SG Market (04 Mar 15)

Singapore shares are expected to open lower, after Wall Street eased off its all-time highs on profit taking and disappointing auto sales figures.

Regional bourses are trading lower this morning in Tokyo (-0.8%), Seoul (-0.1%) and Sydney (-0.4%).

From a chart perspective, the STI is still trapped within the 3,390-3,450 trading band.

Stocks to watch:
*Genting HK: Acquiring luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises for US$550m from Nippon Yusen Kaisha. Genting HK aims to add a third new vessel to Crystal’s fleet. For FY14, Crystal Cruises earned a net profit of US$8.9m versus a net loss of US$45m in FY13. The takeover will be funded by cash and if required bank facilities, and is expected to be completed by 2Q15.

*Midas: Won US$58.3m contract to supply aluminium alloy extrusion profiles and fabricated parts for a rail project in the US. The deliveries will be done progressively between 2015-20, and is the largest export contract to-date, and Midas’ maiden rail contract in the US.

*SMRT: LTA announced that recent spate of incidents on SMRT rail network is unacceptable, and will review SMRT’s management of resources and processes for maintenance.

*Smartflex: Awarded a common criteria site certification at Evaluation Assurance Level Five Augmented (EAL5+) under Agence Nationale de la Sécurité des Systèmes d'Information (ANSSI) from France. With the EAL5+ evaluation, financial institutions and any organizations that demand rigorous security assurance can place Smartflex Technology in confidence to handle sensitive information reliably.

*CNA Group: Proposed acquisition of 30% stake in Jilin Mailong Xuntong Electronic Products (JMXEP) for $6m (3.5x P/B), of which $1m shall be in cash and the remaining through the issuance of 166.7m new shares at $0.03 apiece. JMXEP has two 10-year concessions to install speed cameras in Daán city and another unspecified city, and is confident to expand its services to other provinces in China. The acquisition is expected to boost CNA's exposure to the electronics market and generate a new recurring revenue stream in China.

*MM2: Proposed acquisition of 51% of Vividthree Productions, a Singapore company that specializes in 3D stereoscopic animation, 3D animation and visual effects for feature films and commercials, in a bid to expand the group’s value chain of film production.

*Libra Group: Clinched $35.3m worth of new contracts from SH Design and build, for the alteration to an existing four-storey industrial building, with additional two-storeys extension.

*Huationg: Secured additional new contracts since its IPO, worth a total of $28.5m, raising its order book to ~$118.5m as at 27 Feb 15.

*Mirach Energy: Proposed share consolidation of every 10 existing shares into one