Reports » Singapore

Singapore stock market and companies daily report (STX OSV Holdings, Yuexiu Property, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding) (June 20, 2012)

Contributed by Shares Investment

STX OSV Bags Two Contracts Worth NOK700m
Offshore and specialised vessels designer and shipbuilder, STX OSV Holdings said in a media statement released on 19 June 2012 that it had won contracts for two platform supply vessels. The contracts issued by Farstad Shipping, a repeat customer, is valued at approximately NOK700 million ($149.2 million). The first vessel, of STX OSV’s proprietary PSV 07 design, will be scheduled for delivery in 2Q14 from its Norwegian shipyard, while the second vessel, also of PSV 07 design, will be delivered in 3Q14 from the company’s Vietnamese shipyard. The PSV 07 design is a new innovative proprietary design that complies with Stiftelsen Det Norske Veritas’s (DNV) strictest “Clean Design” class notation requirements to reduce environmental impact as well as effective and safe operations in harsh conditions. Currently, STX OSV has 10 other vessels under construction for Farstad Shipping.
Significance: The two contract wins comes on the heels of other wins that have propelled STX OSV to the forefront of the offshore and marine shipbuilding industry. These recent developments have helped the counter rebound from its lows since the beginning of June.

Yuexiu Adds To China Landbank With Rmb164m Purchase
Yuexiu Property, through its 95 percent-owned subsidiary, has acquired through open tender, a parcel of land located at the Jiangpu Town, Conghua City, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of China. The parcel of land has a site area of approximately 64,300 square metres with a permissible gross floor area of around 147,900 square metres. The open tender was won through Yuexiu’s bid of Rmb164.3 million ($32.8 million) or about Rmb1,100 ($219.46) per square metre. The parcel of land is located in the Jiangcun area of Jiangpu Town is earmarked for residential use and has a panoramic view of the Liuxi River, which is a famous attraction in Conghua City. Yuexiu’s board opines that the land parcel will represent another quality project for the company following Conghua Glade Village and Huadu Glade Greenland. The acquisition is also seen as an important step to reinforce Yuexiu’s corporate strategy of being home-based in Guangzhou and expanding nationwide.
Significance: With the addition of the new purchase, Yuexiu’s total landbank would amount to approximately 11.5 million square metres. Notably, the relaxation of policies as well as rate cuts in China could help to boost declining residential prospects in the country.

Yangzijiang Divests One Of Its Microfinance Units
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (YZJ) through its subsidiary, Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, has signed an agreement to exit one of two microfinance units to reduce overlaps. The agreement entails the sale of YZJ’s 31.5 percent stake in Wuxi Runyuan Technology Microfinance (WRTM) for Rmb104 million ($20.7 million) to an undisclosed buyer. The consideration represents a 10 percent premium to the Rmb94.5 million YZJ previously paid for in September 2011. YZJ said in its media communiqué that the divestment will help to streamline its structure “in order to control the overall administrative expenses” as another subsidiary of YZJ, Jiangsu Runyuan Rural Microfinance (JRRM) is also carrying out similar business as WRTM. YZJ also added that the disposal was in its best interest owing to the premium that WRTM was sold at. In addition, YZJ announced that it will be doubling the paid-up share capital of JRRM to Rmb600 million.
Significance: Back in April, analysts at DMG & Partners said that YZJ was eyeing a banking licence. The boost to JRRM’s capital could be seen as positioning by YZJ to be able to qualify for the banking licence, which the Chinese government is expected to award to bigger microfinance companies.