December Portfolio Update + Quick Review of 2010

December was a rather quiet month.

The main changes to my portfolio are

1) First Reit. I initiated a position in First REIT rights at 0.165, and subsequently exercised the rights by paying another 0.50, bringing my price to 0.665. This gives a yield of about 9.64%. This is a stock I wanted while it was 40c region, but procrastinated too long. While, hindsight is 20/20.

2) Silverlake. I initiated a position at 0.33, and I have written 2 posts about this.

3) CapitalMallsAsia. I initiated a position at 1.86.

4) Cut loss on China Sky at 0.22. While on hindsight, I could have done better and sold it this week with a profit instead of a $500 loss.... :(

5) Took profit on Breadtalk. Again, on hindsight, I could have earn more if I sold it this week, but then again, it's hindsight, and my number of lots is so little it would have mattered much anyway.

6) Subscribed for LC Dev rights. 

Quiet Good News for Starhub

Financial numbers should never be the absolute decision maker/trigger when determining whether to buy into a business. Here's one quiet good news from Starhub:

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StarHub secures deal from Marina Bay Sands

SINGAPORE : Info-communications provider StarHub said on Wednesday that it has secured a deal from Marina Bay Sands to provide telecommunications and entertainment services.

It added that the services will extend to both Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Expo and Convention Centre and its luxury hotel rooms and suites.

StarHub did not disclose the actual value and the period of the deal, but said it was a multi-year, multi-million dollar agreement.

In a statement, StarHub said the services will include mobile voice and data services, high-speed broadband and Internet lines.

Silverlake Axis Part 2

Silverlake's Barrier to Entry
Silverlake processes more than 50% of retail-banking transactions in South-East Asia. As mentioned earlier, Silverlake's software integrates the front-end and back-end of bank operations. From lending, deposits, credit cards, banking operations, Silverlake's software handles it. As the performance of such a software is critical to the smooth operation of banks, the reluctance and costs to switch are extremely high. As a result, it's customers will very likely stay loyal. Why risk a smooth banking operation on an untested new software when the current one is working very well?

From broker's writeup: It is of no coincidence that its clients are largely Southeast Asian Banks, including six of the nine anchor banks in Malaysia (EON Bank, Alliance Bank, Affin Bank, Hong Leong Bank, Malayan Banking and AMMB) and two Singapore Banks (OCBC and UOB). In Indonesia, it has six of the largest 10 banks, including Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat, Bank Tabungan Negara and Bank Niga.

In my opinion, with such client base at hand, any new bank wanting to set up shop in Singapore or Malaysia will consider Silverlake as a strong software logistics support for their banking operations. Coupled with loyal clients (based on logic, since I'm an engineer and I know how softwares tend to "stick" to companies for long), it would be tough for any newcomers into the market to snatch any clients.

Silverlake Axis Part 1

This is a write-up on this mini Malaysian company listed on the SGX called Silverlake Axis.
This write-up is not entirely original from me; it is a compilation of write-ups from a certain blog, my broker, Kim Eng's research and Nick's excel sheet calculations (thank you Nick!).

The company describes itself on the website: "Silverlake Axis is a leading provider of end-to-end universal integrated banking solution. The Group's award winning Silverlake Axis Integrated Banking Solutions are implemented at over 75 customer sites in Asia including 40% of the Top 20 Largest Banks in South East Asia."

CapitaMallsAsia and First REIT Purchase

Recently I bought 3 counters, FIRST REIT, Silverlake, and CapMallsAsia (CMA). This post will focus on CMA and FIRST REIT, and the simple reasons why I bought it.

The first and foremost reason is that CMA has fallen below it's IPO price of $2.12. While on hindsight, it would have been better to load GLP at $2.11, I went with CMA for the reason above :x

The second reason is more technical. Doing a basic Fibonacci retracement, 1.844 appears to be a nice support. However, I was a little impatient, and went in 3 lots at $1.86, along with 1 lot at $1.85.  

Keppel Green Trust -- an email to IR

At last I have the time to really flip through K-Green's prospectus. I didn't really do it earlier as I was really busy with my students' exams.

Taking a look confirm what most people have been saying all along... KGT might well be distributing it's NAV to it's stakeholders at the moment.

So I sent an email to KGT's IR and asked...

November Portfolio Update

November was quite a volatile month.

The main additions to my portfolio are

1) Saizen Reit. I added another 40 lots at 0.155 during the recent selldown, bringing my total to 140 lots. Hope I won't get to regret it :)

I was watching out for SingPost and Singtel, but they did not reach my target price yet. Will continue to watch out.