SG Market (21 Jan 14)

Market Roundup: European markets ended mixed in fairly listless trade, halting a two-week rally that pushed the Stoxx 600 index to a six-year with Wall Street closed for Martin Luther King Jr Day US markets were closed for Martin Luther King holiday and China turning in weak economic data. Upside was capped by a negative Asia session after China’s GDP growth slowed to 7.7% in the 4Q as gains in factory output and retail sales eased last month. Disappointing 4Q loss from Germany’s largest bank Deutsche Bank (-5.4%) also dragged down other major banks in Europe and French car maker Peugeot Citreon (-11.1%) tumbled after getting approval for capital injection from Chinese automaker Dongfeng and the French government. Just when it appears that the S’pore market is showing some flicker of life, it went back into slumber yesterday following the release of uninspiring Chinese economic data. With latest 4Q results from Keppel REIT and MLT broadly in line and little other news to move the market, the STI may continue to struggle within its 3,100-3,200 trading band. M1 may be in focus after it sweetened its 4Q earnings with a special dividend. Stocks to watch: *M1: 4Q13 results broadly in line with net profit up 7.1% y/y to $40.5m but revenue slumped 14.9% to $278.6m owing to a 46.3% drop in handset sales. The 6.6% growth in service revenue to $207m was driven by postpaid and fixed customer base and higher data usage. Non-voice services contributed 43.4% (+5.4 ppt) of service revenue. EBITDA margin slid to 38.2% vs 41.6% in 4Q12 and 37.7% in 3Q13 amid higher staff costs. Mobile customer base stayed at 2.11m but fibre customers saw an 8,000 addition to 85,000 in 4Q. For FY13, M1 rang in net profit of $160m (+9.4%) on revenue of $1b (-6.4%). Final DPS of 7.1¢ + special DPS of another 7.1¢ will take its full year payout to 21¢. *Keppel REIT: 4Q13 distributable income gained 5.9% y/y to $54.9m, while DPU was flat at 1.97¢, giving an annualized yield of 6.6%. Both revenue and NPI rose 13% and 16.4% to $47.5 and $37.4m respectively due to better performance from Ocean Financial Centre and additional income from newly acquired 8 Exhibition Street in Melbourne. Associates also saw higher contributions from MBFC Phase 1 and One Raffles Quay. Portfolio attained occupancy of 99.8% with weighted lease to expiry of 6.5 years. Aggregate leverage stood at 42.1% with all-in interest rate of 2.15% and average maturity of 3.6 years. End Dec ’13 NAV was $1.40 vs $1.32 in FY12. *Mapletree Logistics Trust: 3QFY14 distributable income climbed 7.7% y/y to $45m along with the 7% rise in DPU to 1.84¢ (including 0.025¢ from the partial distribution of a divestment gain from 30 Woodlands Loop). Gross revenue inched up 0.9% to $78.1m, while NPI stayed relatively flat at $67.4m as positive rental reversions from its S’pore and HK properties and contributions from two new acquisitions were negated by a weaker JPY from its Japan portfolio and higher expenses associated with conversions of its single user buildings into multi-tenanted ones and higher property taxes in S’pore. Occupancy slipped slightly to 98.4% from 98.7% in 2QFY14 with weighted lease to expiry of 4.8 years. Aggreate leverage maintained at 33.9% with average term of debt at 3.4 years and effective cost of 1.9%. End 2013 NAV was $0.93 per unit. *K-Green: FY13 net profit dipped 4% to $14.2m, while revenue declined 12% to $67.1m due to the absence of construction sales and lower operations and maintenance income arising from the lower output of its waste-to-energy and NEWater plants. Excluding the impact of the flue gas treatment upgrade, which was completed in 2012, results for FY13 would have been 2% weaker. DPU of 7.82¢ maintained, which continued to eat into its NAV/unit of $0.95. *China Environment: Secured two air pollution contracts worth Rmb393.6m to upgrade two electrostatic precipitators to meet PM2.5 requirements for Nanjing Steel (Rmb11m) and supply industrial dust collectors to Shanxi Electric in 2014 (Rmb382.6m). *AusGroup: Awarded a A$21m scaffolding contract for maintenance services at BHP Billiton’s Worsley Alumina refinery in Western Australia. Work will begin in Feb ’14 and will last two years with a one-year option. This takes the group’s order book to A$235.5m. *Ley Choon: Bagged a $7m PUB contract to undertake watermain repairs and other works for network services (East division). *Sysma: Secured a $6.2m contract to erect a two-storey bungalow at Cassia Drive, marking its first win for 2014 and taking its order book to $50m. Construction is expected to take 17 months starting from Feb ’14. *Interra: Completed development well YNG 3264 in the Yenangyaung oilfield in Myanmar where it has a 60% working interest. YNG 3264 is yielding oil at a stabilized 175 bpd, the best oil producing well in the Yenangyaung field. Meanwhile, it has commenced drilling on development wells CHK 1178 and 1179 in the Chauk oilfield (also 60% interest) in Myanmar and expects results to be available in about six weeks. *SATS: 3Q13 operating data show number of flights handled growing 10.2% y/y to 34,920, unit services +6.6% and cargo throughput +1.9%. Passenger handled rose 4.8% to 11.25m on stronger traffic from budget carriers. Gross and unit meals produced however declined 8% and 5.7% respectively due to loss of Qantas' flights to Europe following the relocation of its base to Dubai. *Centurion: Officially launched Westlite Johor Technology Park, its fifth dormitory in Malaysia, with a capacity of 5,800 beds. Centurion established its first worker accommodation in Tebrau, Johor, in 2011 with an initial bed capacity of 2,500, which has now grown to 14,400 beds. Two more facilities are currently undergoing development in Tampoi and Senai. Group plans to expand its dormitory bed capacity in Johor to more than 25,000 beds by 2015. *Memstar: Prominent local investor Alan Wang who runs the high profile fund Asdew Acquisitions bought another 43m shares @ $0.1062 on 17 Jan, raising his stakes from 6.97% from 5.3%.