SG Market (25 Apr 17)

Sentiment could be positively swayed by the global relief rally after the first round of French election eased fears of Frexit, but outsized gains may be capped by caution ahead of key corporate results.

Regional markets opened higher in Tokyo (+0.1%), Seoul (+0.2%) and Sydney (+0.3%).Technically, STI is poised to break above its 20-dma at 2,160 before heading towards next objective at 3,190. Immediate support is at 3,110.

Stocks to watch:
*Hutchison Port Trust: 1Q17 net profit plunged 70% to HK$166.9m, accounting for just 13% of full year forecast in the absence of a HK$430m government rebate. Excluding the one-off rent and rates refund, earnings would have dropped 15.7%. Revenue fell 6.3% to HK$2.58b on weaker container throughput at Yantian terminals (-1.4%) as well as lower revenue per TEU from its HK and Shenzhen ports due to concessions offered to certain liners and depreciation of the yuan. Bottom line was also hurt by a jump in finance costs (+15%) from higher interest rates. NAV/unit dipped 3.2% q/q to HK$4.59.

*Mapletree Industrial Trust: 4QFY17 DPU of 2.88¢ (+2.5%) brought full year DPU to 11.39¢ (+2.2%), slightly ahead of estimates. Quarter gross revenue and NPI climbed 4.5% and 6.4% to $87.8m and $66m, respectively, on higher rentals, new contribution from Phase 1 of the HP BTS property and lower maintenance expenses and marketing commission. Occupancy rose 1ppt q/q to 93.1%, while aggregate leverage held steady at 29.2% (-0.25ppt q/q). NAV/unit at $1.41. MKE last had a Buy with TP of $2.00.

*Frasers Centrepoint Trust: 2QFY17 DPU held steady at 3.04¢, in line with estimates, but both revenue and NPI fell to $45.7m (-2.9%) and $32.6m (-3.3%) from the loss of revenue from Northpoint due to ongoing AEI works. Occupancy fell to 87.2% (-4.1% q/q) with WALE of 1.7 years, while aggregate leverage fell 0.3ppt to 29.4%. NAV/unit at $1.93.

*ParkwayLife REIT: 1Q16 DPU of 3.28¢ (+9.6%) was in line and included a 0.22¢ capital distribution on divestment gains. Gross revenue inched up 0.2% to $26.9m, while NPI stayed flat at $25.1m, as contribution from one nursing home acquired on Mar '16, higher rent from the Singapore properties and JPY appreciation was offset by the absence of contribution from four divested Japan properties in Dec '16. Aggregate leverage rose to 37.6% (+1.3ppts q/q). NAV/unit at $1.72.

*Cambridge Industrial Trust: 1Q17 DPU of 1.004¢ (-9.7%) was dragged by the absence of capital distribution and cash payment of management fees but remained on track with estimates. Gross revenue of $27.7m (-2.2%) and NPI of $19.7m (-8.4%) slipped amid the transition from single-tenanted to multi-tenanted properties and higher conversion costs. Occupancy inched 0.7ppts q/q higher to 95.4%, while aggregate leverage ticked up 0.3ppts to 37.8%. NAV/unit at $0.634.

*AEM: 1Q17 net profit of $4.1m (1Q16: $0.2m) overshot the street's sole estimate as revenue soared more than three-fold to $42.1m from increased sales of the latest generation HDMT test handlers and related consumables. Gross margin contracted 12.7ppt to 28.2% on a shift in sales mix, but is anticipated to improve when higher-margin consumables pick up. Management guided 9M17 revenue and pretax profit of $142m and $17.5m, respectively. Based on FY16 tax rate of 22%, AEM is trading at an implied 9M17 annualised P/E of 5.6x..


*Soilbuild Construction: 1Q17 net profit dived 90.7% to $0.4m, as revenue of $66.6m (-35%) was weighed by lower recognition from ongoing projects, while recently-secured projects are still at preparation stages. Gross profit margin slumped to 4% (-3.1ppts) from a higher mix of lower-margin HDB projects and increased construction costs. Order book grew to $493.6m (4Q16: $385.7m). NAV/share at $0.147.

*Cheung Woh: Swung to a 4QFY17 net loss of $1.8m (4QFY16: $2.6m profit), as revenue tumbled to $21.1m (-16.3%) on slower sales of HDD components. Gross margin collapsed to 0.6% (4QFY16: 19.4%) as operating costs remained sticky, while bottom line was further dragged by an absence of a $1m tax credit. Final DPS slashed to 0.1¢ (4QFY16: 0.75¢), bringing full-year payout to 0.4¢ (FY16: 1.25¢). NAV/share at $0.3597.

*Citic Envirotech: 90:10 JV with Xinji county government for a Rmb204m project to operate an existing 66,000 m3/day wastewater treatment plant in Xinji City, China. The project will include the construction of a separate 34,000 m3/day BOT wastewater treatment plant, with works scheduled between Jul '17 and Mar '18, which will have a 30-year minimum offtake service agreement with the local government. Separately, group was also awarded a Rmb230m BOT project for a 90,000 m3/day water recycling plant in Changyi City, China, which will come with a 30-year concession period. Construction for phase 1 (30,000 m3/day) will start immediately and expected to be completed by Oct '17.

*First Resources: 1Q17 FFB harvest surged 43.7% to 706,264 tonnes, with yield rising 0.9ppts to 4.0 tonnes/ha. CPO production jumped 33.9% to 161,194 tonnes, despite lower extraction rate of 22.4% (-0.6ppts). MKE last had a Hold on the counter with TP of $1.97.

*UMS: 51% owned water and chemical engineering solutions provider, Kalf Engineering, secured five electro-chlorination systems projects in Singapore, Chile and Middle East, which are expected for completion in 2H17. It also clinched an acid cleaning system project in Qatar and a drinking-water treatment plant project in China, both slated to complete by 2H18. Total value of the seven projects is $13m.

*Sapphire: Secured new infrastructure construction and consultancy contracts worth Rmb432m ($88m) bringing its order book to ~Rmb2.5b ($510m), with activity stretching up to 2021.

*NeraTel: Received contracts worth $7.2m for the supply, delivery, installation and maintenance of security application equipment for a Filipino telco.

*Profit warnings:
- Serrano
- Secura Group