SMRT posts quarter2 57% profit down

(From Article)

SMRT's Q2 profit down 57% at $14.3m

Higher staff and depreciation expenses, as well as repair and maintenance costs, put the brakes on SMRT Corp's net profit in the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2013, causing it to plunge 57.1 per cent to S$14.3 million, even as revenue rose 5.3 per cent to S$296.3 million. 

Earnings per share for Q2 were 0.9 Singapore cent, down 56.8 per cent from 2.2 Singapore cents in the corresponding period a year ago. 

An interim dividend of one cent per share has been declared. 

For the first half, Singapore's main rail operator, which also runs buses and taxis, posted a net profit S$30.6 million, down 56.1 per cent from the same period last year.

Low interest rate is here to stay

(From Article)

Federal Reserve leaves low interest-rate policies unchanged

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve says its low interest-rate policies are still needed to invigorate a subpar U.S. economy.

In a statement Wednesday after a policy meeting, the Fed said it would keep buying $85 billion a month in bonds to keep long-term rates low and encourage borrowing and spending.

Yet the Fed seemed to signal that it thinks the economy is improving despite some recent weak data and uncertainties caused by the partial government shutdown.

The Fed no longer expresses concern, as it did in September, that higher mortgage rates could hold back hiring and economic growth. And its statement makes no reference to the 16-day shutdown, which economists say has slowed growth this quarter.

HPH Trust earnings dropped

(From Article)

HPH Trust said earnings for the three months ended Sept fell 8.4% to HK$539.2 million ($86.2 million) from HK$588.9 million from a year ago.

Earnings per share fell to HK 6.19 cents from HK 6.76 cents.

Revenue and other income inched up 1% to HK$3.36 billion from HK$3.33 billion.

The container throughput of Hongkong International Terminals or HIT decreased by 11.6% as compared to the same quarter in 2012, in view of weaker transshipment, intra-Asia and US/EU cargoes.

The container throughput of Yantian International Container Terminals or YICT decreased by 3.5% as compared to the same quarter in 2012, primarily due to the drop in empty volume.

The average revenue per TEU for Hong Kong was higher than last year because of the favorable throughput mix of containers from liners, whereas that for China was higher than last year due to less concessions granted to some liners and a lower empty/laden container ratio.

(Personal Sharing)

I am totally disappointed with HPH trust performance. The share price is on a downtrend now. Target price seems to be at 0.74USD.

 

First State Dividend Advantage Payout for Oct 2013

(Personal Sharing)

I received 96.08SGD for my 6962.53 units in first state dividend advantage for the month of Oct 2013.

I am happy that the units have been providing me with consistent quarterly payout.

Dividend Chaser on Sabana reits

(From Article)

Current Price on 18th October 2013 = $1.095

• Current Yield = 8.69%  
• Price-to-book Ratio = 1.012
• Assets per unit = $1.764
• Debt per unit = $0.682 (including current liabilities)
• Gearing = 38.7%

Sabana REIT has published its results which shows a very promising 8.69% yield. This is by far the highest yield REIT with properties based only in Singapore (something which I think is an advantage). Of course, the tricky part is that its price-to-book ratio is at 1.012 which means it is trading at 1% premium.

(Personal Sharing)

I bought 3lots of Sabana reits at average price of 1.34, which are trading at 32% loss.

Dividend Chaser on Rickmers Maritime 4th qtr dividends

(Personal Sharing)

0.006USD dividends declared for Rickmers Maritime.

Ex-distribution on 8Nov.

Payable on 27Nov.

Dividend Chaser on Valuemax IPO

(From Article)

Invitation in respect of 138,000,000 

New Shares comprising: 

(a) 5,000,000 Offer Shares at $0.51 each 

by way of Public Offer and
(b) 133,000,000 Placement Shares 

at $0.51 each by way of Placement,
payable in full on application. 

Indicative time/date Event 

21 October 2013, 5.00 p.m. Commencement of the Invitation 

28 October 2013, 12.00 noon Close of Application List 

29 October 2013 Balloting of applications, if necessary (if oversubscription)

30 October 2013, 9.00 a.m. Commence trading on a ?ready? basis 

Issue Manager, Underwriter and 

Placement Agent
CANACCORD GENUITY SINGAPORE 

PTE. LTD.

Dividend Chaser on USA debt deal

(Personal Sharing)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street finally got the deal it's been waiting for.

A last-minute agreement to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its debt and reopen the government sent the stock market soaring Wednesday, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 index close to a record high.

On Wednesday, Senate leaders agreed to fund the government through Jan. 15 and extend government borrowing through Feb. 7.

This is good news for now. Come year 2014, the worries come again.

Dividend Chaser on K-green earnings increase

(Personal Sharing)

K-Green Trust's earnings rose 7.4% to $3.8 million in the third quarter, up from $3.5 million a year ago. Revenue for the three months ended September was $17.1 million, up 0.3% from a year ago.

Well done K-green. Hope that the dividend yield will continue to be so attractive for year 2014.

Dividend Chaser on Dow Jones best one-day point gain since Dec 2011

(Personal Sharing)

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks soared on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching its best one-day point gain since December 2011, after House Republican leaders proposed a temporary extension of the nation’s debt ceiling.

It's a like a roller coaster ride with the Dow Jones.

Dividend Chaser on Yellen being next Fed Chief

(Personal Sharing)

Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen will be the next head of the U.S. central Bank.

Welcome on board lady iron chief.

Dividend Chaser on US partial government shutdown extends to second week

(Personal Sharing)

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks fell sharply on Tuesday hit by growing jitters over the budget impasse in Washington, with the partial government shutdown extending into a second week with few signs of a deal to end it or raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

I hope there will be a resolution soon for the current situation in USA.

Dividend Chaser on October 2013 Stock Portfolio

(Personal Sharing)

I have the following stock portfolio for October 2013.

1. 3000 sabana

2. 40,000 rickmers

3. 1000 SPH

4. 1000 transpac 

5. 12,000 HPH

I have about 30% in stock, 8% in unit trust, 62% in cash, and 15K spare cash.

Dividend Chaser on AsiaPhos first day trading

(Personal Sharing)

Shares of mineral resources firm AsiaPhos, which focuses on exploring and mining phosphate in China, surged in its trading debut on SGX.

The stock jumped as high as $0.485, about 94% above its initial public offering price. More than 133 million shares were traded and the stock was the top-traded by value on Monday.

The company’s offering of 122 million shares at $0.25 each was around 3.8 times subscribed, it said in a stock market filing.

Well done AsiaPhos! 

Dividend Chaser on Penny market in red

(Personal Sharing)

It is indeed a terrible terrible day in the world of pennies! A stock like Blumont priced at $1.90 can drop to $0.88 before being suspended. Asiasons drop from $2.65 to $1.04. After the trio Blumont, Asiasons and Liongold were suspended, it affected pennies like innopac and ipco, which brought down the whole penny market. Innopac and Ipco has long been rumored online that they are related to the trio. How true are they???

The trio was suspended as the company prices fall by half in one morning session! They were queried by SGX on the trading activities.

The public and the stock market are very surprised by the drop and are even more shocked by the suspension.

I wonder how many punters are badly hit by the downfall, and how bad are they hit.

Dividend Chaser on 17Oct deadline for USA

(Personal Sharing)

An important deadline looms for USA – October 17. That’s when the US government hits its $16.7 trillion debt ceiling. At that point, unless something is done, the Treasury will have just $30 billion in cash. That’s not enough to pay its bills, warns US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

$16.7 trillion debt, that is a lot of money. 1 trillion is a million million. It is a thousand billion. It is 12 followed by one zeroes.  

Dividend Chaser on some advice from the experts on stock investing

(Personal Sharing)

Some good advice from the experts on stock investing:

• If you own individual stocks, review them and make sure you like them.  If you don’t, or aren’t sure, you’ll feel horrible when it goes down 30% or 50%.  And you would sell out in fear.  If you really like it, you should be able to hold it through the storm and not blink.  As someone said about guiding the ship by the lights from a distant lighthouse and not the waves crashing against the boat, just make sure the business will be doing well in five or ten years (and hopefully doing a lot more business).  If so, sit tight.
• If you have stuff in your portfolio that is not high conviction, or even stuff you bought as a punt or on a tip, now is the time to clean house.  Dump that stuff.  You got lucky.  Now dump that stuff while the tide is lifting all boats.
• If your portfolio went down 50% tomorrow and you would be upset, then that means you own too much stock.  Sell down to a level where you won’t lose sleep if it went down 50% because it will at some point. OK, to say that it will happen in one day is a bit extreme.  This is Joel Greenblatt’s idea; the mistake people made in the financial crisis is not that they didn’t sell before the crisis, but that they owned too much stock and they freaked out and had to sell in the decline out of fear.  If you were comfortable with stock market volatility, you wouldn’t have sold out and you would’ve been fine (unless of course you owned too much of the ones that went bust!).

Dividend Chaser on Shoebox rental in central region

(Personal Sharing)

According to Square Foot Research, out of 50 projects with shoebox apartments completed since 2012, 38 are located in the central region and these saw a higher rental take-up rate compared to those in OCR. They also rented for as much as $3,400 a month or about $6.72 psf (based on a unit of 506 sq ft in size).

There is also an interesting observation that short term leases of 6 months are on the rise. 6 months is the shortest lease period allowed by the URA for private residential properties.

Personally, rental income of 3400 per month is a good source of passive income but how long can it sustain? What if interest rate goes up? Does the rental income cover the monthly installment? It would be good news if it still does.

Dividend Chaser on Capitaland SkyVue

(Personal Sharing)

CapitaLand's latest project "SkyVue" in Bishan saw 410 of the 505 units released for sale snapped up on the first day with smaller formats being the most popular. One bedroom units at 484 sq ft in size averaged $750,000 in price (or $1,550 psf).

Seems private property in Singapore still very much sought after. But how many people have seriously considered whether they could afford the payment and it was worth the money.

Dividend Chaser on Aspirin can prevent thousands of miscarriages

(From Article)

Thousands of women are needlessly suffering repeated miscarriages when a simple blood test and daily aspirin could solve their 'sticky blood' syndrome, a leader doctor has said.

One in five women who suffer repeated miscarriages has a medical condition that means her blood is too thick and sticky which starves the baby of oxygen and can trigger very late pregnancy loss.

Few are tested and many are labelled as infertile and embark on expensive and difficult treatment, a conference was told.

Prof Graham Hughes, of London Bridge Hospital, said a simple blood test can identify their problem and a daily lose dose aspirin costing a few pence can lead to a successful pregnancy.

Speaking at the Aspirin Foundation conference in London, he said current guidelines mean many women are not given the test for Hughes syndrome, named after Prof Hughes, until they suffer many miscarriages, if they are tested at all.

He called for awareness amongst doctors to be raised and for women to be tested after their first, or certainly, their second miscarriage.

Following treatment the successful pregnancy rate can rise from lower than 20 per cent to around 75-80 per cent, he said.

He told the Daily Telegraph: "Some women have suffered 12 or even 15 miscarriages before the problem is spotted and that is tragic because the treatment is so easy.

"Some of these pregnancy losses can occur at eight months or more.

"Hughes syndrome is now known to be the commonest cause of repeat miscarriage yet it is still an unrecognised problem. It is starting to catch on in the obstetrics world but current advice is to test women after three or more miscarriages and that is terrible.

"If it were my daughter, I'd test after the first, it costs a few pounds and is a simple blood test."

Symptoms of the condition include migraine, memory problems, balance problems and pins and needles, which can lead them to be wrongly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Aspirin has been hailed as a wonder drug after it was found to significantly reduce the chances of developing cancer and in the prevention of stroke and heart attacks.

The conference at the Royal College of Physicians also heard of the role of aspirin in dementia and diabetes where early studies suggest it may be beneficial.

(Personal Sharing)

Why in Singapore, women are not tested when they suffered from multiple miscarriages? I am a victim myself. The doctors I have seen all assumed that pregnancy cases in Singapore should be smooth-sailing and when things go wrong, they would say 'sorry for your loss'. I hope the doctors can be more caring like the 'Deliver Me' doctors  in Discovery Home and Health. If they know a woman has suffered from more than one miscarriages, they should give the woman tests on the first visit and monitor them closely. Don't just think of earning money from the smooth-sailing pregnancies.