Reports » Singapore

Singapore stock market and companies daily report (Keppel Land, DeClout, M1) (October 17, 2012)

Contributed by Shares Investment

Keppel Land Strengthens Presence In Chengdu
Keppel Land added a fifth residential site to its Chengdu portfolio with a Rmb680.4 million (approximately $133 million) after inking an agreement with Chengdu Guojia Zhide Property Company to purchase a 100 percent interest in Chengdu Shengshi Jingwei Real Estate Investment Company. The latter owns a 28.7 hectares residential site in Xinjin County in Sichuan province, which is adjacent to Hill Crest Villa, where Keppel Land China is currently developing 274 landed properties, is to be developed into landed homes. The acquisition is in line with its strategy to further its presence in key cities across China and Chengdu is one of the best investment locations with its favourable policies, vast consumer market, low-cost labour resources and pleasant living conditions. Locally, Keppel Land announced separately that it had bid for a prime residential site along New Upper Changi Road at approximately $434.6 million.
Significance: The acquisition of the new site further strengthens Keppel Land China’s portfolio of quality developments in Chengdu and as well as its presence in the China market.

DeClout To Raise $7.8m From Catalist Listing
Provider of next generation technology services offering a full suite of information and communications technology, DeClout, is set for a Catalist listing with the issue of 31 million shares at $0.25 apiece. The initial public offering (IPO) will raise gross proceeds of approximately $7.8 million, which will largely be used to launch the company’s first Vertical Domain Cloud (VDC) – the games cloud, which will focus on the expanding online games industry in Southeast Asia. The VDC platforms allow various stakeholders to converge on to collaborate, communicate, interact and conduct business. The remaining proceeds will fund the expansion of its IT infrastructure services business and general working capital requirements. Notably, its business has been profitable since inception in 2009, backed by positive contributions from its IT infrastructure services business.
Significance: DeClout is expected to ride on the swelling ranks of gamers from 29 million to 49 million from 2009 to 2014 and according to IDC Southeast Asia Online Gaming 2010-2014 Forecast and Analysis, the sector is expected to almost double from US$230.3 million to US$458.5 million over the same period.

M1’s 9M12 Earnings Slipped 14.1%
M1 posted a 14.1 percent decline in net profit to $108.6 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2012 while revenue remained stable at $749.4 million. For the three months period, earnings were 19.5 percent lower at $33.1 million while revenue inched up 4 percent to $254.7 million year-on-year. As end 9M12, M1’s cellular customer base stood at 2.1 million, 2.5 percent higher than last year’s 2 million and 1.2 percent higher than 2Q12. Revenue was driven by higher handset sales and higher cellular customer base. However, earnings were dragged by a poorer net profit margin at 16.9 percent for 3Q12 against 3Q11’s 21.8 percent and 18.8 percent for 9M12 against 9M11’s 22.5 percent. Expenses were also higher as cost of sales rose from the higher handset costs, staff costs, advertising and promotion costs.
Significance: Although M1’s market share was 25.9 percent at end July 2012 as compared to 26.2 percent at end September 2011, M1 expects its strong take-up rate of 4G handsets on its new smartphone plans to continue into the fourth quarter as the first operator in South East Asia to launch nationwide 4G service.