SG Market (25 Feb 13)

SG Market: S’pore shares may open cautiously higher after Wall Street regained some lost ground last Fri but investors will be looking out for the S’pore Budget statement this afternoon for any positive leads with most anticipating measures to deal with rising cost of living for low and mid income families and productivity incentives to help companies cope with the manpower crunch. Expect 3280 to provide immediate support for the STI after the index bounced off this 20-day dma last week. Topside resistance is at 3310. There may be some focus on Myanmar-linked stocks after the US govt approves US companies to do business with 4 Myanmar banks, one of which is controlled by Zaw Zaw, who is also undertaking a RTO on Aussino. Stocks to watch out for: *NOL: Latest results remained submerged under water with deeper-than-expected 4Q loss of US$98m (vs market consensus of US$12.6m) and FY12 loss of US$419m (vs US$223m) due to slower European shipments and one-off charges. Amid a severe over-capacity and rising competition, the carrier joins AP Moller and Maersk in forecasting a cautiously optimistic outlook for 2013 via an improved cost base, larger, more fuel efficient fleet and expanded logistics business. *Millennium & Copthorne (55% owned by City Dev): Posted an expected 15% dip in FY12 pretax profit to £157.7m despite achieving a 3.4% growth in RevPAR. But stiff competition has pushed room rates down by 1.1% in first 6 weeks of this year. *Raffles Medical: FY12 results at top end of estimates, driven by organic growth and expansion of medical centres. *BBR: FY12 net profit fell 33% to $13m vs $20.1m because of a big boost from property projects in 2011. But gross margins improved to 12.9% over 10.1% achieved in the previous year due to difference in project mix. Orderbook stands at $960m with projects lasting till 2015. Proposing 50% higher DPS payout of 1.2¢. *AsiaMedic: Returns to profitability in FY12 with improved core business as revenue rose to $11.9m and net profit reversed to $81k from a loss of $806k the previous year. *BH Global: Flagged a profit warning with 4Q losses expected due to write-offs of deposit for purchase of land in Batam and inventory, as well as from engineering services due to depreciation of Rp and USD against SGD. Sinwa: Issued a profit warning IPC: Invests in 7th business hotel in Japan.