Latest news with #SingTel
Business Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Times
Independent director Chua Kee Lock acquires venture shares on open market
[SINGAPORE] Over the five trading sessions from May 23 to May 29, institutions were marginal net sellers of Singapore stocks, with net institutional outflow of S$2 million compared to net outflow of S$65 million for the preceding five sessions. This keeps the net institutional outflow for the 2025 year to May 29 at S$1.73 billion. Institutional Flows Over the five trading sessions through May 29, the stocks that saw the highest net institutional outflow were SingTel , Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings , Genting Singapore , CapitaLand Ascendas Reit , UOB , CapitaLand Investment , ComfortDelGro , Lendlease Global Commercial Reit , Riverstone Holdings , and Mapletree Industrial Trust . Meanwhile DBS , Singapore Exchange , ST Engineering , Singapore Airlines , Sats , Seatrium , Thai Beverage Public Co , Frasers Hospitality Trust , Keppel , and Hongkong Land Holdings led the net institutional inflow over the five sessions. From a sector perspective, telecommunications and Reits experienced the highest net institutional outflow, while financial services and industrials saw the most net institutional inflow. Share buybacks The five sessions through May 29 saw 18 primary-listed companies make buybacks with a total consideration of S$45 million. Secondary-listed Hongkong Land conducted share repurchases on four of the five sessions, with 1,563,300 shares bought at an average price of US$5.24 apiece. The manager of ESR-Reit also bought back 500,000 units of the Reit at an average price of S$2.22 per unit. Director transactions The five trading sessions spanning May 23 through May 29 saw close to 90 director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for more than 30 primary-listed stocks. Directors or CEOs again filed 24 acquisitions and two disposals, while substantial shareholders filed 22 acquisitions and six disposals. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up This included director or CEO acquisitions in Cosmosteel Holdings , Edition , Far East Orchard , Ho Bee Land , Nam Cheong , Niks Professional , Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) , Samudera Shipping Line , Sinostar PEC Holdings , SunMoon Food Company , UMS Integration , Venture Corporation and Wing Tai Holdings . Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) On May 26, Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) non-independent executive director and group chief executive officer Ng Chin Siau increased his total interest from 53.72 per cent to 53.92 per cent. The 1,882,200 shares were acquired by Quan Min Holdings at an average price of S$0.345 apiece. Since the end of April, Dr Ng has increased his total interest from 53.02 per cent. The group reported its FY2024 results in early March. Despite total revenue being comparable to FY2023, FY2024's focus on operational efficiency and cost discipline led to a 27 per cent increase in attributable net profit to S$14.6 million, with FY2025's strategy targeting regional expansion and ESG. Venture Corporation On May 22, Chua KL Family acquired 30,000 shares at S$11.08 apiece. This took the deemed interest of Venture Corporation independent non-executive director Chua Kee Lock to 0.01 per cent. Chua is the group president and CEO of Vertex Venture Holdings (VH), a Singapore-based venture capital investment holding company wholly owned by Temasek Holdings. VH anchors a global network of independently managed funds, including five early-stage technology funds, an early-stage healthcare fund, and a growth-stage fund, all supported by third-party capital. Chua also serves as managing partner of Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India and chairman of Vertex Growth Fund. His acquisition follows Venture Corporation detailing in its Q1 FY2025 business update that it improved its net profit margin to 9.1 per cent. This was driven by ongoing cost efficiency efforts and the delivery of higher-value solutions through its differentiated capabilities. The group also noted that overall revenue declined, primarily due to reduced demand in the lifestyle consumer technology segment, where research-and-development-led design innovations enhanced product reliability and lifespan, resulting in fewer replacements. Excluding this segment, the group maintained that revenue would have increased in Q1 FY2025 from Q1 FY2024. Meanwhile, Venture Corporation highlighted those initiatives in other domains – such as networking and communications, and advanced industrials – continued to gain traction, showing year-on-year progress. Wing Tai Holdings Wing Tai Holdings chairman and managing director Cheng Wai Keung continued to raise his deemed interest in the company from 61.78 per cent to 61.84 per cent, through 395,000 shares bought by his spouse, Helen Chow. UMS Integration On May 26, UMS Integration CEO Andy Luong acquired 100,000 shares at an average price of S$1.15 per share. This increased his deemed interest from 15.36 per cent to 15.38 per cent. His preceding acquisitions on the open market were in April, with 199,800 shares acquired at S$0.925 apiece and in September 2024 with 600,000 shares acquired at S$0.983 apiece. This followed the Q1 FY2025 business update released on May 9. Luong noted that the group performed well in Q1, achieving improved revenue, gross margin expansion, and healthy cash flow despite a challenging global business environment compared with the same period last year. He added that significant progress was made in meeting the needs of key customers, with sales in Malaysia nearly trebling due to strong orders from a new key customer. Luong also maintained that despite the ongoing trade tensions affecting global sentiment, the order forecasts from the group's key customers remain unchanged. Cosmosteel Holdings Between May 23 and 27, Cosmosteel Holdings executive director and CEO Jack Ong acquired 500,000 shares at an average price of S$0.220 apiece, increasing his direct interest from 16.81 per cent to 17 per cent. This follows his acquisition of 6,050,000 shares between May 20 and 22. On May 15, Evolve Capital Advisory, on behalf of 3HA Capital, announced a voluntary conditional cash offer for all issued and paid-up ordinary shares of Cosmosteel Holdings at S$0.20 apiece. Samudera Shipping Line Between May 23 and 28, Samudera Shipping Line executive director and CEO Bani Maulana Mulia acquired 73,100 shares at an average price of S$0.819 apiece. This increased his direct interest from 0.67 per cent to 0.68 per cent and followed his acquisition of 99,600 shares at S$0.80 apiece between May 8 and 14. Ho Bee Land Between May 26 and 29, Ho Bee Holdings acquired 38,600 shares of the company at S$1.77 apiece. This marginally increased the deemed interest of Ho Bee Land executive chairman Chua Thian Poh, which is at 75.65 per cent. This closely followed the acquisition of 129,200 shares at S$1.75 per share between May 16 and 20. Sinostar PEC Holdings Between May 23 and 29, Sinostar PEC Holdings executive chairman and CEO Li Xiang Ping acquired one million shares at S$0.147 apiece. This increased his deemed interest in the China-based producer and supplier of downstream petrochemical products from 69.46 per cent to 69.56 per cent. This follows his acquisition of 800,000 shares at S$0.142 apiece between May 19 and 21, and 880,000 shares acquired in April. Since the end of 2019, he has raised his deemed interest from 57.80 per cent, primarily through a rights issue earlier this year. Nam Cheong Between May 21 and 26, Nam Cheong executive chairman Tiong Su Kouk increased his total interest from 32.17 per cent to 32.18 per cent. This was through the acquisition of 30,000 shares by his wife, Wong Bak Hee, at an average price of S$0.52 apiece. The acquisition follows Nam Cheong providing a Q1 FY2025 business update on May 14 detailing its gross profit increased 13 per cent from Q1FY2024 to RM 56.3 million (S$17.1 million). This followed its FY2024 gross profit increasing to RM 363.3 million from RM 168.6 million in FY2023. Nam Cheong said that its sustained performance underscores the success of its strategic shift towards a more resilient chartering model and its ability to navigate market challenges. Nam Cheong and its subsidiaries are one of South-east Asia's leading offshore support vessel (OSV) providers, originating from Sarawak, Malaysia. Tiong has maintained majority shareholding control with an active role in the management of the group since 1999. He oversees its strategic direction and has played a significant role in steering the company from being primarily involved in the construction of barges and fishing vessels in Malaysia to the building of offshore support vessels. The stock has ranked among the top 70 local stocks traded by turnover this year, while also ranking among the 40 stocks that have booked the most net institutional inflow. The writer is the market strategist at Singapore Exchange (SGX). To read SGX's market research reports, visit
Economic Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Promoters selling stakes bigger threat in the market: Sandip Sabharwal
Synopsis Sandip Sabharwal highlights promoter selling, particularly in mid and small-cap companies, as a key market risk, overshadowing a generally positive macro environment. While larger sales like SingTel and ITC impact liquidity, smaller promoter exits raise concerns about confidence in company growth prospects at high valuations. Defence and railway sectors have seen recent activity, but sustainability remains uncertain. Sandip Sabharwal, says the risk in the market is just the kind of promoter selling which we are seeing in the markets starting with the larger ones like SingTel, InterGlobe Aviation as well as ITC and then a slew of mid and smallcap promoters selling their stakes. I think that is the risk to the markets. Ex of that, the overall macro scenario looks okay. While Sabharwal is more concerned about the small and midcap promoter sales rather than the bigger ones, even the bigger ones take out liquidity from the system and restrict market upside. ADVERTISEMENT What kind of sectors are you looking for at this point in time? A lot of sectoral churning is underway. The theme of this particular month has been defence, and also some of the counters from the railway side. But what is looking good to you right now? Sandip Sabharwal: Defence stocks rallied following the Indo-Pak conflict and potential increase in orders. Some of the companies came out with very good results like Bharat Electronics, while results from some others were subdued. Railways stocks have bounced back from extreme oversold levels, like from last year levels, many of the railway-related stocks got sold off a lot, but there is no clear change in the railway investment theme at this point of time in terms of the railways picking up steam in terms of investing more like it did 2022 onwards. So, these could be just bounces because the stocks have gotten sold off a lot. The results picture which has been pretty okay and in line with expectations. Some companies have performed above, some below and so there is nothing much out there. Markets are decently placed. The risk in the market is just the kind of promoter selling which we are seeing in the markets starting with the larger ones like SingTel, InterGlobe Aviation as well as ITC and then a slew of mid and smallcap promoters selling their stakes. I think that is the risk to the markets. Ex of that, the overall macro scenario looks okay. What is the trend you draw up from the promoter exits that are happening? These are ripe valuations in the market and could not get any better. Is it warranting caution now? Sandip Sabharwal: In some of these stocks, I would say yes, because if many of these companies are giving very strong outlook for growth for their companies and are coming out and selling huge quantity of their stocks at very high valuation and are getting absorbed by the institutional investors because the companies have given very strong guidance, that itself is a dichotomy because if you are so confident, why are you selling? On the other hand, for some of the larger companies like InterGlobe or BAT for ITC, etc, there we cannot surmise the same thing because in InterGlobe Aviation we have seen continuous sales by Rakesh Gangwal over the last few years and now we are coming to the end stage of that. So, hopefully over the next one year, all of that will get sold out. For ITC also, BAT needed the money and so they have sold. I would be more concerned about the small and midcap promoter sales rather than the bigger ones. 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Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Promoters selling stakes bigger threat in the market: Sandip Sabharwal
Sandip Sabharwal , says the risk in the market is just the kind of promoter selling which we are seeing in the markets starting with the larger ones like SingTel, InterGlobe Aviation as well as ITC and then a slew of mid and smallcap promoters selling their stakes. I think that is the risk to the markets. Ex of that, the overall macro scenario looks okay. While Sabharwal is more concerned about the small and midcap promoter sales rather than the bigger ones, even the bigger ones take out liquidity from the system and restrict market upside. What kind of sectors are you looking for at this point in time? A lot of sectoral churning is underway. The theme of this particular month has been defence, and also some of the counters from the railway side. But what is looking good to you right now? Sandip Sabharwal: Defence stocks rallied following the Indo-Pak conflict and potential increase in orders. Some of the companies came out with very good results like Bharat Electronics , while results from some others were subdued. Railways stocks have bounced back from extreme oversold levels, like from last year levels, many of the railway-related stocks got sold off a lot, but there is no clear change in the railway investment theme at this point of time in terms of the railways picking up steam in terms of investing more like it did 2022 onwards. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dental Implant Balintawak Cost Might Be More Affordable Than Ever! Dental implant | Search Ads Learn More So, these could be just bounces because the stocks have gotten sold off a lot. The results picture which has been pretty okay and in line with expectations. Some companies have performed above, some below and so there is nothing much out there. Markets are decently placed. The risk in the market is just the kind of promoter selling which we are seeing in the markets starting with the larger ones like SingTel, InterGlobe Aviation as well as ITC and then a slew of mid and smallcap promoters selling their stakes. I think that is the risk to the markets. Ex of that, the overall macro scenario looks okay. What is the trend you draw up from the promoter exits that are happening? These are ripe valuations in the market and could not get any better. Is it warranting caution now? Sandip Sabharwal: In some of these stocks, I would say yes, because if many of these companies are giving very strong outlook for growth for their companies and are coming out and selling huge quantity of their stocks at very high valuation and are getting absorbed by the institutional investors because the companies have given very strong guidance, that itself is a dichotomy because if you are so confident, why are you selling? On the other hand, for some of the larger companies like InterGlobe or BAT for ITC, etc, there we cannot surmise the same thing because in InterGlobe Aviation we have seen continuous sales by Rakesh Gangwal over the last few years and now we are coming to the end stage of that. So, hopefully over the next one year, all of that will get sold out. For ITC also, BAT needed the money and so they have sold. I would be more concerned about the small and midcap promoter sales rather than the bigger ones. But that said, even the bigger ones take out liquidity from the system and restrict market upside. You Might Also Like: PG Electroplast shares in focus as promoters plan Rs 1,177 crore stake sale via block deal Gangwal family to sell 3.4% stake in IndiGo via Rs 6,831-crore block deal
New Straits Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
SingTel posts 9pct annual profit rise, unveils US$1.5 billion buyback plan
KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore Telecommunications reported a 9 per cent rise in annual profit on Thursday, driven by solid performances from its Optus unit and regional associate Airtel, and announced a S$2 billion (US$1.55 billion) share buyback over the next three years. SingTel, Southeast Asia's largest telecom firm, said its underlying net profit for the full year ended March 31 was S$2.47 billion, up from S$2.26 billion a year earlier, but slightly below the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of S$2.56 billion. Optus reported a 5.7 per cent growth in full-year earnings due to improved core mobile performance. Post-tax contributions from the company's associates grew 13 per cent, mainly driven by India's Bharti Airtel, which nearly doubled its quarterly profit on higher tariffs and subscriber growth. "Notwithstanding the company's encouraging performance, macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties caused by volatility in tariff policies persist," CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said in a statement. While tariffs have no direct impact on the company's business, which is primarily in services, the trade conflict could affect it indirectly through softer consumer and business sentiment, SingTel said. The telecoms firm expects earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), excluding contributions from associates, to grow in high-single digits in fiscal 2026. Its EBIT grew 20 per cent in fiscal year 2025. After selling a 1.2 per cent stake in Airtel for S$2 billion last week, SingTel said it has surpassed half of its S$6 billion mid-term asset recycling target and has now raised the goal to S$9 billion. "The progress we've made in our ongoing capital management puts us in a position to return more to shareholders," CEO Moon said. The company declared a final dividend of 10 Singapore cents per share, higher than 9.8 cents declared last year.
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
SingTel posts 9% annual profit rise, unveils $1.5 billion buyback plan
Singapore Telecommunications reported a 9% rise in annual profit on Thursday, driven by solid performances from its Optus unit and regional associate Airtel , and announced a S$2 billion ($1.55 billion) share buyback over the next three years. SingTel , Southeast Asia 's largest telecom firm, said its underlying net profit for the full year ended March 31 was S$2.47 billion, up from S$2.26 billion a year earlier, but slightly below the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of S$2.56 billion. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Join new Free to Play WWII MMO War Thunder War Thunder Play Now Undo Optus reported a 5.7% growth in full-year earnings due to improved core mobile performance. Post-tax contributions from the company's associates grew 13%, mainly driven by India's Bharti Airtel , which nearly doubled its quarterly profit on higher tariffs and subscriber growth. "Notwithstanding the company's encouraging performance, macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties caused by volatility in tariff policies persist," CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said in a statement. Live Events While tariffs have no direct impact on the company's business, which is primarily in services, the trade conflict could affect it indirectly through softer consumer and business sentiment, SingTel said. The telecoms firm expects earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), excluding contributions from associates, to grow in high-single digits in fiscal 2026. Its EBIT grew 20% in fiscal year 2025. After selling a 1.2% stake in Airtel for S$2 billion last week, SingTel said it has surpassed half of its S$6 billion mid-term asset recycling target and has now raised the goal to S$9 billion. "The progress we've made in our ongoing capital management puts us in a position to return more to shareholders," CEO Moon said. The company declared a final dividend of 10 Singapore cents per share, higher than 9.8 cents declared last year. ($1 = 1.2899 Singapore dollars)
