Summary of September 2024

Investment

 

$1,904.02 collected in dividends from Ascendas Reit, MIT, MLT, CLCT and CICT. Lol all the acronyms. 

Also collected 200 scrips from MLT and 1,800 rights + excess from the recent CICT PO.

For MLT, I elected to receive partial scrips with partial cash. The scrip price of $1.276 is attractive and more so given the expected rise in share prices as a result of Fed's rate cut. Partial cash is for avoidance of odd lots.

For CICT, it was an average up for me. I elected to subscribe for the rights and apply for excess for a total of 1,800 units. I received the full allocation today. While the rights price of $2.007 is quite high relative to my average price, it was attractive in comparison to the market price with a view of impending rise in share price.

With the averaging up from this addition, my average price for CICT now stands at $1.80 which is still yielding a good 5.8% in yearly income.

These are the only additions to my portfolio for this month. There are still some bullets left which are ready to be fired anytime when a target pop up.

Highlight of my portfolio for this month must be SingTel which is finally reaping the rewards after the strategic reset. Of course the banks and Reits are also outstanding. 

Meanwhile my investment in BABA is finally turning green. Glad I stayed with my conviction. 

Actually Alibaba reminded me of SingTel. They are not bad fundamentally speaking. Just some wrong moves over the years which were corrected or are in the process of correcting. Look at SingTel. After Mr Yuen rectified the issues brought about by his predecessor, the market rewarded SingTel accordingly. 

Overall September is good month for me and I believe, for most investors as well. 

However as we approach year end we should keep in mind the customary window dressing and look out for opportunities to add.

Also not to forget the tensions in Middle East. Iran just fired about 200 missiles at Israel this morning. This is a reminder of how dynamic the world is today. 

Business

 

Another good month for my side hustle as a freelance personal trainer. Apart from the clients allocated from my gym, I have started to train a client outside of the gym. This is a referral from word of mouth and since this is my own client, I am able to charge more per session.

My main business in the environmental management sector is also keeping me busy. Jobs are coming but the project value is low.

The new growth driver that I mentioned in previous posts is gearing up well. Just had a second meeting with a local university on the co-development of this technology. 

I am rather excited by this. 

 

Family

We have found a new school for our son for the next three months before he goes to Kindergarten next year.

We have pulled him out of his previous nursery as we suspected he has been traumatised by an assistant teacher there. We have decided to bring this up with ECDA. 

Summary of August 2024

Investment

 

$1,455.68 collected in dividends from DBS, OCBC and SingTel.

 

This, together with another good month in terms of my side hustle as a freelance personal trainer means I have a higher investable amount without touching my main income or savings.

Have not added anything in August since share price of the counters I had planned to add has ran up. Will monitor for dips and enter.

Will continue to add into my income portfolio using: 75% of my side income + 100% of dividends received.

Have been doing this on a monthly basis whenever possible and it has worked well so far.

 

On the one hand I get to grow my portfolio and increase my passive income through compounding, on the other I leave my savings which is my safety net, untouched.

Have also opted to take partial scrips for the upcoming Mapletree Logistics Trust distributions in September.

 

Family

Wifey and I have decided to withdraw our son from his nursery school as we have reasons to believe he has been verbally and physically abused at school.

 

Along with the abrupt change in our son's demeanour, we have also personally witnessed an incident which further substantiated our thoughts above.

Have spoken to the school principal about our son's safety and well-being but she claimed that nothing unusual have been caught on CCTV and that's about it.

Will probably bring this up with ECDA.

Business

 

Exciting times for me work-wise. I have signed an MoA with another company to co-develop an innovative solution to solve one of the biggest environmental issues in today's world.

While it is still an early stage, once the prototype is developed and buy-in is received from the authorities, the scale up will be fast. I'm very much looking forward to this.

Summary of July 2024

No dividends collected this month.

Added Mapletree Industrial Trust @ $2.10 and Mapletree Logistic Trust @ $1.26. Have blogged about this in an earlier post.

Looking to add some non-Reits for the next couple of months. Double "S" maybe?

Must say I have been pleased though not surprised with SingTel's recovery in share price recently. I have blogged several times in the past on my confidence in SingTel, their potential catalysts and the actions they are doing to turn things around.

Mr Yuen has done an excellent job so far in pulling the company out from the previous doldrums and pushing the company to greater heights by future-proofing the business. Of course the value realisation dividend which will be on a recurring nature, is a big welcome for the loyal shareholders (me included).

This month's income for my side hustle hits another record high which puts it close to 1/3 of my main income. This means more fund for my investment again.

Last but not least, I am happy to finally complete my Masters programme.

Did not attend the commencement ceremony earlier this month and instead opted to collect my scroll from the school after that. Reckoned it's the right choice. Attending the ceremony would means waiting for 2 - 3 hours to go up on stage for that 30 seconds.

When I dropped by to collect my scroll from the school last week, from the time I alighted from my car and back to my car, it took less than 5 min.

Summary of my performance

GPA: 4.47/5

Graded A+ for my thesis

Biggest takeaway is of course the knowledge and network gained.

It gives me some sense of accomplishment, knowing I have managed to juggle between my studies, full time job, my side hustle, my two kids and my investments for the past two years.

 

Mini achievement unlocked for someone in his early 40s I guess.

MIT vs MLT. Which To Choose?

As mentioned in an earlier post in June, I have more funds to add to my portfolio this month.

 

Coupled with my aim this year to veer my portfolio to be less Reits-concentrated, I did two rounds of stock screening to uncover suitable counters for further study.

The screening did shown some promising counters on first glance. However I eventually decided against adding into these due to various reasons such as low trading liquidity, outlook of business, unsustainable / irregular dividend payment or the business nature simply doesn't align with my values (as is the case for one of the counters).

 

Long story short, I went back to look at my existing holdings and decided to take this opportunity to average down on couple of them.

 

I would have added into Ascendas Reit if it is not the top position in my portfolio now.

 

So I looked into Mapletree Logistics Trust and Mapletree Industrial Trust.

All three mentioned are among the fastest to recover during an upturn.

Anyway I did a quick study on the annual reports of MLT and MIT to guide my decision.

 

Sharing below summary for readers and fellow investors.

 

Notes: Data gathered from respective FY23/24 annual report. Both MIT and MLT did EFR in this period.

 

Sentiments from the findings

1) Both are well managed in terms of maintaining their portfolio occupancy, achieving positive rental revisions, increasing their distributable income and managing their debt profiles --> increasing income and well-managed debt are two of the most important attributes for any business aren't they?

 

2) However they are affected by certain macro factors e.g. in the case of MLT, China's oversupply of warehouse spaces.

 

3) Interest rates and Forex effect are and will always be something to look out for. In my opinion the management of these metrics is what set the good Reits apart from the mediocre ones.

 

4) Especially in times like now, points 2 and 3 above form the basis of analysis for Reits investment.

5) Buy into MIT if you believe in the future of DCs and don't mind the concentration risk in geography.

6) Buy into MLT if you believe in the importance of logistics and don't mind the potential slight drop in DPU yield while waiting for the chinese assets to recover.

My personal mantra has always been technology develops the world (DC) and logistics moves the world (globalisation and commerce). In this century there's simply no avoiding either.

Hence I did the best thing I can in this situation. I added to my holdings for both counters in around equal quantum - MIT @ $2.10 and MLT @ $1.26.

Quick tip: If you do not have time or do not want to go through the entire annual report, it would be useful to at least read through the Chairman and CEO message to unitholders.

Giving Back To Society (Business ESG Efforts)

Company has performed quite well in the last FY with revenue setting a new record.

 

Being in the environmental management business, our business operation itself is already covering the "E" part of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts.

 

To contribute to the "S" part of the ESG pillars, I have just made a donation to three selected organisations.

 

The causes selected are nature, elderly and children. All of which are close to my heart and with the first one synergistic to my business as well.

 

Now the line between personal and business is blurring. And a Pte Ltd is supposed to be a separate entity from the owner. How ironic.

 

Anyway, the total donation amounted to 0.5% of our operating profit based on our last FY. I've mentioned about this commitment in a previous post.

 

I certainly hope I can do this year after year.

Again, this post is not about showing off or haolian~ing. Rather, it serves to instill some positivities and inspire readers to contribute back to the society.

 

On a separate note, my previous personal donation was done in December last year. How time flies. Cannot keep getting dividends without giving something in return right? I look forward to December this year!

Summary of June 2024

Collected scrips + dividends from MLT and dividends from MIT and NLT this month.

Closed my Syfe portfolio with a small profit after a slightly over three years experimentation. 

Another record income achieved for my side hustle as a personal trainer.

Combining all the above, what this means is that I have a higher than usual fund for investing into my portfolio this month.

Have not added anything yet since my recent stock screening did not yield any mouth-watering prospects.

 

Price of the REITs I'm currently holding are attractive and tempting though I have mentioned earlier this year (I think) that one of my aims in 2024 is to make my portfolio less REITs concentrated.

Another option is the US market where some of my counters are inching to 100% gain.

NVDA is hot! Waiting for a pullback towards $96 region.

Will update in subsequent post for any trades made.

Summary of May 2024

Collected dividends from OCBC and DBS. 

Syfe portfolio finally turned in a small profit after so many years although it gave up the gains towards end of the month. 

Added 1,700 units of Netlink NBN Trust @ $0.84.

This is my second purchase in recent months and at the same price. 

On my sideline as a personal trainer, this month is the record in terms of income as I took on a number of new clients. 

As usual, 75% of this income stream goes to my portfolio along with any dividends collected for the month. 

Family-wise, the kids have finally gotten better from their cough and phlegm. However the PD has recommended didi to see the specialist as he is exhibiting signs of sleep apnea.

We are now waiting for the appointment date. Hopefully everything turns out fine.

Summary of April 2024

April is a month of mixed feelings in terms of investment.

At the closing today, my CLCT officially lost half of its value with capital loss of 50.35%. No thanks to the double blow of the new asset class performance and Forex effect. 

Silver lining is the dividends collected over the years that help soften the blow.

Will hold on and ride through this while continuing the dividend collections to lessen the blow.

On the other hand, my DBS and OCBC achieved capital gains of ~59% and ~61% respectively. 

Overall portfolio is still staring at 4.52% loss YTD excluding dividends.

For this month I have added 1,100 units of Ascendas Reit @ $2.66.

Will continue my strategy of making monthly purchase whenever possible.

On the US side, my BABA is at a loss of ~33%. This is somewhat compensated by my AAPL and MSFT which have gains of ~38% and ~59% respectively.

TLDR version: position sizing is important.

On the work front, it is a busy period for me this month with project executions and plenty of paperwork such as quotations to be done.

On my sideline as a personal trainer, I am getting more clients onboard as well so moving forward this income stream is expected to be more significant. 

All in all, fulfilling at work. 

Family time is still my most treasured component. Top all the above to be frank.

Kids are getting fine though their cough has been ongoing for about a month already which is starting to make me worry.

Didi just gave wifey and I a pleasant surprise on Sunday. 

I have just finished ordering our meals with the waiter when Didi suddenly tapped the waiter uncle's hand and said: "and a french fries too".

Both wifey and I laughed instantly. 

When the dishes are served subsequently sans the fries, Didi actually told the waiter uncle "the french fries please".

What a joy to hear that. That initiative to place his order and subsequently reminded the waiter of his order all on his own accord, is incredible to me because Didi is only 3 years old. 

I hope both he and his sister grow up healthy and happy. 

Summary of February 2024

Following my purchase of Mapletree Logistics Trust in January, I continued my purchasing in February when opportunity presented itself.

 

My queue for Netlink NBN Trust @ $0.84 got filled at the end of trading hours. This is an addition to existing position and an average up at that. Coincidentally, last month's purchase of MLT was also done on the 29th.

 

2929. Huat Ah!

 

This purchase price translates to a dividend yield of more than 6.2%.

 

Have been monitoring the market every day as usual. There was a dip in price earlier this month for majority of the counters in my watchlist - if I remember correctly, the dip lasted only for the trading hours before lunch on that particular day.

 

I wasn't in time to make my move then due to work. Nevertheless this week NLT presented a comfortable price for me to add and eventually I got it after queuing for two days.

 

This price is slightly lower than the $0.845 that Netlink NBN Management executive director and CEO paid for his purchase of 100,000 units on 16th Feb. 

 

Another reason is the announcement of the S$100 million investment from the government into the national broadband network upgrade.

 

While the details on how this will impact NLT's financials are not clear at this moment, I believe this NBN upgrade will at least stabilise NLT's profitability and provide visibility on its business outlook in the next 2 - 3 years.

This helps to allay my concern on the sustainability of NLT's dividend payout moving forward.

On a side note, next month should see some dividends coming in from various counters including MIT, MLT and CLCT. As usual, will reinvest into the portfolio to let compounding works its magic for me.

With that, till next time. Cheers.

Summary of January 2024

 

Blink of an eye and last day of January is here. 11 more months to end of the year. Lol..

 

Home. Kids have been falling sick one after another. Can't help but feel worried. On the other hand, got to find time to start on the spring cleaning. 10 more days to Lunar New Year.

 

Accidentally broke the handle of my metal gate recently. Damn. Didn't know a wrought iron gate handle can break so easily. Nevertheless I always believe things happen for a reason.

 

Taking this chance to change to digital lock for both gate and main door. Installation on next Wednesday.

 

Work-wise, have completed some of the projects on hand and the remaining in various stages of completion. New ones are coming in. I look forward to another great year after last year's record-breaking results.

 

For my sideline, most clients have came back from their holiday and income for this month is higher than projected. I look forward to another record-breaking year for this stream too.

 

School-wise, have finally submitted my dissertation today. That's a huge load off my shoulders. 18,000+ words, 82 pages. Don't think I have ever written such a long paper before. One of the best thing I came to realise from this Masters programme is that it re-ignited the joy of learning in me. I am even contemplating the possibility of a PhD if there is a topic that interests me enough to undergo the rigours in my 40s.

 

Investments-wise, made my first purchase of the year in Mapletree Logistics Trust at $1.53. MLT has released a good set of results recently of which I have written a review here.

 

Excluding RHT Health Trust which is going to be delisted anyway, I have 9 counters in my SGD portfolio. I am comfortable though no rush, to hold a portfolio of up to 12 counters.

 

Keppel Infrastructure Trust, Frasers Centrepoint Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust are the counters being considered though each has its own areas of concern in my opinion.

 

Have also went through the latest results of CapitaLand China Trust and the above three counters. No time to write my thoughts on these yet. See if I can do it in the coming week.

 

Moving forward will continue my strategy of adding monthly using funds from my sideline and incoming dividends. Focus will be on:

 

1) Selected REITs whenever price weakness is present

 

2) Local banks which might present opportunities to add in 2H / 3Q this year when rate cuts happen, or even earlier since market is forward-looking. Stay nimble and monitor. If prices are attractive enough, would not mind deploying extra cash.

 

3) Non-REIT income counters as diversification

 

Till next time. Cheers.

Mapletree Logistics Trust Financial Results 3QFY23/24 - The Good and The Bad

MLT released its latest quarterly results yesterday.

 

Did a quick run through and list down the salient points for my own reference as follows.

 

Good

 

Higher distributable amount and DPU Y-o-Y.

 

High portfolio occupancy.

 

Overall positive rental reversions despite negative reversions from China assets.

Relatively low leverage of 38.8%.

 

Low average finance cost of 2.5%. Impressive.

 

>3% interest coverage.

 

Well spread maturing debt profile. <10% of debt maturing in the next two years.

 

About 80% of distributable amount for the next 12 months hedged into SGD. Stabilises impact from Forex.

 

Well diverse geographically in terms of AUM and revenue. No more than 30% from each territory. Low concentration risk.

 

Diversified tenant base in terms of trade sectors. No one sector contributes more than 20% in terms of total portfolio revenue.

 

Largest tenant contributes <5% of total portfolio revenue. 

MLT commits to net zero emissions for Scope 1 and 2 by 2030. I always look out for these data since I'm an environmental guy both personally and professionally.

 

Steady demand for most of MLT's markets except for China.

Bad

Higher borrowings Y-o-Y due to higher renewed rates on unhedged loans. And this trend is expected to continue.

Negative rental reversions from China market expected for next few quarters. And China is the 2nd largest market for MLT in terms of revenue and number of properties.

 

Dividend

 

2.253 cents per unit.

 

To be paid on 20/3/2024.

 

Distribution reinvestment plan (DRP) will also apply to this round of distribution.

 

Issue price of each DRP unit will be priced approximately at 1.85% discount to the adjusted VWAP of ten market days leading to the record date of 1/2/2024.

 

Personal Take

 

Good set of results with average outlook.

 

China woes might be alleviated soon since the Chinese government has announced their set of stimulus to boost its economy. Among the measures is the expected injection of one trillion yuan in long-term capital into the market.

Apart from the financial side, this is also adding a dose of confidence and hope into the market which is urgently needed as reflected in the share price of chinese stocks nowadays.

MLT has always been among my favourite counters due to its strong and stable performance since I first bought into it some 6 years ago.

 

I'm pretty comfortable adding at today's price (1.56) which translates to >5.5% dividend yield. However it would be even better to add closer to 1.44 for bigger margin of safety. This is taking reference from the previous scrip issue price.

Mapletree Industrial Trust Financial Results 3QFY23/24 - The Good and The Bad

MIT released its latest quarterly results today after market hours.

 

Following will be a succinct post for my own reference on some salient points - both the good and bad in my opinion, as well as my personal take on the results.

 

Good

 

Positive rental reversions for all segments.

79.5% borrowings hedged.

Relatively low leverage of 38.6%.

 

Good interest coverage of >4 times.

 

Still healthy portfolio occupancy.

 

Largest tenant only contributes 6% to total portfolio gross rental income. 

Diversified tenants in terms of trade. Less concentration risk for downturn.

 

Maturing debts are quite well spread.

55.6% of AUM is in data centres which is good for now especially in North America where centres vacancy is low and average asking rental rate has been rising for the past two years. 

 

Also moving forward, the rise of artificial intelligence-related businesses should be good news for the data centre segment in general.

Bad

Funding cost below 3% would have been better in this environment. 

 

Distribution to unitholders is increased Y-o-Y partly because of compensation received for 2 and 4 Loyang Lane. Without that, the distribution to unitholders is actually quite flat.

 

Not so good outlook painted by management.

 

Possible hint at flat or declining forward DPU(s) due to possible rising operating expenses and increases in borrowing costs.

 

Dividend

 

3.36 cents per unit.

 

To be paid on 7/3/2024.

 

Personal Take

 

Set of results is not too bad. To be cautious of its outlook for the next three quarters at least.

 

Not likely to add at present price (2.44) unless there is a big positive catalyst. Will continue to add if unit price is closer to 2.40 or lower for bigger margin of safety.

Taking Stock of 2023

Happy 2024 everyone.

2023 passed by relatively fast for me with so many things on hand throughout the year.

I'm glad I managed to squeeze in some things that I wanted to do on the last day of the year.

Changing the bedroom light, going for a haircut, buying some spare parts from the hardware shop, washing my car which is way overdue and updating my investment records.

Mundane things but feel good nonetheless when completed.

 

As usual, I'm writing this post as a wrap up for the year.

 

Family

Both kids are growing up well and with more bickerings now that didi has a wider range of vocabulary and his own thoughts.

 

Sometimes it just amaze me when I see them processing their thoughts and analysing the issue on hand despite their age. Indeed there are times when they behave and speak like an adult.

Jie jie especially, impressed me time and time again with her out-of-the-box thinking. She is the type that will observe on the side and proceed to try her own method to solve the issue. That is a very good trait to me.

 

Another positive thing we observed is that she is a keen learner. She likes to read and often take out her activities books to do on her own accord.

On the other hand, she has a very assertive character and most of the time she wants didi to follow her 'orders'. My wife and I are working on getting her to tone down on this.

 

Assertiveness per se is not a bad thing. But the degree and application of it must be appropriate.

Funnily enough, she is the shy type towards outsiders but once she got to know the person, shy is the last thing on her mind.

Didi on the other hand is just the opposite. He often literally walk up to strangers to chat them up and 'high five' them. My wife and I are working on getting him to tone down on this.

 

He is the playful type and likes to read too though less keen on the activities books.

I guess because of this seemingly polar opposite characters, mayhem breaks out in our household all too often.

Recently I came across a parenting article that suggests letting the kids work out a solution themselves when they fight. I think it is a good method and I intend to try it out.

 

Health-wise, everyone is generally healthy except for the occasional bouts of respiratory illness which are not Covid.

 

We went on a Genting Dream cruise in November and just came back from a trip to Bintan last week. These are good bonding cum educational sessions which I hope to do more often.

 

For now, I just hope for the kids to grow up healthy with good character.

Work

I have been pretty busy on the work front too. Just came back from a Tianjin trip in December where it was freezing cold.

 

In fact it was more than freezing since temperatures hovered around -10 to -15 deg C. A beer I bought from a 7-11 near my hotel froze when I reached my room. The walk from the 7-11 to my hotel room was less than 10 min.

 

Business has improved by leaps and bounds in 2023. There are about two months left before my financial year ends and revenue has almost doubled year-on-year. Bottom line is set to improve too.

On the flip side, there is a concentration risk as most of the contracts are from a single customer.

Hence moving forward, we have to work on maintaining this account while getting new customers onboard.

Sideline

2023 is my first full year doing this sideline. Earned a total of S$8,400 for doing something I love is not bad at all. Apart from the monetary return, I enjoyed other benefits from this sideline such as free gym facility, free parking and working area for me to work on my main job.

Targeting to hit at least S$10,000 from this sideline in 2024 which shouldn't be a stretch.

I am also planning to embark on another sideline in F&B which is another interest of mine. Have found a prospective partner though more detailed discussion is needed. Need to catch up with him on this soon.

Hopefully this venture will work out fine and bring in another source of income for me.

 

Study

Time flies since I started my Masters programme in NUS. So far so good is what I would describe the journey so far. In the blink of an eye, I am due to complete the programme in April 2024.

I am rushing to complete my dissertation now with the last chapter, conclusion and abstract to go. Once done, a big rock would be lifted off my shoulders.

 

Investments

SGD 

 

 

This remains my main portfolio, consisting mainly of income and some growth counters to provide a stable dividend-based return.

 

In 2023 I added some quality counters as stated below when opportunities arose. My strategy was to add monthly whenever possible and this will remain my strategy moving forward.

 

The volatility in 2023 means that the portfolio alternated between green and red throughout the year. Nevertheless the portfolio value was pushed up in the last month when the Reits ran up due to expectations of a pause in rate hikes.

 

Personally I expect the Reits to continue to run up at least for the first quarter of 2024 with the banks remaining flat for the same period.

 

Portfolio Value: $149,242.00
 

P/L (Realised + unrealised): $7,159.45

 

Dividends Collected: $7,790.27

 

Total Accumulated Dividends: $42,538.22

 

Added: Mapletree Logistics Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Ascendas Reit and CapitaLand China Trust 

 

Sold: None

 

USD / HK

 

This portfolio remains in the red mainly due to legacy losses and Alibaba's current share price.

 

Couple of counters are having unrealised gain of ~50%.

 

Portfolio Value (SGD equivalent): $15,389.61
 

P/L (Realised + Unrealised): -$27,710.39

 

Added: BABA

 

Sold: None

 

Summary

 

Total portfolios value at end of 2023: S$164,631.61.

Looking forward to make 2024 a more fruitful year with more time available on hand.