Singapore Stock Market Trivia – April Edition
I was playing around with some statistics on the STI and the second board, Catalist, when I discovered that over 300 listed companies do not pay ordinary dividends.
That is about 40% of the 800 or so companies listed.
And half of the top returning stocks in 1 year do no pay dividends. (30 out of 61)
Not quite close to the horror story of last September when I noticed something amiss with Blumont.
https://tradehaven.net/market/stock-alert-blumont/
https://tradehaven.net/market/small-caps-heaven-in-singapore/
I highlighted the stocks in the top performer list above that have bond issues and we have quite a handful of them.
The anomaly would be Oxley with an amazing 11.30 times financial leverage yet with a P/E ratio of just 7.39 times, demonstrating their superb earnings in the last quarter which of course, has to be sustained for E in the P/E to look good.
Then we have the highest P/E awards without considering the 309 listed companies that do not have P/E ratios because there is no E, I suppose.
And finally, some oddities that I picked up, like Starhub, glaring at me with a Price to Book ratio of 86 times ! 7 bio in market cap but not a lot of assets to show for it (Singtel is going at 2.6 times for comparison and M1 is at 6.9 times). Not even trying to scratch my head on this one because perhaps the book value is conservatively understated.
And finally those net cash companies (after paying off all debt) – there are a few !! (based on 2012 numbers)
China Fibretech – Mkt Cap 13 mio Net Cash Holdings SGD 77 mio
Fujian Zhenyun Plastics – Mkt Cap 15 mio Net Cash Holdings SGD 60 mio
Asia Fashion Holdings – Mkt Cap 24.6 mio Net Cash Holdings SGD 54 mio
Ziwo Holdings – Mkt Cap 28 mio Net Cash Holdings SGD 33 mio
Asiasons !!!!!!!!!!!! – Mkt Cap 43 mio Net Cash Holdings SGD 90 mio
Starhub has no assets other than their cable network which is probably fully depreciated by now (they lease their network from Singtel).
I believe Starhub has a negative net tangible asset value if you strip out the goodwill from their SCV (Singapore cable vision) acquisition.
I did not realise that.
Well, I guess investing in air is better than investing in Facebook.
Maybe they do own some of their network but I believe it is minimal, see the link below and the key paragraph from the article.
Investing in Starhub is like buying an annuity, not sure if there is a expiry date for their telco license but they sure have benefited from the yield compression due to QE.
http://www.techgoondu.com/2013/10/26/so-are-singapores-telecom-networks-resilient/#.U1ktflUnBYw
“Remember, these telcos can set up their own parallel, duplicate, and maybe better-run networks. Why don’t they? Cost. StarHub has said as much. It leases from SingTel and only builds its own networks “where it made economic sense“.”
Ok, there is a license expiry – 20 years.
1 Period of Licence
1.1 The Licence came into force on 5 May 1998 and shall be valid for a period of twenty years (20) from 1 April 2000.
1.2 The Licence may be further renewed for such period as IDA thinks fit and subject to such terms and conditions as may be specified by IDA under Section 5 of the Act.
2.1 The Licensee shall pay to IDA an annual fee which is based on the audited annual gross turnover (“AGTO”) for the provision of the services during the Licensee’s financial year.
The annual fee payable shall be the total of:
(a) a minimum sum of $200,000;
(b) 0.8% of such amount of the Licensee’s audited AGTO for the provision of the services during the Licensee’s financial year that is more than $50 million up to $100 million; and
(c)1% of such amount of the Licensee’s audited AGTO for the provision of the services during the Licensee’s financial year that is more than $100 million.
2.2 The licence fees payable under Condition 2.1 shall be forfeited if the Licence is terminated or cancelled at any time during the term of the Licence.
Still have a couple of years left for us to trade on 7 bio bucks worth of goodwill.
DID ANYONE BUY ASIA FASHION ?
Up 166% today !!
Maybe a big investor read your blog. LOL
3 lots done only at 12 cents which accounted for the big spike, no liquidity subsequently…