Why I Feel M1 is a Hidden Dragon

Recently there are a number of happenings surrounding M1.

Firstly is the offer from Konnectivity which everybody would have heard of by now.

And earlier this week it was announced that CEO Karen Kooi will be stepping down on 6th Dec.

It is my belief that the first point stated above is related to what I am going to write as follows.

TL:DR version.

M1's involvement in smart metering will be the next driver for its business.

Previously I have written about how I feel about the potential of M1's new acquisitions and initiatives including the move towards IoT.

Amongst IoT, I personally believe that smart metering will play a major role in the transformation of our country.

With M1's involvement in the smart metering environment, probably Keppel and SPH know how 'big' is the potential (and value) and how much it will benefit M1 in the coming future.

Hence the offer for buyout.

As it stands currently the biggest issues that Singapore face is water and power.

With the trend towards NEWater and desalination both of which requires tremendous amount of power, the water issue is essentially a power issue as well.

Furthermore with the recent power outage which affected more than 140,000 consumers in many parts of Singapore on the night of 18 Sept 18, it is apparent that certain elements of our power generation is not equipped to cope with sudden peak demands.

This is one of the areas where smart metering can comes into play.

What does a smart meter do?

1) A smart meter measures and records energy usage in short intervals.

2) It provides two way communication at the meter. Energy usage is communicated in real time allowing the utilities to be remotely monitored.

3) It can facilitate better electricity supply, better in-home data and better load programs.

4) Remote load control. A smart meter can be programmed so that high usage equipment can be turned on and off based on time or price or other parameters through the communications.

5) Exported power generation can be measured. This is useful with the trend towards solar energy generation in Singapore.

6) Outage detection. Utilities service providers can remotely check the status of any meter.

7) Meter tamper detection. A smart meter can also be monitored to see if it has been accessed without authority.

8) Remote time synchronisation. A smart meter's internal clock can be kept accurate without site visits.

9) Any events e.g. voltage spikes, voltage drops, outages, etc can be recorded by the meter.

Referring to points 1 - 4 above. Imagine if Singapore is already a smart grid nation, the outage on 18 Sept would likely have been prevented or at least rectified more quickly.

Furthermore imagine the man-hours saved! The SP services guys will not need to check the meters outside your house every other month.

How does it helps to improve our national electricity market?

As Singapore moves from centralised power generation towards integration with distributed generation, smart grids with smart metering may be the solution to many problems currently faced.

Firstly the reliability of the grid is always a great concern. Smart grids make troubleshooting grids much easier as information flows digitally from all areas of the grid making it easy to determine the problem source.

Secondly our electricity demand has been increasing and generators may struggle to supply the power required during periods of peak demand. Smart grids with demand side management (DSM) can ease the pressure on the supply by giving consumers incentives to lower their energy consumption and use electricity more efficiently during peak periods.

Thirdly the increased use of distributed generation (particularly from renewable energy sources) poses new problems for utilities companies who must integrate this new source into the grid. Smart grids have the capacity to integrate multiple power flows hence allowing for better integration of these technologies through improved communication.

M1's move into the smart metering segment means that it is directly involved in the transformation of our national electricity market which may well proved to be the game changer or at least a new major driver for M1 business.

My Solo Attempt at Baby Sitting

Since wifey and I are both working, usually we will bring our baby (baby M) to my MIL's place on Sunday night and bring her back on Friday night.

However as the Tuesday that just went by was a public holiday, I decided to leave the baby at home on Sunday which means I will be taking care of her alone on Monday as wifey will be working.

Now this is not a post to brag but I felt compelled to pen this experience down as I really enjoyed it.

I woke up baby M around 8.30 am to bathe her, change her diapers and feed her.

Surprisingly the feeding went well and she finished her milk in one go.

Did the customary burping and off to sleep again for baby M.

After washing the bottle I took the opportunity to work on my laptop and do some studying for an upcoming assessment.

In between also sneaked in to check on her and see her cute and beautiful face at times.

Usually baby M drinks her milk every 3 hours or so. However this time she took a longer than usual nap before waking up for her next feed.

This time it went smoothly too. Did a change of diapers for her too and off to nap again.

Washed the bottle and continued with my studying. Thanks to baby M's cooperation, I had more time than expected to study. Perhaps she knows her daddy has an upcoming assessment?

Seeing her cute face gives me motivation to continue. Haha.

Around 5 pm she woke up again for her third feed. But this time the pushing of bottle and her body contouring started. This is her usual way of telling me 'anything but the milk!'. It wasn't easy feeding her whenever she starts behaving this way. Only managed to feed her half bottle.

By then she has grown increasingly cranky and no amount of cajoling seems to help in calming her down.

So there I was, running between the bed room and living room while pacifying her and preparing the 'necessities' bag as the plan is to bring her to the mrt station to welcome mummy back.

Eventually at 6.20 pm we went out to meet mummy for dinner.

All in all I must say it's not too hard a day for me but it wasn't plain sailing all the way. Baby M was very cooperative and I had more than expected time to do some reading. If she had been in her cranky mood since morning I doubt I would be able to do my work as well as finish my revision for the day.

Baby M, papa loves you.

Fixed Deposit Rates and Singapore Savings Bond

Recently I was looking around for options to park a portion of cash from my corporate account to earn some interest.

Instead of letting my funds 'sit' idly in the existing current account which doesn't gives any interest, I prefer to let them work harder and make additional 'friends'. The returns can be small but must be practically risk-free.

Having said that, options are not much. The first thing that comes to mind are interest-bearing current accounts and corporate fixed deposits (FD).

I went online to do some comparison work. Surprisingly some foreign banks are offering pretty attractive interest rates for their current accounts and FDs.

Some of the offers are for personal deposit only but I will list it down as well for readers' reference.

For ICBC FD

Validity: Till further notice
Caveat: Not sure whether it's applicable for corporate FD.

For ICBC FD + Current Account

Validity: 31st Oct 2018

For RHB FD

Validity: 31st Oct 2018
Caveat: For personal FD only. Not for corporate.

For CIMB FD

Validity: 31st Oct 2018
Caveat: For personal FD only. Not for corporate. 

For CIMB FD + Current Account

Validity: Till further notice
Caveat: For corporate FD only. Not for personal.

12 months FD only Rate: 1.65% P.A.
12 months FD + Current Account Rate: 1.83% P.A. (FD) + 0.78% P.A. (Current Account, Min. S$30k)

I also did a comparison with the upcoming Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) with issue date of 1st Nov 2018.

Again it's not applicable for corporate but just sharing for reference sake.

The offerings from CIMB actually compare favourably with the SSB if I take up the FD + current account bundle. However that might affect my cash flow since a minimum of S$30k has to be maintained in the account on top of the amount that I want to put into the FD.

Readers with extra personal cash wanting to park somewhere for risk-free interest, you might want to consider the FD offered by CIMB. At 1.84% interest, it is slightly higher than the 1.80% from the SSB.

However if you are going for longer tenor like 2 years and more, the SSB is still a more attractive option.

The Best 'Coin' I Ever Had

This post has to start off with a picture. There's simply no other way.

On a wet rainy afternoon yesterday, wifey and I were in the car pondering where to go for a bite. As fate has it, we decided to go to a place which I have long wanted to go but have not so far.

The recommended dish here is the coin prata which we ordered together with a kosong and egg prata.

The moment I had my first bite of the coin prata I was overwhelmed. This has got to be the best that I've ever had. The sound of crispiness when my molars pressed down can almost rival that of a potato chip.

That's how crunchy it is on the outside. However the inside retains the fluffiness that a prata should have.

The accompanying curry is fantastic too. I finished the entire plate which surprised wifey. Haha.

On the flip side (pun intended), it is not cheap. 6 coin pratas cost $4.00.

Nevertheless I think it is worth every cent.

There are few eateries that I would purposely drive all the way down. This is one of them.

SIC location for interested foodies like me: Blk 24 Sin Ming Rd

Disclaimer: we are not related to the stallowner except for being a very satisfied customer.

M1

It was nice seeing the share price of M1 opening at above $2 the day after trading halt is lifted. It has been a long time since M1 crossed over that mark.

By now everybody would have known this is due to the offer from Keppel and SPH. Some have already sold their shares amidst the run up these few days. Some are still waiting to see if a better offer or price comes up.

How about me?

On one hand I'm glad my previous thesis (suspicions) about M1 being a prime candidate for M&A has proven to be right.

On the other I am still excited to see how the various initiatives and ventures implemented by M1 will work out.

Anyway back to the purchase offer by Konnectivity Pte Ltd, at $2.06 I feel the downside is fairly limited. Also I believe the upside offers further magnitude with Axiata considering joining in the fray too.

Hence for now I will continue to hold and monitor for further news which I reckon we should be hearing within these couple of weeks.

Baby Has Arrived!

Was pretty busy recently hence hasn't been active on my blog for awhile.

My daughter has safely arrived on 17th June 2018 Father's Day!

What a meaningful gift to me.

Wifey underwent an emergency C-section after about 24 hours of pain. I really owed it to her. My heart broke when I saw her lying on the bed suffering.

I was with her nearly throughout the entire period. That's the least I could do.

We wanted to go for natural delivery as far as possible but doctor decided to go for the C-section for safety reasons.

For those interested, total bill for our birth journey is as follows. It's not a small sum but what's important is that both wifey and daughter are safe and sound.

We went to SGH as a private patient.

Pre-delivery consultation visits and tests: $2,100

Medications and vitamins: $273

Labour and hospitalisation charges: $10,273.31

Baby hospitalisation charges: $3,489.63

Less Medisave claims: -$7,550

Net Payment: $8,585.94

May and June 2018 Updates

Dividends Received

CapitaLand: $480.00
OCBC: $4.25
Mapletree Logistics Trust: $141.40
Netlink Trust: $129.60
RHT Health Trust: $114.00
Suntec Reit: $97.32
Viva Industrial Trust: $91.90

Total: $1,058.47

Counters Purchased

CapitaLand: 5 lots

Counters Sold

Nil