SG Market (23 Apr 18)

MARKET OVERVIEW
- Investors could take cue from the weakness on Wall Street's last Fri as a jump in US bond yield and concerns over Apple's earnings overshadowed what has so far been a solid earnings season. But capital flows into commodity funds could support oil-linked counters.
- Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is considering a trip to China for trade talks and is cautiously optimistic of reaching an agreement with the Chinese on their trade differences.
- Technically, the STI has failed to close above the resistance level at 3,610 with risk of further pullback in the near-term. We see downside support is at 3,510.

CORPORATE RESULTS

*SGX
- 3QFY18 net profit leapt 21% to $100.5m, lifting 9MFY18 earnings to $279.5m (+10%),or 76% of street estimates.
- Revenue for the quarter rose 9.6% to $222.2m, propelled by equities & fixed income (+4.7%), and derivatives (+20.4%) segments.
- Securities average daily traded value jumped 17% to $1.45b on total traded value of $89.9b (+15%). Turnover velocity improved to 46% from 41% in 3QFY17.
- Operating margin widened 2.2ppt to 53% on lower technology (-2.9%) and other operating (-22.5%) expenses.
- Maintained interim DPS of 5¢, bringing 9MFY18 payout to 15¢ (flat).
- Trades at 21.3x forward P/E.
- MKE has a Buy with TP of $8.79

*CapitaLand Mall Trust
- 1Q18 DPU edged up 1.8% to 2.78¢, mostly in line with estimates, on distributable income of $99m (+2.1).
- Revenue climbed to $175.2m (+1.8%) on higher occupancy for IMM, Clarke Quay, The Atrium@Orchard, Plaza Singapura, as well as higher car park income.
- NPI rose at a faster pace to $125.7m (+4.7%) on lower property operating expenses of $49.5m (-4.7%) arising from reduced marketing and utilities expenses.
- Portfolio achieved a positive rental reversion of 0.8%.
- Overall occupancy dipped 0.3ppt q/q to 98.9%, while aggregate leverage eased to 33.5% (-0.7ppt q/q).
- Trades at annualised 1Q yield of 5.3% and 1.1x P/B.
- MKE has a Hold with TP of $2.15

POSITIVE NEWS
*Swee Hong
- BCA Singapore has upgraded its contractor registration status under category CW02 for Civil Engineering to Grade A2 from Grade B1.
- This grant of A2 status would enable the group to tender for government contraction assignments with a maximum value limit of $85m, up from $40m.
- This is testament to the group's quality and would enhance its competitive strength in project tenders.

*AusGroup
- Awarded the structural, mechanical and piping installation package by MSP Engineering for the Talison Lithium Chemical Grade Plant 2 (CGP2) expansion project at Greenbushes in Western Australia.
- The A$27m contract includes installation of ~2,000 tonnes of structural steel and associated flooring and cladding, 70 tonnes of plate work and 450 pieces of mechanical equipment.

NEUTRAL NEWS
* China Jinjiang
- Makes its foray into Latin American by taking a 51% stake of the enlarged share capital in Foxx URE-BA Ambiental Ltda for BRL38.5m ($14.94m), with the remaining 49% held by Foxx Innova Ambiental S.A.
- Foxx URE-BA will construct and operate a WTE project located in Barueri, São Paulo, Brazil with a planned waste treatment capacity of 825 tons per day.
- This is the first WTE and the first PPP waste treatment project in Brazil.
- Separately, it is placing 214m new shares at $0.50 to Harvest Global capital Investments (14.9%) to raise$107m.
- Net proceeds will be used to finance the ongoing technical upgrading of eight of the group's WTE facilities in China.

* Datapulse
- Shareholders has voted to retain all four current board directors and approved diversification from the loss-making media storage business, as well as a special dividend of 1¢, after completing the sale of an industrial building.

NEUTRAL NEWS
*QT Vascular
- Issued 8.1m new shares to five independent third parties for the partial settlement of short-term loans amounting to $0.1m.
- To recap, loan agreement was entered in Aug '16 between the group and the lenders for a 120-day short-term loan of $1.5m.

NEGATIVE NEWS
* Singapore Medical Group
- A litigation suit was commenced by Eastlife and Maxglobe against the group, Dr Low Chai Ling and Dr Kenneth Lee Cheng San.
- In summary, the plaintiffs alleged that the group 1) infringed trademarks and copyright relating to The Sloane Clinics; 2) have conspired with the defendants to pass off the new SW1 Clinic as a Sloane Clinic; and (3) conspired with the defendants to harm the Plaintiffs.
- SMG has sought legal advice on the above claims, and believes that they are without merit and unlikely to have a material adverse impact on its operations and financial performance.

*Asiaphos
- Warned of net loss for 1Q18 results due to lower revenues arising from reduced quantity of P4 sold and narrower margins.
- The group also recorded lower profits from discontinued operations and suffered a $0.1m FX loss (1Q17: $0.2m gain).