SINGAPORE - Electronics manufacturer Venture Corp has been added to two stock indices, and removed from one after mid-year reviews by index providers MSCI and FTSE.
The firm is now included in the MSCI Singapore Index, as well as the FTSE Value-Stocks Asean Index; it was dropped from the MSCI Singapore Small Cap Index.
Separately, among stocks that were listed on the Singapore Exchange over the past year, Cromwell European Reit and Keppel KBS US Reit were added to the MSCI Singapore Small Cap Index, while Apac Realty, Clearbridge Health, Mindchamps Preschool and Y Ventures Group came on board the MSCI Singapore Micro Cap Index.
In addition, both Hutchison Port Trust and StarHub have been removed from the MSCI Singapore Index, and included instead in the MSCI Singapore Small Cap Index.
Other stocks that have been added to the MSCI Singapore Small Cap Index include: GuocoLand, SIA Engineering Co and Wheelock Properties, while deletions include Boustead Singapore, Indofood Agri Resources and Noble Group - all three of which have moved to the MSCI Singapore Micro Cap Index.
Joining these three counters on the MSCI Singapore Micro Cap Index are Aspial Corp, Dasin Retail Trust, LY, United Overseas INS and Yeo Hiap Seng. Meanwhile, China Sunsine Chemical, Debao Property Dev, Gallant Venture, IEV Holdings, TTJ Holdings, Unusual and Viking Offshore & Marine have been removed.
On the FTSE Value-Stocks Asean Index, Ascendas Reit will be added alongside Venture Corp, as Keppel and Sembcorp Industries are dropped.
Changes to the FTSE Value-Stocks Asean Index will be effective on May 21, whereas changes in the MSCI indices will take place as of the close of May 31.
According to estimates by Bloomberg, Venture Corp's stock has more than tripled since April 2016 to become, at one point, a US$6.5 billion firm. Bloomberg also noted that the firm's advance was so meteoric that it became the only tech company to be listed on Singapore's bluechip 30-member Straits Times Index.
While Venture Corp posted a 72.2 per cent increase in its Q1 earnings, the firm has also been battered by rumoured client Philip Morris' slow electronic cigarette sales. The counter lost $0.35, or 1.55 per cent, to close a$22.22 on April 26, a day after chairman and chief executive Wong Ngit Liong told a results briefing not to listen to rumours about struggling sales for a major customer's product.
Despite its falling share price over the past month, analysts remain largely upbeat on the counter. UOB Kay Hian analyst Foo Zhi Wei said that the market had "largely overreacted", and that "it is important to note that growth is driven by a host of other products".
As at 3.12pm on Wednesday, shares in Venture Corp were trading at $21.34 apiece, down 3.8 per cent or $0.84.
