Reports » Singapore

Singapore stock market and companies daily report ( Sembcorp Marine, Singapore Airline) (March 18, 2013)

Contributed by Shares Investment

S’pore’s Private Home Sales Down 65% In Feb
Singapore’s private home sales took a beating in February 2013 from the previous month as the city-state’s latest property market measures hurt demand, according to government data showed on 15 March 2013. New private-home sales in February 2013, excluding Executive Condominiums (ECs), slumped 65 percent to 708 units versus 2,016 units in January 2013, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority. This was the lowest volume since December 2011, as developers held back launches, offering just 261 units – the fewest since January 2009. This was 86 percent lower than the 1,802 units in January 2013. Mass-market residences continued to drive sales, with 341 units sold located in the Outside Central Region, another 198 units were from the Core Central Region, with the remaining 169 units from the Rest of Central Region.
Significance: The latest figures though falling during the Chinese New Year month shows that the government’s repeated property cooling measures are somewhat taking effect on the property market. For the rest of the year, most analysts expect property transaction volumes will moderate from the record numbers achieved last year.

Sembcorp Marine Secured US$417m Repeat Rig Orders
Sembcorp Marine, the world’s second largest offshore oil rigs builder announced on 18 March 2013 that its subsidiary PPL Shipyard has secured orders for two turnkey contracts valued at US$417 million for the construction of two units of jack-up rigs from repeat customer Mexico’s Integradora de Servicios Petroleros Oro Negro, S.A.P.I de C.V (Oro Negro). The new rigs are scheduled for delivery at the end of fourth quarter of 2014 and end of first quarter of 2015, and will be built based on PPL Shipyard’s proprietary Pacific Class 400 design. Managing Director in PPL Shipyard, Douglas Tan said: “We are heartened to be chosen once again by Oro Negro as a partner in their offshore fleet expansion programme. The repeat order of two additional Pacific Class 400 jack-ups signals Oro Negro’s confidence and endorsement of PPL Shipyard’s design capabilities, efficient project execution, and track record for quality and timely deliveries.”
Significance: The repeat order from Oro Negro’s signals its’ confidence in PPL Shipyard, including the two jack-up rigs of similar design ordered in November 2012, the total number of Pacific Class 400 jack-up rigs ordered by Oro Negro now stands at four units. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Sembcorp Marine expects a positive contribution to its earnings from the contracts.

Singapore Airlines Reports Favourable Operating Statistics For Feb 2013
Singapore Airlines (SIA), reported a set of favourable operating statistics for the month of February 2013. Rolling over from the lunar new year holidays, SIA saw its Passenger Load Factor (PLF) improve across all its route regions except that of South West Pacific. As a result of capacity increase, the PLF for South West Pacific declined and was outpaced. The increased PLF was also seen in SilkAir, where systemwide passenger carriage rose 16 percent. PLF rose to 74.4 percent by 0.5 percentage points. The West Asia route of SilkAir however saw a declination of 8.4 percentage points as a result of lagging growth in traffic. Cargo traffic on the overall for SIA was 14.1 percent lower y-o-y, as cargo capacity decreased by 15.3 percent. However, better capacity management did see cargo load factor (CLF) rising 0.8 percentage points, albeit the decline in East Asia’s CLF due to the seasonal slowdown in air freight activities during the Lunar New Year period.
Significance: Although the operating environment remains challenging, with expected downward pressure felt as efforts are channelled to continue to boost loads, SIA could probably see a positive impact on its PLF. Furthermore, recovery signs in the US and China is expected to see better spending ability, which puts air travel in a strategic positive limelight, in which SIA will most probably be able to benefit from.