SINGAPORE (Dec 2): The controlling shareholder of GL has increased its stake in the investment holding company. On Nov 19, GuocoLeisure Asset, an entity held by the Quek family, bought 367,000 shares at 78.5 cents each. This brings its stake in the company from 943,669,134 shares to 957,010,134 shares, or 69.95%.
Quek Leng Chan, the head of the family, holds a personal direct stake of 735,000 shares. With the purchases on Nov 19, he now holds a total stake, consisting of direct and deemed stakes, of 70%, up from 69.03%.
Previously, on Sept 11, Tang Hong Cheong, the group’s managing director, had bought 95,000 shares at 91.6 cents each. That brought his total shareholding to 2.4 million shares, or 0.18%.
Year to date, the company’s share price has increased 63% to close at 79.5 cents on Nov 28. This values the company at $1.09 billion. GL’s net asset value as at Sept 30 was US$1,027.3 million.
GL invests primarily in hotel management and operations, oil and gas, property development as well as other areas in the leisure industry. Its assets are in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. The company was listed on the Mainboard in March 2000.
For its 1QFY2019 ended Sept 30, the company reported profits of US$12 million, 26% lower than the US$16.2 million recorded in 1QFY2018. Revenue had dropped slightly to US$95.5 million on the back of the poorer performance of its oil and gas segment, which was hit by lower average crude oil prices and production.
The weakening Australian dollar against the US dollar also contributed to the decline in earnings. This was offset marginally by higher income from its hotel segment, following improved revenue per available room (RevPAR). On a fully diluted basis, this translated into earnings per share of 0.9 US cent, down from 1.3 US cents in 1QFY2018.
In its 1Q earnings statement on Oct 24, GL notes that as a result of protracted uncertainty over Brexit, economic volatility and poor market sentiment persist, thereby hurting growth in the average daily rate of London hotels.
However, the weaker pound sterling vis-à-vis other currencies has helped drive the “influx” of tourists, lifting the occupancy rates of its hotels. “This should result in a modest increase in our RevPAR. The expected increase in the supply of new rooms in the London market, together with cost inflation due to the weak currency exchange rate, will impact our profit margins,” the company states.
New Synagie shareholder
Meanwhile, a new substantial shareholder has emerged at homegrown e-commerce player Synagie Corp. Ng Yew Nam on Nov 19 bought 1,245,100 shares for $156,882.60, which works out to 12.6 cents a share. With this purchase, Ng’s stake in the company has increased to just below 13.8 million shares from 12.55 million shares.
Ng’s purchase came to light only because his stake in the company crossed the 5% disclosure threshold. From 4.74% previously, he now owns 5.21% of the company. In response to queries from The Edge Singapore, Synagie says Ng is a private investor and has no relationship with the company.
Year to date, the company’s share price has dropped 8.1% to close at 12.2 cents on Nov 28. This values the company at $32.3 million.
For 1HFY2019 ended June 30, revenue increased 31% y-o-y to $9 million, from $6.9 million in the year-earlier period. The higher revenue was attributed to a bigger customer base in Singapore. Also, during the period, Synagie grew strongly, by 375% in Malaysia, albeit from a small base.
The e-commerce segment saw the most growth: 38.4% y-o-y to $6.8 million. Meanwhile, the e-logistics segment grew 16.9% y-o-y to $400,000, from 1HFY2018’s $300,000. Synagie’s insurtech business increased 11.2% y-o-y to $1.8 million.
However, the growth came with higher costs as well. In 1HFY2019, Synagie’s distribution costs increased 69.9% y-o-y to $508,000 and administration costs rose 26.5% y-o-y to $5.8 million. The company also booked higher depreciation charges. Overall, in the first six months of the year, net loss widened 9% y-o-y to $3.7 million. Even so, executive director and CEO Clement Lee says he is “encouraged by the continued momentum from the strong growth across all business channels”.
More recently, Synagie has been making substantial headway in securing partnerships. For instance, it is collaborating with government agency Enterprise Singapore (ESG) to help small and medium-sized enterprises internationalise through e-commerce. Here, SMEs adopting the platform will receive a 70% subsidy from ESG. This amounts to a $20,000 package per SME that covers business advisory, content development, big data analytics, cross-border warehousing and fulfilment, for the first year.
