnings boost from bus reforms next year, said a Deutsche Bank report this week.

Some 33.5 million shares worth S$59.4 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 81 to 72.

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