SG Market (19 Feb 13)

SG Market: S’pore shares could see a shaky open following sluggish export data and lack of buying impetus and no leads from the closed US market. While technical indicators are showing signs of deterioration, we expect the STI range trade between 3270-3300. Micro-caps will continue to hog the top actives although CapitaLand may draw interest on the expected signing of a massive Iskandar project. Investors may also switch attention from F&N to ThaiBev after the Thai consortium crossed a 90% ownership control of F&N, which could trigger a delisting. Among stocks in focus: *Hiap Hoe: 4Q12 net profit of $13.8m (+6%) came in slightly below par as revenue dropped 36% to $24.4m due to adjustment to construction revenue derived from its 2 JV projects, namely The Beverly and integrated hotel/commercial development at Balestier Rd/Ah Hood Rd. Group is paying final DPS of 0.5¢, bringing FY12 DPS to 1¢ vs 0.5¢ in FY11. *CapitaLand: Reported to be teaming up Temasek Holdings and Iskandar Waterfront Holdings to develop a 28-ha township project in the Danga Bay area at an estimated gross development value is RM4-5b. *Lian Beng: Awarded $117m contract to develop the 420-unit Skies Miltonia condo project in Yishun, bringing total orderbook to $664m. Construction will commence in Mar 13 and will take 33 months to complete. *Tiger Airways: Recorded a 23% and 74% uptick in Jan 13 traffic for its S’pore and Australian operations respectively. As traffic loads outpaced capacity growth, the respective pax load factors soared to 84% (+10ppt) and 87% (+3ppt). *F&N: ThaiBev/TCC Assets secured 90.3% of F&N at the close of its takeover offer, breaching the 90% threshold that may lead it towards a delisting, which open up the possibility that F&N may be taken private and restructured with ThaiBev taking over the F&B assets. F&N has requested for a trading halt pending the next move by its new owners. XMH: Secured 2 contracts from an Indonesian ship owner for $2.8m worth of Mitsubishi marine diesel engines with gearboxes and e-Gen power generating sets. Deal takes total orderbook to $76m. *Oxley: Upgraded from Catalist to Main Board of SGX wef 21 Feb.