Stocks to watch: Metro, Banyan Tree, Hong Leong Asia, BoardRoom, Sakae, FCT, JCG

The Singapore Exchange Centre in Shenton Way. ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

SINGAPORE - The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Thursday (May 16):

Metro Holdings: Property development and investment group Metro has agreed to invest 200 million yuan ($39.8 million) for a 50 per cent stake in Xiamen CICC Qihang Equity Investment Partnership, or CICC Qihang Fund in short. The property fund has a fund size of 400 million yuan, and was set up by CICC Capital, the private equity arm of China International Capital Corporation (CICC). In turn, CICC Qihang Fund has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Xiamen ARA Qihang Equity Investment Fund, which is managed by ARA Asset Management. This joint venture has agreed to acquire a prime commercial mall in Chengdu, China from independent vendor Tishman Speyer China Fund (Barbados). The counter closed flat at $1.01 on Wednesday.

Banyan Tree Holdings: Resort operator Banyan Tree Holdings on Wednesday night posted a 74 per cent plunge in net profit to $5.2 million for the first quarter ended March 31, from $20.2 million a year ago, due to lower revenue across all segments. Earnings per share for the quarter fell to 0.62 cent, versus 2.4 cents a year ago. No dividend has been declared for the period, unchanged from the preceding year. Banyan Tree shares closed at $0.54, down 0.92 per cent or 0.5 cent, on Wednesday before the release of its results. Group revenue also fell 17 per cent year on year to $81.2 million.

Hong Leong Asia: The industrial conglomerate on Wednesday posted a net profit from continuing operations of $12.2 million for the first quarter, up 3.9 per cent from the same period a year earlier. The results exclude its de-consolidated consumer products unit Xinfei, which ceased to be a subsidiary on May 21 last year. Xinfei had posted a net loss of $17.2 million for the first quarter last year. Earnings per share was 1.63 cents, up from a loss per share of 1.46 cents for the first quarter last year. Revenue for the three months ended March 31 was $961 million, down 5.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier, as higher revenue from the building materials unit failed to make up for lower revenue at Yuchai, the group's diesel engines unit. The counter closed at $0.535 on Wednesday, up 0.9 per cent, or 0.5 cent.

BoardRoom: GK Goh Holdings has made a voluntary unconditional cash offer for BoardRoom Ltd, the mainboard-listed corporate secretarial services firm, in a bid to delist it. It is offering $0.88 in cash for each BoardRoom share, in a deal that values the company at $184.5 million. At $0.88, the offer price is a premium of 14.3 per cent to the last transacted price of $0.77 a share on May 3. The offeror is Salacca, a wholly owned unit of GK Goh, which currently controls 80.72 per cent of BoardRoom. The offer is unconditional, and in the event that BoardRoom's free float falls below 10 per cent, Salacca plans to delist the stock, it said.

Sakae Holdings: Sakae Holdings reported on Wednesday night a $6.1 million loss for its third quarter, from a $306,000 profit for the year-ago period, after recognising a $3.2 million goodwill impairment charge for its majority stake in a Chilean seafood trader. Loss per share for the quarter stood at 4.36 cents, versus earnings per share of 0.22 cent last year. No dividend was declared, same as the year before. Revenue for the three months to March 31 fell 0.8 per cent to $12.2 million, due to the streamlining of its outlets and slow sales overseas, the company said. This is the second consecutive quarter that the sushi restaurant operator is seeing red amid intense competition within the food and beverage industry. Sakae's shares closed flat at $0.135 on Wednesday, before the release of its financial results.

Trading halts: Retail landlord Frasers Centrepoint Trust, and JCG Investment Holdings separately requested trading halts on Thursday morning before the market opened, pending the release of announcements.

JCG operates trading and distribution, aesthetic medical and investment businesses and last traded at 0.2 cent on Wednesday, while units in Frasers Centrepoint Trust closed at $2.45 on Wednesday, up two cents, or 0.8 per cent.

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