SG Market (03 May 18)

MARKET OVERVIEW
- Broader market appears to be struggling even as the Fed kept its rates unchanged with inflation close to target. Meanwhile, crude oil prices reverse higher as IMF threatens to expel Venezuela.
- Technically, STI could consolidate around the 3,600-3,640 range.

CORPORATE RESULTS
*UOB
- 1Q18 net profit rose to a record $978m (+31% y/y, 14% q/q), coming in at 25.5% of full-year consensus estimate.
- Net interest income expanded 13% on more lending (+5%) and better NIM of 1.84% (+11bps).
- Non-interest income inched up 1.5% to $761m as higher fee income (+18%) from wealth management (+30%) and loan-related fees (+24%) was negated by lower trading income (-33%).
- Bad debt provisions fell 57% to $80m on reduced residual risks from O&G and shipping sectors.
- Asset quality remained resilient with NPL ratio at 1.7% (4Q17: 1.8%, 1Q17: 1.5%).
- CET1 CAR was stable at 14.9% (4Q17: 15.1%, 1Q17: 13.2%).
- Trades at 1.47x P/B.
- MKE has a Buy with TP of $31.08

*Sembcorp Industries
- 1Q18 net profit tumbled 34.1% of $76.6m (-34.1%) despite chalking higher turnover of $2.8b (+30%) met only 20% of full year consensus estimate.
- Utilities business was the star performer as eanings grew 27% to $70.3m.
- But gains from urban development plunged 74% to $9.6m, due to absence of profit recognised for the sale of a 42.6-ha land in Nanjing, China.
- Marine earnings sank 92% to a meagre $1.8m on lower contributions from offshore platform projects and the absence of one-off gains from the disposal of Cosco Shipyard Group.
- Going forward, utilities business is expected to deliver a better performance in 2018. underpinned by an expected turnaround in its India energy operations.
- Trades at 14.7x P/E and 0.8x P/B.

*OUE Hospitality Trust
- 1Q18 DPU of 1.26¢ (-3.1%) met estimates amid lack of income support for CPCA and weaker retail contributions.
- Revenue and NPI of $32.7m (+1.9%) and $28.3m (3.1%) were lifted by higher contributions from the hospitality segment, which more than offset lower income from weaker retail segment.
- Its hotel portfolio's RevPAR rose 8.6% to $215 while Mandarin Gallery recorded an improved occupancy of 96% (1.3ppt) but suffered lower effective monthly rent of $22.60 psf.
- Aggregate leverage stood at 38.7% with average cost of debt at 2.3%. The timely refinancing in Dec ''17 means that it has no loan due until Dec 2020.
- Trades at annualised yield of 6.1% and 1.08x P/B

*Hi-P
- 1Q18 net profit rose 20% to $10.1m, in line with its seasonally weak quarter and makes up only 7% of full year consensus estimate.
- Revenue grew 15.1% to $281.1m on back of higher sales volume.
- Gross margin narrowed 0.3ppt to 13.4% on faster pace of cost expansion (+15.4% to $243.3m).
- Bottom line was eroded by a $13m FX loss (1Q17: $5.2m) arising from weaker USD against SGD and CNY, but partially offset by lower admin cost of $13.7m (-15.9%) and lower effective tax of 16.8% (1Q17: 29.3%).
- Management is now guiding for lower profit in FY18 despite similar revenue amid the threat of a trade war.
- Trades at 12.8x FY18e P/E.
- MKE last had a Buy with TP of $2.43.

POSITIVE NEWS
*SHS Holdings
- Secured two modular construction contracts worth NZ$30m ($28.1m).
- First contract involves a design-and-build contract with Remarkable Residences (subsidiary of Global Yellow Pages) for the development of a 79-keys service apartment (217 modules) in Queenstown and is slated to be completed in FY19.
- Second projects involves the supply of 20 modular units to Coldwater Properties for the first phase of Godley Hotel's refurbishment in Tekapo and is expected to complete in FY18.

*Cityneon
- Signed a 7+7-year licensing deal with Lionsgate to operate an exhibition based on the blockbuster film series, The Hunger Games for an undisclosed amount.
- The existing exhibition has already toured New York, Sydney, San Francisco and Louisville, US.
- New IP adds on to its existing stable comprising Avengers, Transformers and Jurassic World.
- Separately, it announced the construction of its second Jurassic World - The Exhibition set with Universal Studios after the first set secured success on its tours in Melbourne, Philadelphia and Chicago.
- Trades traded at 10.2x forward P/E

*Oxley
- Investing a 10.1% stake in Penang property developer, Aspen for $22.3m via a subscription of 97m new shares at $0.24 apiece or a 4.3% premium to last close.
- It hopes to create synergies with Aspen to grow its business in Malaysian and regional markets.

*Far East Group
- Chang Hua Construction has exercised the option to purchase the property at 112 Lavender Street.
- To recap, the four-storey building has a land area of 1,936 sqm and has a selling price of $27m, above its net book value of $4.2m.
- The sale will result in a disposal gain of $22m, compared to its current market cap of $17.8m.

NEUTRAL NEWS
*Artivision
- Acquiring a 100% stake in Mobile Credit Payment Pte Ltd for $125m, via issue of up to 446,4m new consolidated shares at a post-consolidation price of $0.28 each.
- The successful acquisition of MC Payment will result in a reverse takeover and transform Artivision into the first listed blockchain and unified payments enabler in Singapore
- The controlling shareholder, Ching Chiat Kwong will hold 18.7% of the enlarged share capital upon completion.

*Breadtalk
- Acquiring a 2-storey corner unit shop house with a total land area of 2,451 sf at 8 and 8A Sixth Avenue from unrelated parties for $12.5m, which will be funded by internal resources.
- Trades at forward P/E of 26x

*First Resources
- 1Q17 FFB harvest rose 12.4% to 793,977 tonnes along with a rise in yield to 4.1 tonnes/ha (+2.5%).
- CPO production jumped a further 19.2% to 192,193 tonnes, with extraction rate improving to 22.9% (+0.5ppt).
- MKE last had a Buy with TP of $2.20.

*CNMC Goldmine
- Officially opened its third carbon-in-leach processing plant at its Sokor gold mine in Kelantan, Malaysia.
- The plant was completed in six months on capex of RM25m and produced its first gold bar in Mar and is far more efficient (95% vs 65% of its heap leaching plant) at recovering gold from ore.
- Trades at 15.9x forward P/E.

*Pacific Star Development
- Inked MOU to be exclusive asset manager for e-commerce start-up Crowdvilla.
- Crowdville plans to raise up to US$50m in a digital token sale to build a portfolio of shared holiday homes. It will initially focus on gateway tourist destinations and cities in Asia such as KL, Bali, Tokyo and HK.
- PSD will source, evaluate and shortlist potential shared-use apartments, villas or hotels for Crowdvilla to acquire or rent and will be paid an annual management fee, acquisition and rental closing fees, and a performance fee.

*Tai Sin Electric
- Invests 30% stake in laboratory testing services provider, Astar for $0.9m.
- Deal comes with profit guarantees and option to purchase an additional 40% of Astar.
- It is looking to expand into laboratory testing and widen the range of tests it provides.

NEGATIVE NEWS
*Keppel Corp
- Served with an amended complaint by EIG that includes an additional cause of action against Keppel O&M for allegedly aiding and abetting the fraud committed by Petrobras and Sete Brasil and seeks to recover US$221m in purported investment losses as well as punitive damages.
- The group is of the view that the additional cause of action is similarly without merit and it will continue to vigorously defend itself.

*AGV group
-Warned that it is expected to report a loss for 1H18, due primarily to a decline in tonnage of services achieved, coupled with higher costs of consumables and operating costs.