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.