Stocks to watch: SIA, Frasers Hospitality Trust, Memtech, Boardroom, Vibrant, Hupsteel, Raffles United

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 Friday (June 28):

Singapore Airlines (SIA): SIA and Malaysia Airlines (MAS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to step up cooperative ties, the two airlines announced in a joint statement on Thursday. The MOU will see the two airline groups building on their existing code-share agreement which covers flights between Singapore and Malaysia. A code-share agreement means that airlines can sell seats on each others' flights in order to provide passengers with a wider choice of destinations. Enhanced ties could also see an expansion of code-share flights beyond the existing routes, and involve cargo, maintenance, repair and overhaul services. SIA shares closed at $9.30 on Thursday, up three cents, or 0.3 per cent on a cum dividend basis, before the release of this announcement.

Frasers Hospitality Trust: The trustee of Frasers Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (FH Reit) has entered into $370 million in bank loan facilities, the Reit manager said on Thursday night in a regulatory update. This consists of an aggregate amount of $350 million in bank loans and a revolving credit facility of $20 million between trustee Perpetual (Asia) and lenders DBS Bank, Maybank Singapore branch, and Bank of China Singapore branch. Units in Frasers Hospitality Trust closed at $0.705 on Thursday, up 0.7 per cent, or 0.5 cent.

Roxy-Pacific Holdings: Property group Roxy-Pacific is acquiring a retail building located at Ginza, Chuo-ku in Tokyo, Japan for six billion yen (S$75.7 million), excluding consumption tax. The purchase is being made through a unit of newly-acquired investment holdings and property investment firm Nigella SG. Roxy-Pacific, through its wholly-owned subsidiary RPV Two, acquired 53.07 per cent of Singapore-incorporated Nigella SG for 1.1 billion yen. The cost of the acquisition of Nigella SG and Roxy-Pacific's share of the cost of the purchase of the building will be financed by internal funds and bank borrowings. The counter closed unchanged at $0.39 on Thursday.

Memtech International: Electronics components manufacturer, Memtech International, on Friday said the closing date of a voluntary conditional offer from a consortium led by company chairman Chuang Wen Fu has been extended by two weeks to July 12 from June 28. There will be no change to the final offer price of $1.35 in cash for each share, in a deal that values the company at $189 million. The counter closed at $1.34 on Thursday, up 0.8 per cent, or one cent.

Boardroom: The closing of the $0.88 per share exit offer by GK Goh Holdings unit Salacca for corporate secretarial services firm Boardroom has been extended to July 12, 5.30pm. As at 5 pm on June 27, some 88.13 per cent of Boardroom shares are controlled, or set to be acquired by Salacca and its concert parties, including valid acceptances of the takeover offer. On Wednesday, Boardroom announced that it had applied to be delisted from the Singapore Exchange's mainboard after its free float dropped below the 10 per cent mark on June 6. The counter last traded flat at $0.88 on Monday.

Second Chance Properties: Mainboard-listed Second Chance Properties on Thursday posted a 12.5 per cent rise in net profit to $2.34 million for the third quarter ended May 31, 2019. Revenue rose 2.6 per cent to $9.96 million. Earnings per share for the third quarter was 0.31 cent, up from 0.28 cent in the preceding year. The company has declared an interim dividend of 0.4 cent per ordinary share, payable on July 15. No further dividend will be declared for the current financial year, the company said. For the nine-month period, net profit fell 30 per cent to $4.38 million, despite a 3.56 per cent rise in revenue to $23.4 million. The counter closed at 23.5 cents on Thursday, down 0.5 cent, before the release of its results.

Vibrant Group: Vibrant is in discussions with "relevant parties" to evaluate the disposal of Chinese coal miner Blackgold International Holdings, the company announced on Thursday. In its FY2019 results filing, the freight and logistics, real estate and financial services group said Blackgold is still unable to provide a complete set of financial statements for consolidation purposes. A special audit report released by EY Advisory in January said Blackgold appears to have falsified accounts and grossly inflated sales figures since it was acquired by Vibrant in July 2017.

Vibrant on Thursday also posted a net profit of $13 million for the financial year ended Apr 30, 2019, swinging from a loss of $93.1 million the year before. This was driven by a steep drop in other operating expenses. Earnings per share was 0.81 cent, compared with a loss per share of 13.09 cents a year ago. A first and final dividend of 0.4 cent per ordinary share has been recommended. Vibrant's shares closed at 13.5 cents on Thursday, down 0.1 cent or 0.74 per cent, before the release of its financial results.

Trading halts: Industrial hardware supplier, Hupsteel, as well as bearings and seals supplier, Raffles United Holdings, have separately called for trading halts on Friday morning before the market opened, pending the release of announcements. Shares in Hupsteel closed at $0.79 on Thursday, up two cents, or 2.6 per cent; while shares in Raffles United Holdings last traded flat at 5.1 cents on Tuesday.

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