June 2020 Updates

June 2020

Portfolio Value after market close

S$129,668.98

Wifey's Portfolio Value after market close

S$83,003.98

Purchase

3,000 shares of SingTel @$2.48

Sold

None

Dividends

1) Netlink NBN Trust @ $202.40

2) OCBC @ $146.72

3) MLT @ $153.95

4) MNACT @ $19.84

5) ESR Reit @ $50

Short-Term Transactions

None

Summary

Local market turned green after two days of red, reflecting the continuous tussle between the bulls and the bears. Took the chance to add a small position.

Received a total dividend of $572.91 this month from Netlink NBN Trust, ESR Reit, MNACT, MLT and OCBC.

Portfolio value increased slightly with the addition of another 3,000 shares of SingTel, bringing my holdings to 8,000 shares.

Remaining funds will be used to focus on the three counters identified previously and another three which I am monitoring closely every day.

SingTel

Have been monitoring SingTel for awhile and noticed it has been well supported at the $2.50 region. When the share price dipped below the level I took the opportunity to enter a small batch to average down.

At this price point, I'm comfortable to hold it in my long term income portfolio.

If dividend payout remains depressed at 12.25 cents, yield is about 4.9%. Still good enough for me to collect while waiting for SingTel to rebound.

Bharti Airtel's spectrum charge is finally settled and Amazon is speculated to be eyeing a $2 billion stake in Airtel.

Key Thai associate AIS is also recently ruled not liable to a $324 million claim.

With these issues out of the way, the management can finally focus on the business proper.

I suspect this year and next will see a turnaround in SingTel's fortune with the digital bank license* and sale of Optus assets as possible catalysts.

Returns from the latter will prove useful for the 5G CAPEX.

SingTel has a history of gradual dividend increment over the last 10 years even without factoring the occasional special dividend.

If the payout reverts to 17.5 cents, my yield against average cost will be around 5.4%.

The reverting of payout to 17.5 cents is not far fetch considering the total payout is much within their free cash flow and the cutting of dividend this year is due to prudent measures.

I wrote a short piece on this in last month's update too.

Furthermore if the Optus deal indeed goes through, it will generate close to $1.9 billion for SingTel. Just to put things into perspective, this amount can easily maintain the 17.5 cents dividend for the next few years not to mention the possibility of a special dividend.
 

* Talking about the digital bank license, up to two full licenses will be awarded by this year. However I suspect one of the licenses will go to the consortium including Heliconia.

Reason is because there is Heliconia if you know what I mean.

If I am right about this, that leaves one other license to be competed by the other contenders among which, I feel the partnership between Grab and SingTel stands a good chance considering their existing platforms and current endeavours in using digitalisation.  

Singlife

I have also signed up for a Singlife account this month to take advantage of the 2.5% interest rate for up to $10,000.

Signing up is easy and relatively fuss free.

Interest rate is higher than banks' and the money deposited is protected by SDIC so no brainer here.

At this point of writing I have already earned an interest of $14.94. Not bad considering it's less than one month.

Work

On the work front, business is starting to pick up slowly. I'm seeing new enquiries and a previous potential project has resumed discussion.

Hopefully the economy recovers soon.

Highest Fixed Deposit Rate in Singapore for June 2020

So I was checking on the various fixed deposit (FD) rates being offered locally since mum called me this morning to discuss about transferring some of her funds to a FD.

Just sharing below since sharing is caring : )

Note that all rates are from the respective institution's website as of 8th June 2020, 6 pm thereabout.

For comparison sake, this month's Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) offers a paltry 0.3% interest for the first year.

 
For younger generations age 65 and below, I feel one of the best options for a risk-free deposit now is the 2.5% P.A. interest rate currently offered by Singlife.

It's simple to set up and apply. Best of all it comes with some insurance coverage since it is technically an insurance company.

Top up and withdrawal can be done anytime too.

Downside is that the 2.5% P.A. interest rate is only applicable to the first $10,000.