Raffles Edu

Raffles Edu: latest FYJun12 results weren't good, as the group recorded revenue decline of 10% to $131m, and net loss of $84.8m vs $51.3m net profit a yr earlier. Nevertheless, stock price has been stronger of late , on the back of recent positive news flow. i) in mid Sep, famous investor Oei Hong Leong raised his stakes in Raffles Edu from 6.14% to 7.18% via open mkt purchases. A number of stocks (latest being Intraco), have benefited from his "midas touch". ii) newspapers have been featuring positive commentaries on Msia's Iskandar region, noteably on rising property prices and on the area becoming an education hub. Raffles Edu is well positioned to ride on this trend, with its newly set up Raffles University Iskandar. Raffles Edu last wk acquired even more land in Johor Bahru to further its education business, and plans to develop the Raffles American School catering to students from Kindergarten to Year 12. iii) pending 1-for-5 rights at an issue price of $0.14/sh.