United Hampshire US REIT- 12.1% Increase in Distribution in FY2025 and Over 8% Forward Dividend Yield For FY2026.

For long term loyal holders of United Hampshire US REIT ("UH REIT") since IPO and for investors who had accumulated additional units when its price hover around the US$0.40 per unit in June 2024 during the high financing cost period, UH REIT just announced the good news of an impressive 12.1% increase in its distribution for financial year ending 31 December 2025. Let us go through some of the financial analysis, normalised distribution yield and also the distribution notice:

Section 1: Revised Distribution Yield From Increase in Distribution.

For UH REIT, 2nd Half 2025 Net Property Income increased 2.3%. This growth was supported by the commencement of new leases, rental escalation from existing leases, contribution from the newly acquired Dover Marketplace and lower interest rates as well as borrowings.

It resulted in a 12.1% overall increase in distribution per unit relative to the 2nd half of 2024. At 2.30 cents per unit, this is an annualised distribution yield of US$0.046 per unit. As per the announcement date of 20 February 2026, the market traded price was US$0.560 per unit. This implied an annual distribution yield of 8.2% per annum. This is an extremely attractive distribution yield in the SREIT universe given its consistent more than 95% occupancy rate for grocery related retail business since IPO.

Section 2: Substantial Discount to Net Asset Value Per Unit of US$0.73 Per Unit.

As at 31 December 2025, the net asset value per unit of UH REIT stood at US$0.730 per unit. Based on its current market price during announcement date, its market price was US$0.560 per unit. This is a 30% upside at current market price.  

Section 3: Key Dates To Watch Out For Existing Unit-holders.

Unit-holders please take note of the following key dates. Firstly, Ex Dividend Date will be on 27 February 2026 (Friday) while distribution payment date will only be on 30 March 2026 (Monday).

Section 4: Parting Thoughts.

To give some additional background context, UH REIT listed on SGX on 12 March 2020. The IPO subscription price was US$0.80 per unit. On its first day trading date, UH REIT debuted at US$0.72 (S$1.02), which was 10% lower than its IPO price due to market volatility at that time. It is unfortunate that the debut was soured by the COVID crisis with financial results battered by the post COVID high inflationary environment that leads to escalating financing cost as well as 10% decline in strength of USD over this dark period. Nevertheless, the distribution from UH REIT  has recovered strongly over the past year. It fared the best in terms of SREIT with commercial properties in the US. While Manulife US REIT, Prime US REIT and Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT have suspended all or part of their dividend distributions, UH REIT continued to pay out distributions consistently.    

Ok, that's all for today folks! Bye for now!

Retail SREIT With 12.1% Increase in Distribution in FY2025 and Over 8% Forward Dividend Yield For FY2026.

Please refer to video: Retail SREIT With 12.1% Increase in Distribution in FY2025 and Over 8% Forward Dividend Yield For FY2026. 

Lendlease REIT Management Latest Rights Issue Finally Did Justice To Existing Unit-Holders- Full Acquisition of PLQ Mall.

The management of Lendlease REIT ("LREIT") announced this morning that it will acquire the remaining 30% of PLQ Mall and will launch a $196.6 mil rights issue priced at 55.8 cents each. Finally, the management listened after the previous private tranche placement in November 2025 whereby the same PLQ property acquisition leads to dilution of existing loyal unit-holders. I hope that the management continues to offer retail investors preferential rights first before tapping on new investors as a form of basic courtesy.

1. Subscribe or Not?

Personally, I will be taking up the issuance given the very attractive entry price of S$0.558 per unit relative to the market closing rate before the announcement of S$0.60 per unit. This will be a more than 6% distribution yield for the new units. 

The only uncertain risk here is the opening of the RTS which will grant Singaporeans more convenient access to Malaysian shopping malls and the extent of the adverse impact on Singapore retail scene. This is somewhat similar to Hong Kong retail which had went downhill for the past few years as shopper flocked to Shenzhen. But I am optimistic that the impact will be minimal on Singapore retail scene given that our local shopping malls have mostly pivoted to F&B outlets and education centres as tenants to complement retail grocery (NTUC Fairprice, Cold Storage etc). For example, parents will not send their kids over to Malaysia for tuition centres right? Another illustrative will be that, one will not want to expend too excessive time to go over Malaysia just to have McDonalds. 

2. Key Dates For Investors

Existing investors of LREIT, take note that the last date and time for acceptance is 18 March 2026 at 5.30pm and 9.30pm for Electronic Applications through ATM of participating bank.

Parting Thoughts

At the current low offered pricing of the new units at S$0.558 per unit, I think that the best option out there is to take it up. Interestingly, the previous private placement was done at S$0.602 per unit which is 7% more expensive. Most likely, I will also be subscribing for the excess. Also, guess, I no longer need to go to LREIT's 2026 AGM to pick a bone with their CEO and CFO on the unfair treatment of existing unit-holders which is very disrespectful and high handed in their previous fund raising exercise. 

Mr Loo Strikes Back At Kelvin Learns Investing and Boon Tee on Crash Buying Strategy!

The talk of our local town recently is on the "Crash Buying Strategy" advocated by Mr Loo from 1M65. Boon Tee started picking a bone with this strategy and then Kelvin Learns Investing started a similar video later on. Basically, they asserted that DCA or immediate lump sum investing offers better return to Mr Loo's assertion if one look back further into longer historical data like from 1981. Mr Loo later clapped back at the 2 young people for being "paper warriors" (纸上谈兵). Quite interesting investment strategies being discussed by the 3 of them. I have extracted the links below and the chronological order of events for those who are interested to know more about the saga as well as the pros and cons being discussed with regard to the "Crash Buying Strategy". 

1. The original Mr Loo's Live Video and Sharing of his Crash Buying System 

I Created A Powerful Crash Buying System! 2X Returns Within 10 years!

2.Boon Tee's Video on why he disagrees with Mr Loo:

Why I DISAGREE With Mr. Loo’s “Crash Buying” Strategy

3. Kelvin's Video on why he disagrees with Mr Loo:

I Tested Mr Loo’s Crash Buying Strategy — Here’s Where It Falls Short

4. Mr Loo Clapbacks at Boon Tee and Kelvin:

Crash Buying : Responding to Investment "Paper Warriors"

Parting Thoughts

Personally, I do not think that there is a magic formula for investing. Also, what happens in the past does not necessarily means it will also apply to the future. Also why Boon Tee's and Kelvin's remaining gang from BagHolder Pod went missing? Hmmm.....I will not be surprised if the 2 of them appeared together again with Chi Keng for another live YouTube show to talk about this "Crash Buying" saga to milk more views...haha...somemore perhaps with Mr Loo appearing as VIP guest again. Or will Mr Loo and them fall out because of this fiasco? 😕

Keppel Ltd Overvalued After Recent Rally and Confusing Final Dividends Reported In Media?

Keppel Ltd is my current top performing holdings with a return of 104% after the recent strong rally in share price. Previously, a number of social media folks were very skeptical of its new strategy to focus on developing its recurring income business. Also many condemned the high leverage employed by Keppel Ltd. Finally, this year turned up extremely well for Keppel Ltd. I attribute it mainly to the "Piyush" effect...haha. Good job overall by the Senior Management team of Keppel Ltd! It is good that the market has finally acknowledged the transformation by Keppel Ltd into an asset light fund management model with more stable recurring income. I have sold off around 25% of my holdings to lock in part of the capital gain. Do I think that Keppel Ltd still a good buy at this juncture? I will address this in the final part of my post. For now, I have a whinge against the dividend announcement that seems a bit confusing and will talk about this issue first.

1. Final Dividends Is S$0.47?

The ambiguous dividends totality in most mdedia is further compounded by the Straits Time and Business Times that state that Keppel Ltd has declared a "final dividend" of S$0.47 per share. So is this referring to the overall total dividends for FY2025 or the 2nd half FINAL dividend tranche?

Extract from Business Times

As it turns out, the news media have been rather loose in their reporting these days. S$0.47 per share should not be crafted as "Final Dividend". Rather, I think the correct wording should be "TOTAL dividend" for FY2025. This is because S$0.47 per share of "final" dividends reported by the Straits Times and Business Times actually comprises of an interim cash dividend of S$0.15 per share that was already paid out in August 2025- we thus have no choice but to deep dive into the announcements by Keppel Ltd.

Extract from Keppel Ltd Full Year Presentation Deck

As seen above from Keppel's presentation deck, the "Final" dividends is actually only S$0.19 per share and not S$0.47 per share. Hence total normalised dividends pay out rate is only S$0.34 per share (interim S$0.15+ final S$0.19). Also, market price of Keppel Ltd is S$12.86 per share as at the close of trading of 16 February 2026 (Monday). This translates to a normalised annual dividend yield of 2.6%. This is actually an extremely low yield without the special dividends. 

2. Special Dividends Clarification

Also, the main stream media has been rather ambiguous on the nature of the S$0.13 per share of "special" dividends. As per above extract from Keppel's presentation deck, the S$0.13 is made up of 2 components:

(i) Cash dividend of S$0.02 per share and

(ii) Dividend in-Specie of 1 KREIT unit for every 9 Keppel shares held which is equivalent to S$0.11 per share. This valuation is based on Keppel REIT's closing price of S$0.98 per unit on 3 February 2026 as well as Keppel's issued share capital of 1,801,659,827 shares as at 31 December 2025. I would think that the valuation of this from retail investor point of view would be the upcoming ex-dividend date whereby the legal obligation has been fully transferred to the hands of shareholders hence it may not be really S$0.98 per unit at that juncture. As a matter of fact, its price as at 16 February 2026 has already dropped to S$0.95 per unit.

2A. Illustrative Example of Quantum of Special Dividends

(i) Assuming one is holding on to 9,900 Keppel Ltd shares. The final dividends due after AGM approval will be S$1,881 (S$0.19 per share X 9,900 shares).

(ii) Also to further illustrate how the dividend in specie works, assuming the same 9,900 Keppel Ltd shares. So the investor would be entitled to 1,100 units of Keppel REIT (9,900 shares divided by 9). So the special dividend in specie would be S$1,078 (1,100 units X S$0.98 per unit). Add on the special cash dividends in such case, one would get cash special dividends of S$198. Hence total special dividend awarded will be S$1,296 in special cash dividend and dividend in-specie.

Total upcoming final dividends in such scenario will thus be S$3,177. 

3. Ex-dividends and Payout Dates.

The ex-dividend date for the final dividend is 27 April 2026 while the pay-out date is on 8 May 2026. So, take note of these key dates if you are an investor of Keppel Ltd.

4. Parting Thoughts- Keppel Ltd Still A Good Buy?
Personally, I will not buy anymore of Keppel Ltd at this juncture as I think that it is overvalued from a dividend investing strategy perspective. Its normalised dividend yield of 2.6%, as previously discussed in point 1 above, is too low for me at its current market price of S$12.68 per share. My entry price for this investment is around S$6.45. I do not think that there is any fundamental change since my first purchase as the senior management of Keppel Ltd has already announced their new strategy of fund management and focus on recurring income 2 years ago. The only exception is that Piyush has joined the board of Keppel Ltd but take note that  it is a non-executive role and this seemed to be the main reason folks are chasing after Keppel Ltd. This is probably due to Piyush's stellar track record in transforming DBS before leaving it and joining Keppel Ltd- I called it the Piyush's effect.

Last but not least, the new FY2026 seems to have already another "special" dividend guaranteed for next year payout. This is because the S$1 billion cash sales proceed of M1 will only be counted towards FY2026 and Keppel Ltd management has mentioned that they will be returning back part of all successful monetisation efforts (10%-15%) in the form of special dividends to shareholders. 

Ok, that's all folks! Have a great week ahead! Happy Lunar New Year to All! Huat Arh!

(P.S: Please see my previous investment thesis on Keppel Ltd back in 2024- Click link to post here)

Trump To Bully Canada Into Submission To Its Will.

Donald Trump continues his crazy antics to whack Canada over its decision to lower trade tariffs with China and moving ever closer to its Asian rival. Now Trump is blocking the opening of the new Howe International Bridge, which connects Detroit and Windsor and using it as leverage against Mark Carney. Interestingly (according to Guardian), back in the 1930s, the US did draw up a plan to invade Canada: It will kick off with the seizing of a strategically valuable port city. US soldiers would then sever undersea cables, destroy bridges and rail lines to paralyze infrastructure. Major Canadian cities on the shores of lakes and rivers would be captured in order to blunt any civilian resistance.

1. Moving Military Defence Away from Solely US

Due to an essential need for advanced conventional (non-nuclear) under-ice capabilities, Ottawa seems to be prioritising building of twelve new units of submarines as well as maintenance package (37 billion Euros package) to non-US ship building firms.  It will select either South Korea or Germany vendors to deliver the boats. This clearly demonstrates a desire to avoid over-relianceof defence-industrial dependency on US and a sign of deteriorating relationship between US and Canada.  

2. Will US Invade Canada Given How Egoistic Donald Trump is and also Carney's Refusal to Submit His Country To Bullying Tactics?

Honestly, I hope this does not happen else it will be very bad for the global economies. Given that Donald Trump has only a few more years before his presidential tenure end and also the upcoming mid-term US election that is strongly anticipated to change the current political landscape, there is an extremely low probability that war will breakout. 

 

Parting Thoughts

Mark Carney may turn up to be one of the greatest Prime Minister of Canada who refused to let his country be bullied into submission to Trump's demands. His standing ovation speech at the World Economic Forum where he called for "middle powers, such as his own, to work together to counter the rise of hard power and the great power rivalry, in order to build a more cooperative, resilient world", riled Trump badly and he is all-out to hustle Carney. 

Opportunity Arises From the 2nd Major Bitcoin Crash- Margin Call and US$2 Trillion Tumble in Crypto Market.

Somebody told me that Bitcoin ("BTC") is the new digital "Gold". Well, it turns out to be extremely volatile and a bad store of value. From its high of US$125K just a few months back in October 2025, it had plummeted to US$61K at one point in time on 6th February 2026. The most shocking thing is I just bought S$1K worth of BTC at US$78K a few days ago on 3rd February 2026. Suddenly, it just dived further, I made another small nibble of S$500 when BTC hits US$72K and another S$500 at US$63K on 5th February and 6th February respectively. I think I have another S$500 entered at various prices from US$80K to US$90K during my account opening earlier this year with a crypto exchange approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS").  So in total, I have put up around S$2,500 in capital to speculate in BTC. 

Will Bitcoin Hit Zero?

Personally, I though that the fair value of BTC is zero. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely to ever hit zero. The simple reason is that BTC has come to be embraced by the mainstream financial institution and many governments. In January 2024, the US SEC approved Bitcoin ETFs as financial products. JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs has also included BTC as part of their wealth management products. Hence institutional adoption in some way protects BTC from falling to zero. But no one knows exactly how much it will plunge further given the extreme pessimism in market sentiment. 

Additionally, many are waiting for MicroStrategy- which uses leverage to purchase BTC- to collapse. The domino effect if triggered will lead to some very ugly repercussion on global economies. 

Personal Thoughts

Since the flash crash in October 2025, crypto has once again suffered another rout in 2026. I thought that there is now an opening for those like myself who wants to diversify one's traditional investment portfolios into crypto assets.