Top Stock Market Highlights of the Week: Singapore Exchange, Jurong Lake District and Singapore’s Factory Output

Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights.

Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX: S68)

It is that time of the year again when shareholders get to meet the management and board of directors of the companies they own shares of.

Yes, I am talking about the Annual General Meeting (AGM) season.

AGMs serve as important platforms for shareholders to receive updates on the company’s performance and plans while allowing them to engage in dialogue with management.

In essence, it acts as a once-a-year venue for shareholders to air their grievances and seek clarifications on how the business is run.

Such actions are important for investors’ decision-making, which is why attendance at AGMs is highly encouraged by Singapore Exchange Limited or SGX.

The problem is that two out of three stocks have a December 31 year-end, which means that most AGMs are clustered around mid to late April.

Shareholders of multiple stocks may have to give up their attendance at an AGM because it clashes with another.

SGX RegCo, the regulatory arm of the exchange, now mandates that large issuers (i.e. those with billion-dollar market capitalisation) should attempt to avoid AGM overlaps with other blue-chip companies.

SGx RegCo will assist by maintaining a calendar of AGMs to facilitate shareholders’ participation.

Simply put, if there is a clash of dates for two AGMs, the second company should attempt to select a different date and/or time so that shareholders can attend both AGMs.

More details will be released soon on the exact arrangement and implementation of these arrangements will be periodically reviewed.

Jurong Lake District

The Jurong Lake District (JLD) developer site consists of three land parcels spanning 6.5 hectares with a maximum projected gross floor area of 3.93 million square feet.

The tender for this massive piece of land drew just two bids when it closed earlier this week.

Both bids belonged to a partnership of five of the largest developers in Asia.

They are CapitaLand Development, City Developments Limited (SGX: C08), Frasers Property Limited (SGX: TQ5), Mitsubishi Estate (TYO: 8802), and Mitsui Fudosan (TYO: 8801).

Capitaland, City Developments and Frasers Property will each own a 25% stake in the consortium while the two Japanese partners will own 12.5% each.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) estimates that the JLD site can yield at least 1.57 million square feet of office space, and 1,700 residential units, along with around 786,000 square feet for retail, hospitality, and communal spaces.

As the project is massive, it can be developed in phases and the URA requires the first phase to have a minimum of 753,474 square feet of office space and 600 residential units.

The first phase of the office component should be completed around 2028 to coincide with new office supply entering the market in areas such as Downtown and Orchard Road.

Singapore’s factory output

Data from the Economic Development Board (EDB) showed that Singapore’s factory output grew by 3.8% year on year for February 2024.

This performance was much better than expected as a poll of private sector economists had predicted just a 0.5% year on year rise.

After excluding the biomedical manufacturing sector, which tends to be more volatile, output still grew by 1.4% for February.

The good news is that most segments saw growth for the month except for the computer peripherals and data storage segment which posted a 10.7% year-on-year decline.

The biggest jump belonged to the infocommunications and consumer electronics segment which saw a 30.9% year-on-year surge.

This was followed by semiconductors at 2.1% and electronic modules and components at just 0.3%.

There was more good news.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, manufacturing output climbed 14.2% in February, a sharp reversal from January’s 6.7% contraction.

If biomedical manufacturing is excluded, production would have still risen by 10% for February, reversing the 7.8% contraction back in January.

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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of Singapore Exchange Limited.

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