OCBC Leads Net Fund Inflows; JB Foods’ Goh Lee Beng Increases Stake

Articles From: Slingshot Insights
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For the five trading sessions that spanned Jan 27 to Feb 2, the Straits Times Index (STI) declined 0.4 percent with the Hang Seng Index falling 3.4 percent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreasing 1.4 percent.

Institutions were net buyers of Singapore stocks over the five sessions with S$128 million of net inflow.

OCBC, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Venture Corporation, City Developments  and Sembcorp Industries led the net institutional inflow for the five sessions.

Meanwhile, DBS, UOB, Genting Singapore, Singapore Exchange and Wilmar International led the net institutional outflow for the five sessions.

OCBC has also booked the highest net institutional inflows across the Singapore stock market in the 2023 year through to Feb 2, after booking the second highest net institutional inflows in 2022.

The bank will be reporting its FY22 (ended Dec 31) financial results before the Feb 24 market open.

For its 9MFY22 (ended Sep 30) group net profit was S$4.44 billion, 14 percent higher than 9MFY21, largely attributed to net interest income growth and a decline in allowances.

OCBC chief executive officer Helen Wong noted that while subdued customer investment activity impacted wealth fees in Q3FY22, the bank continued to attract net new money inflows into its wealth management franchise.

The group’s wealth management income, comprising income from insurance, private banking, premier private client, premier banking, asset management as well as stockbroking, grew 21 percent in Q3FY22 to S$1.12 billion from Q3FY21 and made up 35 percent of the group’s income in Q3FY22.

Share buybacks

Due to the earnings season, there were just four primary-listed companies conducting share buybacks over the five trading sessions through to Feb 2, with a total consideration of S$555,900.

SIA Engineering Company bought back 148,100 shares at an average price of S$2.50 per share while Valuetronics Holdings bought back 320,000 shares at an average price of S$0.54 per share.

Oxley Holdings also bought back 30,000 shares on Feb 2 at an average price of S$0.14 per share.

The preceding evening saw Oxley Holdings report total revenue of S$438.4 million for its H1FY23 (ended Dec 31).

This represented a 13 percent decrease compared to its revenue of S$506.4 million for its H1FY22, mainly due to the absence of a one-time sale of land parcels in Australia in H1FY22 of S$97.1 million, partially offset by higher revenue contribution from Singapore development projects and hotels in H1FY23.

For the month of January, there were 23 primary listed companies that bought back their shares for a total consideration of S$25.5 million, which was down from the S$52.9 million in consideration in January 2022.

HRnetGroup was among the five stocks that led the buyback consideration tally in January, buying back more than 2.7 million shares at an average price of S$0.80 per share.

For the 2022 calendar year the company bought back close to 13 million shares at an average price of S$0.78 per share.

As reported on Aug 11, for its H1FY22 (ended Jun 30) HRnetGroup announced underlying profit growth of 36 percent from H1FY21.

It also declared for the first time, an interim dividend totaling S$21.3 million, based on 50 percent of the underlying profits achieved.

For its FY21, HRnetGroup reported underlying profit growth of 41 percent from FY20.

On Feb 2, the manager of Digital Core Reit highlighted that it had repurchased 10,654,100 units under its existing unit buyback mandate at an average price of US$0.59.

The units were held as treasury units on Dec 31, 2022, and subsequently cancelled in January 2023.

The manager noted the units were repurchased “at a deep discount to NAV, generating meaningful accretion for unitholders”.

Digital Core Reit is sponsored by Digital Realty, the largest global data centre owner and operator.

Director and substantial shareholder transactions

The five trading sessions saw more than 40 changes to director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for fewer than 20 primary-listed stocks.

This included eight company director acquisitions with no disposals filed, while substantial shareholders filed six acquisitions and five disposals.

JB Foods

On Feb 1, JB Foods executive director Goh Lee Beng acquired 57,900 shares at S$0.48 per share.

With a consideration of S$27,792, this took her direct interest in the company from 1.65 percent to 1.67 percent.

She also maintains a 45.52 percent deemed interest in JB Foods through the shares held by JB Cocoa Group. Her preceding acquisition was on May 13, 2022, with 192,000 shares acquired at 49.5 cents per share.

Goh has over 25 years of experience in the cocoa business.

She is responsible for procurement of raw materials and managing the cocoa trading positions of the group.

This includes sourcing of cocoa beans and cocoa ingredients, managing the group’s cocoa hedging book, monitoring world cocoa trends, and marketing of cocoa butter.

JB Foods started as a processor of wet cocoa beans to dry cocoa beans in the 1980s.

Today, it has grown to become one of the major cocoa ingredient producers in the world, with a total processing capacity of 180,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans equivalent per year, with two factories located at the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, a free trade zone in Johor, Malaysia, and in the Maspion Industrial Estates in Gresik, Indonesia, approximately 30km from the Surabaya port.

Accrelist

Between Jan 7 and 30, Accrelist executive chairman and managing director Terence Tea Yeok Kian acquired 200,000 shares at an average price of S$0.05 per share.

With a consideration of S$9,742, this increased his total interest in the Catalist-listed investment holding company from 22.87 per cent to 22.94 per cent. This followed his acquisition of 1,082,000 shares on Jan 17, and 846,600 shares between Nov 30 and Dec 12, also at an average price of S$0.05 per share.

Tea is responsible for the overall growth of the group, leading the strategic direction of the group, including acquiring and nurturing new businesses. He is responsible for the overall growth of the group, leading its strategic direction, including acquiring and nurturing new businesses.

First Resources

On Jan 30, FMR increased its deemed interest in First Resources to the 6 percent threshold, from 5.96 percent to 6.00 percent.

The relevant market transaction involved a purchase of 583,100 shares of First Resources for a consideration of S$851,882 at an average price of S$1.46 per share.

This followed its deemed interest falling marginally below the 6 percent threshold on Dec 30. FMR’s interests in the securities of First Resources are currently entirely deemed interests.

FMR is deemed to have interests in the securities of First Resources because such securities are held by funds and/or accounts managed by one or more FMR’s direct and indirect subsidiaries, which are fund managers.

First Resources was also among the five stocks that led the buyback consideration tally in January, buying back more than 1.1 million shares at an average price of S$1.41 per share.

For the 2022 calendar year the company bought back close to 8 million shares at an average price of S$1.43 per share following the buying back of close to 1.1 million shares at an average price of S$1.40 per share in 2021.

As reported back on Nov 14, First Resources recorded a 23.4 percent increase in sales to US$897.1 million for its 9MFY22 (ended Sep 30) on the back of stronger palm oil prices, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) and underlying net profit surging by 91.2 percent and 206 percent to US$390.7 million and US$253.8 million respectively.

This followed FY21 Ebitda coming in 20.7 percent higher than FY20 at US$312.9 million, while underlying net profit rose 53.8 percent over FY20 to US$149.2 million.

As one of the leading palm oil producers in the region, First Resources manages over 200,000 hectares of oil palm plantations across the Riau, East Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan provinces of Indonesia.

First Resources also owns 18 palm oil mills, two refining and processing plants, and four kernel crushing plants in Indonesia.

First Resources has ranked as a top-50 traded Singapore stock since the end of 2021, generating a 6.2 percent total return, while maintaining an average 30-day volatility of close to 40 percent on moving palm oil prices.

First Resources executive director Ciliandra Fangiono has been the group’s CEO for more than a decade, playing a key role in charting its strategic directions.

Under his leadership, the group has expanded its plantation assets and has grown into an integrated player with its own processing capabilities.

Fangiono noted in mid-August that with palm oil’s attractive relative pricing against other competing edible oils encouraging replenishment of inventories by importing countries, the company believed palm oil consumption demand should remain supportive.

Inside Insights is a weekly column on The Business Times, read the original version.

Originally Posted February 6, 2023 – OCBC leads net fund inflows; JB Foods’ Goh Lee Beng increases stake

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