Stocks to watch: Keppel Corp, Yanlord Land, Creative, Hupsteel, Raffles Education

The Singapore Exchange Centre in Shenton Way. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Thursday (Aug 22):

Keppel Corporation: Keppel Corp unit, Keppel Land China, is entering a joint venture (JV) to acquire and develop a 3.8 hectare commercial and residential mixed-use development site in Nanjing, China, with an estimated total development cost in excess of five billion yuan (S$990 million), Keppel Corp announced on Wednesday. Keppel Land China unit Shanghai Ming Bu Industrial Co (SMBI) has entered a share-purchase agreement with Yincheng International Holding Co to acquire a 25 per cent stake in the JV company, Nanjing Zhijun Property Development Co, for 250 million yuan. The remaining 75 per cent stake in the JV company will be held by Yincheng and co-investor Jiangsu Aidi Property Development Co. Keppel Corp said the deal is not expected to have a material impact on its net tangible assets per share, or earnings per share for the current financial year. Keppel Corp shares closed down two cents or 0.34 per cent at $5.92 on Wednesday before the announcement.

Yanlord Land: A unit of Yanlord Land has priced its US$400 million senior notes due 2024 at 6.8 per cent, payable semi-annually in arrears, the China-based property developer said on Thursday after midnight in a regulatory filing. The notes are expected to be issued on Aug 27 by subsidiary Yanlord Land (HK) Co, and listed on the Singapore Exchange. Estimated net proceeds from the offering are around US$395 million, which the group says will be used for project development and acquisition, as well as general corporate purposes. Yanlord Land shares closed at $1.20 on Wednesday, down two cents or 1.64 per cent.

Creative Technology: Creative recorded a net loss attributable to equity holders of US$2.8 million for the fourth quarter ended June 30, compared with a net profit of US$25.6 million in the year-ago period, it said in a results release after market close on Wednesday. For the current quarter, Creative said it "is targeting an improvement in revenue from the current level" but expects to report an operating loss. Revenue for the fourth quarter fell 9 per cent to US$12.8 million from US$14.1 million in the year-ago period. Loss per share for the quarter was 0.04 US cent, compared with earnings per share of 0.36 US cent in the year-ago period. Creative shares closed up four cents or 1.18 per cent at $3.42 on Wednesday before the results release.

Hupsteel: The founding Lim family's voluntary conditional cash offer for steel trader Hupsteel has received valid acceptances representing 90.013 per cent in the mainboard-listed firm as at 5pm on Wednesday, Hupsteel announced in a regulatory filing that night. This has taken it over the minimum 90 per cent needed to succeed, and the offer has accordingly become unconditional. The Lim family launched the offer at $1.20 per share in June to delist Hupsteel. The offer price represented a premium of 51.9 per cent over the last transacted price per share of $0.79 on June 27, being the last full market day immediately prior to the offer announcement. Hupsteel shares closed up one cent or 0.85 per cent at $1.19 on Wednesday before the announcement.

Raffles Education Corporation: Raffles Education saw net profit attributable to equity holders nearly quadruple to $40.2 million for the year ended June 30 from $10.6 million the year before, it announced in a results filing on Wednesday after market close. Revenue edged up 1 per cent to $97.9 million from $96.8 million the year before. Other operating income surged to $45.1 million from $4.4 million the year before on a $37.4 million gain on the disposal of subsidiary Langfang Development Zone Oriental University City Sino-Singapore Education Investment Co. Earnings per share were 2.92 cents, compared with 0.90 cent the year before. No dividend was declared, similar to the previous year, which Raffles Education said was because it does not have accumulative profits to declare a dividend. Raffles Education shares closed down 0.2 cent or 2.67 per cent at 7.3 cents on Wednesday before the announcement.

IPS Securex Holdings: Catalist-listed IPS Securex saw its fourth-quarter net loss narrow to $608,339 for the three months ended June 30, less than half the $1.37 million loss in the year-ago period. This was despite revenue falling 36.2 per cent to $2.34 million from $3.67 million in the year-ago period. Loss per share for the quarter was 0.13 cent, compared with 0.28 cent for the year-ago period. No dividend was declared. IPS Securex shares closed unchanged on Wednesday at 4.1 cents before the results release.

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