Singapore stock preview: Thai Beverage, Keppel, Mapletree Industrial Trust

• Thai Beverage’s (SGX: Y92) share price is up 5% since Bloomberg reported last Thursday on its brewery unit’s potential IPO filing
• Keppel Corp (SGX: BN4) shares have plunged over 10% since the group announced its 2020 full-year results
• Mapletree Industrial Trust’s (SGX) share price is up nearly 2% since the REIT raised DPU by 3.8% in Q3 of 2020/2021
• Trade these stocks, long or short, with an IG account today

Thai Beverage (SGX: Y92)

Drinks manufacturer Thai Beverage (ThaiBev) could be submitting a filing to list its brewery unit on the Singapore stock exchange this week, Bloomberg reported last Thursday (28 January 2021).

ThaiBev saw its share price rally 5% to a peak of S$0.84 a share the following day.

The company is said to be seeking a valuation of about US$10 billion for the unit, with the listing potentially taking place as early as the second quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.

A Reuters report from two weeks earlier had stated that the deal could raise up to US$2 billion. This would make the beer unit’s share sale the biggest initial public offering in Singapore in ten years.

The company responded in a filing to the Singapore Exchange that same day, stating that it ‘has been exploring avenues to optimise its asset portfolio and enhance value for its shareholders, including the potential listing of its beer business’.

‘To this end, THBEV continues to evaluate and is working towards a possible listing of its beer business with its appointed advisors on the Singapore Exchange,’ it added.

Keppel Corporation (SGX: BN4)

Marine and property conglomerate Keppel Corp said last Friday as part of its FY2020 results that it is axing its rig business and part of the logistics arm.

‘Keppel O&M (offshore and marine) will exit the offshore rig-building business, and also progressively exit low value-adding repairs and other activities with low bottom-line contribution,’ said group CEO Loh Chin Hua in a press release.

The group also recorded a net loss of S$506 million for 2020, a vast reversal from 2019’s S$707 million net profit, which was worse than the S$237 million loss CIMB analysts had forecasted.

Keppel said this was due to substantial impairments in O&M, which was the sole loss-making key business unit. Impairments totalled S$952 million, the bulk of which was recognised in Q2 2020.

Its directors also proposed a final cash dividend of S$0.07 per share for 2020, roughly 41.7% lower than the S$0.12 per share in 2019.

Following that, Keppel’s shares closed 7.2% lower last week. Shares continue to slip at the start of Monday (01 February 2021), with share price down 3.2% as at 11:30 SGT.

Mapletree Industrial Unit (SGX: ME8U)

Industrial real estate investment trust Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) announced its third quarter results for the 2020/2021 financial year last Friday, in which distribution per unit (DPU) increased by 3.8% year-on-year to S$0.0328.

This came on the back of higher gross revenue for the quarter, which rose 20.5% to S$123.7 million, as well as higher net property income, which grew 20.8% to S$98.9 million.

The ‘strong performance’, said the company in a press release, was due to the consolidation of revenue from the 14 data centres in the US.

Distributable income of S$81.1 million for the quarter was 16.8% higher than S$69.4 million in the same quarter a year prior. This was also driven by distribution declared by the Mapletree Rosewood Data Centre Trust.

Looking ahead, MIT said that although business sentiment had improved for two consecutive quarters, it is ‘expected to remain volatile’ and ‘uncertain’ for the first half of 2021 in light of the resurgence of Covid-19 infections in many key economies.

It added that the Singapore industrial property market is expected to remain challenging. As such, MIT will continue to provide support to its tenants in the form of rental reliefs, which it says will affect distributable income for the full 2020 and 2021 financial year.

MIT shares closed up 1.06% on Friday, before adding another 0.7% this Monday morning.

How to trade Singapore shares with IG

Are you feeling bullish or bearish on these SGX-listed stocks?

Either way you can buy (long) or sell (short) the asset using derivatives like CFDs offered on IG's industry-leading trading platform in a few easy steps:

1. Create a live or demo IG Trading Account, or log in to your existing account
2. Enter <company name (i.e. Keppel Corp> in the search bar and select the instrument
3. Choose your position size
4. Click on ‘buy’ or ‘sell’ in the deal ticket
5. Confirm the trade