To The Moon

Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Wednesday. STI rose 0.28%; YZJ Fin Hldg up over 2%; Thomson Medical, OUEREIT, AvePoint, SGX up over 1%; ST Engineering, Keppel Reit, SIA Engineering up nearly 1%.

Stocks in Focus

$UOB(U11.SI)$: A High Court judge on Wednesday upheld his decision to award UOB S$17.7 million in the Lippo Marina Collection lawsuit. The damages were for losses the bank incurred as a result of disbursing inflated housing loans to buyers who bought units at Marina Collection. The bank had sought for S$92 million in damages, but Justice Aidan Xu said it “failed to mitigate its losses fully”. Shares of UOB rose 0.2 per cent or S$0.06 to close at S$33.92, before the announcement.

$Lendlease Reit(JYEU.SI)$: The manager of the real estate investment trust (Reit) on Thursday said it completed the S$234.3 million purchase of 70 per cent of the units in PLQM Trust, which owns 100 per cent of PLQ Mall. The vendor was understood to be sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. About S$280 million was raised from a private placement of units, of which S$234.5 million was used to fund the acquisition. Units of the Reit closed 0.8 per cent or S$0.005 down at S$0.615 on Wednesday.

$IHH Healthcare(Q0F.SI)$: The healthcare company on Wednesday posted a net profit of RM616 million (S$194.3 million) for its third quarter ended Sep 30, a 15 per cent increase from RM534 million in the year before. Earnings per share stood at RM0.0697, up from RM0.0606 in the year-ago quarter. The company declared an interim single-tier cash dividend for the financial year ending Dec 31, of which RM0.05 per share was paid out on Oct 30. Its shares closed flat at S$2.51, prior to the results release.

$Cordlife(P8A.SI)$: The cord-blood bank received a notice from the Ministry of Health to stop collecting, testing, processing and/or storing new cord blood, effective Wednesday. This means that the group has been suspended from collecting new cord-blood units. These conditions will remain in force even if the company’s licence is renewed for one year in January 2026. Shares of Cordlife ended Wednesday flat at S$0.16, before the company called for a trading halt on Thursday prior to market open, pending an announcement.

SG Local News

Singapore Rents Aren’t Going Anywhere, AI Boom or Not

Singapore tenants have had two relatively calm years after rental increases blew past New York in the aftermath of the pandemic. No, the Asian financial center didn’t elect a Zohran Mamdani to lower the cost of living — a tight labor market and healthy income growth have made housing affordability less of a worry than in 2023.

The competition for accommodation has also eased. Together with foreign-born permanent residents, expat employment-pass holders have driven demand for condos, historically. The latter group has thinned out a bit from its 2023 peak. Meanwhile, a big wave of apartment supply is around the corner.

Singapore Car-Sharing Service Shariot, Related Firms Face S$180 Million Debt

A group of nine related companies, including car-sharing service Shariot and rental company Autobahn Rent A Car, is exploring restructuring options.

The Business Times understands that the group’s debts are in the region of S$180 million, and that creditors have been asked to hold off on enforcement and recovery actions until concrete next steps are decided.

A letter seen by BT dated Tuesday (Nov 25), from law firm Fervent Chambers to the companies’ creditors, said that Fervent has been appointed by the companies to advise on “potential restructuring options”.