March 2025 Updates

First dividend season of the year. Received dividends from the following: 

1) Ascendas REIT

2) Mapletree Logistics Trust

3) Mapletree Industrial Trust

4) CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust

5) CapitaLand China Trust

 

Total dividends received for this 1st quarter amounted to S$2,258.04.

 

Pretty satisfied as this is slightly higher YoY. Figure for same quarter last year is S$2,003.27.

 

Per usual practice, all dividends + 50% of my side income are invested back to the portfolio for compounding: the 8th wonder of the world.

 

This month I've added OCBC @ $16.57 and Venture @ $12.45 to my existing positions.

 

The OCBC purchase comes with a 5.1% dividend yield excluding special dividend.  The group has released a pretty solid FY24 with a 8% increase in net profit and EPS. Final dividend was reduced by $0.01 YoY while CEO Helen's pay when up instead. Not much to complain anyway, just an observation on my part.

The Venture purchase comes with a 6% dividend yield. This was done partly to average down, partly to reduce my REITs concentration and partly as a recovery bet in the company. Their recent results haven't been very encouraging although they are maintaining their dividend amount and they are consistently generating positive free cash flow. Hence I am keeping this counter to a small portion of my portfolio. In fact this is the smallest position at 3.2%.

Interesting bit, after I made the Venture purchase, another counter which I have been eyeing actually fell to my TP. Alas I have already expended my bullets this month so guess this has to wait. If another opportunity arises in April this will probably take precedent. Let's see.

Another important news is regarding OCBC 360 Account. There will be a revision to the interest rates on 1st May 2025. Based on the revised terms, I can probably earn 2.65 - 3.85%. Not fantastic but not too shabby either. Moving forward this will probably be the trend across the banking sector so I won't be in a hurry to move funds around yet.

Revised terms from 1st May 2025 onwards:

 

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.

Updates for Oct 2023

Have been adding Mapletree Industrial Trust @ 2.23 & 2.30, CapitaLand China Trust @ 0.90 and Mapletree Logistics Trust @ 1.47 in September and October.

 

These are incremental purchases added to existing positions. Nothing has changed among my top four positions.

 

Have been planning to add Ascendas Reit too but price has ran up abit today so will hold on first. However any price below 2.70 remains attractive for this counter. 

 

 

 

Reason for adding the above is simple. I have confidence in the business of MIT and MLT in a timeline that is aligned with my portfolio.

Obviously a major concern now is finance cost which if continue to rise, would have an impact on coming DPUs. Since my respective yield against cost should remain higher than the present risk-free rate with some buffer to go, it is something I am willing to bear for now.

For CLCT, it is mainly to lower my cost. For this counter, one parameter I will follow closely on would be its gearing which is getting uncomfortable for me. It is for this reason that I have reservation on bigger purchase.

Also, more than half of the business park assets lease would be due for renewal in the coming two years. It would be interesting to see how the management handle this and at the same time improve on the occupancy at the Singapore-Hangzhou Science Technology Park asset.

The macro environment including China's projected economy and weakening of Yuan against SGD is important monitoring factor for this counter as well.

 

At point of writing, my local SGD portfolio is down 6.16%.

 

Will continue to make use of the market volatility to add in batches. As usual, time in the market for me, not timing the market.

Updates for May 2023

Been couple of months since my last post. Was busy with work, side line, school and life in general though have to say it's pretty fulfilling.

Work:

Secured some projects which I am working on concurrently.

Also recently completed a mid sized project in a cyclical industry which is currently on the downtrend in terms of outlook.

Side line:

Have been spending some hours on weekday mornings doing this.

I just looked at my records. Apparently I netted an average of $750 per month from this side line which I started around August last year.

I'm still learning and trying to improve as I do it. Hopefully the earnings will increase along with the mastery.

School:

One of the main things that kept me busy. Readers might recall I am taking my Masters now on a part time basis at NUS. 

Just received the results for this semester. Got a B, B+ and A+ for the three modules taken.

Must admit I was a little disappointed but that's life. Good thing is that my CAP of 4.4 is still a safe distance away from the minimum CAP of 3.0.

Up until the last week before the exams, my classmates and I were still engaged in projects. Such rigor though that makes the course a fun challenge.

On top of that I am also busy with my dissertation which is due on January next year. The aim is to complete as much as I can during these two months before semester starts again.

So far I am enjoying the learning process. Maybe it's due to age (I'm in my 40s), maybe it's due to running my own business. But I am focused more on learning the new knowledge than on getting good results. So probably that's the reason.

I am looking forward to the rest of the course.

(I should be writing my dissertation now instead of this post.. Lol) 

Parenting:

This is another area where I am constantly learning too. 

Parenting is an anomaly. It is no easy task yet it is enjoyable at the same time.

I am learning everyday, just like my 2 yo and 4 yo.

Sometimes I flare up, especially when they do something that I have repeatedly said otherwise.

Back in my mind I knew they were just kids and we have to keep teaching like a broken record.

I also set in my handphone, reminders such as to be patient and no raising of voice. Yet from time to time I still find myself losing temper.

And I will always feel guilty thereafter.

There is much room for improvement in this area for me.

Most free time I have will be spent with these two cuties. I always look forward to these times and I try my best to keep other stuff such as work and school away during these times.

Investment:

Have been adding Mapletree Industrial Trust in the last couple of months as share price fell to appealing levels. 

Based on my purchased prices, dividend yield should sit nicely above 5.5% easily.

I will take a leaf from the recent PP price of $2.212 to determine my next level to add.

Despite their drop in latest dividend, I am of the opinion that the strength of their management team as well as geographical and asset class diversity amongst others, are good enough to avoid any drastic drop in financial performance in the long run.

One thing to note of course, is the impact of rate hikes on their borrowings and subsequent dividends.

If we are confident in the quality of the business, it is fine to add in tranches every month for long term investment which is what I'm doing now. Slowly and steadily building up the position. All the more better if it is in a short term down trend.

I have also increased my existing position in Ascendas Reit today.

Queued at last Friday but didn't get filled so tried again today.

Reasons for adding are largely the same as the above.

Others:

Finally bought a new phone recently after probably 6 years. Good bye Huawei Mate 10, hello Poco F5!

Have tried to postpone buying for as long as I can because it's such a hassle to transfer the stuff over. But alas my Mate 10's condition is getting from bad to worse. I have to take the plunge.

Just to complain abit here. The calender function in Poco F5 is really not to my liking. 

It can't display the full entry if the description is too long. It also doesn't display our local holidays.

Anyone knows any calendar that can fulfil the above, kindly recommend it to me please.

Last but not least, I have also recently renewed my electricity plan with Senoko Energy.

Have to get the best plan for ourselves within the environment of rising costs of living. 

I did a comparison and analysis earlier in this post. 

Feel free to make use of the analysis.

If you use my referral code to sign up, a word of thanks to you.

Till the next post, good bye. 

Quick Glance of Ascendas & Mapletree Family Reits Charts

Was monitoring my watch list just now and spotted quite a few opportunities so decided to take a glance at the respective charts.

 

Just sharing in case this is helpful to others too.

Ascendas Reit

At present price, yield is about 5.2% which makes it tempting. However a quick look at the chart reveals that the price has broken through all the moving averages. Furthermore the short term MAs have crossed under the longer term MAs with big fat red candles. Probably has more room to fall.

 

Will be keeping a close look at this counter and interesting to see how it closes today.

 

Mapletree Commercial Trust

 

Another counter which has fallen through all the MAs. However price seems to be consolidating near the $1.82 region which yields about 5.2%.

 

If the consolidation continues, an uptrend might be possible.

 

Was initially considering adding this or Ascendas Reit (when it was at 5.1% yield). At present moment the latter seems more tempting especially if it falls further and I've always preferred Ascendas Reit's assets over MCT's.

 

Mapletree Industrial Trust

 

Nice looking ladder formation. Almost looking like a double top or is it? Looking forward to $2.51.

 

Mapletree Logistics Trust

 

One of my favourite if not favourite, Mapletree counters. Solid assets with historical trend of rising dividends.

Aligned with my view that future world will be driven by tech, logistics and clean energy.

 

Ugly chart. Seems like collateral damage from the MCT & MNACT merger fallout. Share price has fallen below the recent preferential offering price.

 

Looking forward to further drop so I can scoop more.

 

Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust

 

MNACT is the only one that seems to buck the bearish trend. It hit a high of $1.15 earlier this month before consolidating back at the $1.09 - $1.10 levels.

 

Uptrend still intact based on MAs though 5 MA has crossed under 10 MA today. Would be interesting to see the closing today for the possibility of a short term dip.

Mar 2021 Updates

Mar 2021

Portfolio Value after market close

S$143,780.25

Purchase

Added 2,500 units of Ascendas Reit @ $2.93

Sold

None

Dividends

 

ESR Reit @ $84

MLT @ $144.20

Ascendas Reit @ $117.46

CICT @ $93.96

Total: $439.62

Short-Term Transactions

JFIN, OVID, TNXP, SOS, GME PUT

Summary

01 Mar 2021 STI Open: 2,973

31 Mar 2021 STI Close: 3,165.34

 

STI closed above its opening this month although we saw a broad market sell off today which is also the last trading day of this quarter. Personally I hope the market continues to soften in the coming weeks for accumulation opportunities.  

 

However as a testament to the buoyant market, my portfolio value increased by about $13K despite adding only $7,325 of capital in the form of 2,500 units of Ascendas Reit. 

I have been monitoring Ascendas Reit, Mapletree Industrial Trust and CapitaLand Integrated China Trust closely for the past month with only the first one hitting my TP to add for first batch. 

Prices of these counters have since ran up but it's ok. Opportunities always come back. 

I am looking to add another $15K - $18K to my income portfolio hopefully within the coming month. 

This month I have also started a Syfe Core Growth portfolio as part of my investment strategy and for market diversification. 

For my fun account / portfolio, I continue to do some intraday tradings and also sold a far OTM GME PUT as an experimental first try. 

It is currently slightly in the green and I can either do one of the following:

1) Wait until expiration. 

2) Exercise it earlier to unlock my funds. 

I am incline to close it out earlier especially if premiums continue to fall. 

Moving forward I would likely add options as part of my investment / trading tools to augment my investable income. 

Feb 2021 Update

Feb 2021

Portfolio Value after market close

S$130,363.45

Purchase

None

Sold

ISOTeam @ 50,000 shares

CapitaLand @ 4,000 shares

Dividends

 

Suntec Reit @ $90.44

Short-Term Transactions

SPCE, NAKD, CHMA, SOS, SCKT, LODE

Summary

01 Feb 2021 STI Open: 2,896.32

26 Feb 2021 STI Close: 2,949.04

 

STI closed above its opening this month though we saw dips across the broad market for the last couple of days. 

 

I sold ISOTeam and CapitaLand at net 67.5% loss and 19.3% profit respectively. 

Reasons for selling will be explained below. 

The funds will mostly likely be redeployed to either Ascendas Reit, CapitaLand China Trust or

Mapletree Industrial Trust. 

I have made my pick if yesterday's closing price is anything to go by.

This is part of my portfolio rebalancing which I have wanted to adopt a more active approach this year.  

I also intend to open a Syfe Equity100 portfolio with a small portion of the funds for managed investment in the overseas markets. 

However I understand Syfe will be introducing a new product early next month so I'll wait for that to see how it compares to the existing offerings. 

I continued to dabble with the US market this month with my initial small amount which is one that won't make me lose my sleep and which is something that I can afford to lose. 

I consider this portion as my fun account / portfolio. 

Little to no due diligence are done for this account. The trades are mostly based on momentum and price actions. The trades are also mainly intraday with tight stop losses. 

ISOTeam

Sold it on 23rd Feb 2021 at $0.125 with a 67.5% net loss after dividends.

Surprisingly, I don't feel pain at all. It's like a mechanical, 'has to be done' move for me. 

ISOTeam purchase was initiated about 4 years ago. The government was pumping billions into the construction industry which was already doing quite well.

My reasoning was that since I do not fancy investing into construction companies with their lumpy earnings (although I did contemplate about HLS for quite a long period due to its juicy dividends back then), I will invest into ISOTeam as a proxy to the industry. 

ISOTeam is an established player in HDB and town council projects with constant project wins. As such I thought their recurring income would be more attractive to investors. 

Unfortunately I was proven wrong. 

This counter has became more illiquid over the years. 

As a testament on how illiquid this counter is, I set sell order for nearly a week before my shares finally got sold.

There are several reasons that prompted me to sell. 

Firstly, when the broader market is recovering from the March lows this year,  ISOTeam's share price is still languishing near a 5 year low. 

Even the slew of contract wins failed to catalyse the share price. 

It just doesn't move in tandem with the market which likely points to company-specific reasons as per point 2 below. 

Secondly, deteriorating fundamentals. The continual compressed gross profit margin (GPM) which hit below 5% in the latest concluded FY makes me wonder whether the business is sustainable. 

A low margin might makes sense for commodities trading business which goes by higher volume. I.e. low margin high turnover. 

But being in the engineering projects business myself, a 5% GPM is certainly a cause for alarm and I don't think it is sustainable for an engineering company. 

One of the criteria I use for my stock screening is a net profit of minimum 10%. In this case ISOTeam is far off the mark (the GP is not even 10% let alone the net profit).  

In fact they made a net loss in the FY ended June 2020.

And if I remember correctly, operating cash flow went in the red last year. The management explained that it is due to ageing of the accounts and upfront payment of project expenses. 

Again, being in the engineering business myself, I don't find this normal at all. 

Thirdly, opportunity costs are mounting. With the local market gradually recovering from the March lows and the US market hitting record highs recently, I felt the need to capture the upswing of the markets. 

I'm pretty sure it is a good move to cut loss and move the funds to other growth stocks or dividend counters for my income portfolio. 

The sale of this dead wood also fulfilled one of my investment aims set earlier this year.

Lastly, poor outlook. The company has guided that the near term is going to remain challenging for them and I am of the same view.

Although their order book has >$100 million worth of projects to be delivered over the next 2 - 3 years, I believed the margin is in single digit.

Cost of sales is also likely to increase as per my personal encounters in the industry. If ISOTeam didn't take steps to lock in vendor prices, margin might be further hit.

The integration of Pure Group into ISOTeam also didn't turned up as well as anticipated with the former likely to be loss-making in 1H FY21.

With no dividends declared for last year and I expect it to be the same for this year, there is no incentive to wait for the share price recovery which I feel can only happen in either of the following ways - 1) Acquisition by another company or 2) Drastically improve on its fundamentals.

But for now, I'm off this counter.

CapitaLand

Sold it on 24th Feb 2021 at $3.15 with a 19.3% net profit after dividends.

CapitaLand is another one of my long held counters.

Over the years it has been providing me decent dividend yield (4% against cost which is my minimum criteria) while I wait for the share price to hit my TP.

Couple of years back it nearly hit $4. I attribute that to the strong management team led by the capable Mr Lim Ming Yan.

I decided to sell it this time after it reported its first full year net loss in almost two decades, although that is partly contributed to revaluation losses. 

Despite that, it upped its dividend payout ratio to pay a 9 cents dividend for 2020. This is lower than the 12 cents paid in previous years though. 

As such my yield has fallen to 3% against cost. Sell, and transfer the funds for an easy 5% yield elsewhere is the logical move for now.

I have no qualms to buy the shares again if the price is right. Hint: Oct 2020.