Disappointing Q1 June 2024 Results for Mapletree Logistics Trust But Not All Is Doom and Gloom!

What a disappointing set of Q1 2024 results released from Mapletree Logistics Trust ("MLT") with its DPU dropping by a substantial <-8.9%>. However, not all is doom and gloom for MLT. With worldwide interest rate cuts as well as the near completion of its 51 Benoi Road warehouse facility at Western part of Singapore near Joo Koon MRT (approximately 850,000 sqft  lettable space after Asset Enhancement & Improvement) that will TOP by May 2025, I think that MLT unit price will eventually recover. 

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SGX Stock Which Increased Dividends by 33% and EPS Increases But Market Price Nose Dived Over the Years.

This is one of the weirdest local stock I seen on SGX. While its Earnings Per Share improve over the past 3 years and increased dividends by 33%, its market price kept nose diving and never regain its former glorious form. I have added on to my minor stake into this stock for diversification into my current REIT centric portfolio.

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Loyal Shareholders of Income Insurance Ltd See Jaw Dropping 400% Returns From Potential Bidder’s Market Valuation.

Congrats to all Income Insurance Ltd shareholders! The former NTUC Income Co-operative- which has just recently completed its corporatisation in September 2022- announced that German financial services giant Allianz plans to acquire 51% of its share at S$40.58 per share. Considering the fact that many shareholders got their share at S$10 par value (plus the 5%+ dividends over 20 yrs) and considering recent transaction on an exchange setup by Phillips Securities is at around S$20 per share, the S$40.58 offer is a whopping +400% and +100% to cost price and recent transacted price respectively. 

What happens next?

First and foremost, the above offer must be approved by our local regulator. Next, the offer needs to be approved by shareholders of Income Insurance and an EGM thus needs to be convened. The major shareholder of Income Insurance, NTUC Enterprise Co-operative has undertaken to sell part of its shares should the sales of shares by minority retail shareholders falls below the 51% required by Allianz. So, we can tell that the management of Income Insurance has given priority to minority shareholders who would want to exit. More details should be announced soon.

Parting thoughts

During late May’24 portfolio review and update, I have stated that I will be keeping my small holding of 106 shares of Income Insurance as a souvenir as the amount is extremely small and then live with its 5%-6% yearly dividend yield. However, with a S$40.58 offer, this paltry investment has suddenly grown from a mere S$1,060 to S$4,300. I guess I will definitely sell if off and then reinvest the proceeds into the Endowus bond funds.

Keppel DC REIT Back On Its Growth Path!

Good news from the management team of Keppel DC REIT!  

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SREITS and Banks Strong Rally Today (11 July 2024) After Powell Show Power!

I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I checked on  the SREITs market today. Not just SREITs but local bank stocks also went up. Looks like the market like Jerome Powell's message on potential interest rate cut which may happen earlier rather than sinking into recession: “You don't want to wait until inflation gets all the way down to 2%, because inflation has a certain momentum,” Powell said. “If you waited that long, you’ve probably waited too long, because inflation will be moving downward and will go well below 2%, which we don't want.” 

I am surprised but delighted to see the surge of 2.86% to 4.76% today for Mapletree Industrial Trust and Mapletree Logistics Trust respectively. I am heavily vested in the Mapletree family of REITs. Let's hope that there will be a sustained rally in price after the long drought.

Why I Am Not Taking Part In the Guaranteed Interest Rate Product Offered by Chocolate Finance?

Wow, the recent talk of the town seems to be Chocolate Finance. Recently, I kept receiving Wat's App messages from friends or seeing online posts with regard to the super attractive S$20K guaranteed 4.2% interest income product by Chocolate Finance. To be honest, the old adage of if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Personally, I am staying far far away from Chocolate Finance due to the following reasons:

Guarantee by Chocolate Finance Mgt Team

1. Product doomed for failure in event of sudden global interest rate drop to fight recession

I think that it is very irresponsible for financial product designer these days to use "guaranteed high interest rate" for a certain duration to attract investments. No matter what, there is still a lead time between actual collection of funds from investment subscription to deployment into the various auv-component funds constituting Chocolate Finance latest product offering. If interest rates were to suddenly plunge, Chocolate Finance will be dipping into its shareholder fund to compensate investors. Where got business take on excessive risk like that? 

2. It is a fallacy that many folks believe that as long as the legal title of their investments is being held by 3rd party custodian, this means that one's money is safe even if Chocolate Finance goes bankrupt.

The thing is that if Chocolate Finance business model collapses, investors will no longer be able to withdraw their funds immediately. During the chaos transition while regulator take-over, there maybe loss of electronic records from system, or even fraudulent collusion by senior management and their IT team in sending of electronic records to the custodian that is holding on to all assets separately as required by the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS"). I can easily think of a few more scenarios that may happen to cause months of delay in ascertaining ownership of respective individual's investments as well as the completeness of records. 

Point number 2 actually also applies for other robo advisory platforms such as Endowus. But difference here is the strength of the shareholders of Endowus relative to Chocolate Finance. Endowus shareholders include UBS, MUFG, Singtel, Samsung, Prosus (largest shareholder of Tencent) and Softbank etc.

3. The guarantee is only for up to S$20K and until 31 December 2024.

It is a waste of time and efforts to move funds whenever another Fund Management Company come out with same pattern as Chocolate Finance to call itself having the best deal in town. I will rather spend the time concentrating on my career or spending time with my family. There are already many good products out there on Endowus (Cash Smart) ,MooMoo or Tiger Brokers that have good decent money market funds offering 3.5% to 4.6% return per annum and being able to withdraw on demand. It does not make sense for one to keep going after a newer product that professes to be the "best" in the market for a 4.2% return that is not much of a difference to other similar products in the market. 

Parting thoughts

Anyway, above are just my personal thoughts and views. This is a free world. For those who likes the thrill of constantly shifting their cash around for a better deal, do go for it! :)

Can Keppel DC REIT Extricate Itself Out of Its Guangdong Data Centres Misery?

Will Keppel DC REIT be able to extricate itself out of its Master Tenant default saga at Guangdong Data Centres?

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Invest SREITs at all-time low or better to go into Bond Investment Instead?

I am having a headache recently with regard to my upcoming regular month end of additional capital injection into the investment portfolios. On one hand, SREITs have tanked again to near their 52 weeks low and now seems the best time to invest. Saying that, in particularly for the past few months, whenever I thought that the SREITs prices have bottomed and accumulated more units, their price just dropped further. On the other hand, my investment forage into bond unit trusts over the past 1 year has been stable thus far especially with global inflation under control- interest income which I had received is around 6% return per annum and capital price of the bond fund held their ground well. Moreover, there is also potential further capital appreciation once interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve is announced.

1. Invest SREITs at all-time low or better to go into Bond Investment Instead? 

I think that I will probably add on to the bond unit trusts for June 2024 month end as I have previously in May 2024 already invested approximately S$10K into both United Hampshire US REIT and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust  (unfortunately, both SREIT's unit price declined further after my respective purchases).

2. A close friend asked me whether Equities or Money Market Funds is the best investment in view of current market?

I thought that my friend asked me a very interesting question. My personal thoughts are that for risk averse folks who find equities and bonds extremely risky, then maybe buying into the Money Market Funds is well worth it. Singapore Saving Bonds or T-bills are also good options. 

The thing is that over the years, I have decided to just keep my real thoughts to myself whenever risk averse close friends asked me such question. I will at most just share my thoughts on the above financial instruments since their risk profile is extreme prudence and they generally ask for the sake of affirming their own beliefs (if you say something else, then it gets into a heated debate). However, the fact remains that returns from such investments will barely keep up with inflation. I think that some risks need to be undertaken in order to exit the rat race earlier.

Ok, that's all for today's post, have a great week ahead folks!   

SREIT With Lowest Gearing Ratio and Attractive Distribution Yield of over 7%.

Hi Folks, today, I will be looking into this S-REIT that has one of the lowest gearing ratio among the top REITs in Singapore as well as its very attractive distribution yield of over 7%. 

Please see below for my latest video on YouTube channel. Going forward, I will be posting various exclusive investment contents onto my YouTube channel only. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel also to get the latest content for sharing.

Penny Stock Oceanus Group Roared Back To Life.

Recently on 29th May 2024, Oceanus Group announced a RMB 200Mil investment intention agreement with the Shaoxing Huangjiu Town local authority to help grow its alcohol distribution business in China. The town of Shaoxing is known since ancient times for producing yellow wine such as the famous "Nu Er Hong". This will give a boost to its future earnings via its already well established current distribution network painstakingly built up over the years. From this partnership, the local partner will import alcohol distributed by Oceanus, and on the other hand, Oceanus will help expand the distribution and grow the demand of yellow wine produced by Shaoxing.

1. Major Shareholder, Alacrity Investment Group, Mops Up Additional Shares from Market.

Alacrity Investment Group, the largest shareholder of Oceanus Group, has further raised its stake in Oceanus Group to express its vote of confidence in the future prospects of its investee. On 30 May 2024, it acquired 30 million shares for a total of $300,000 from the open market. The following day, it acquired another 25 million shares for $265,000. Following these two transactions, Alacrity now owns 4.43 billion shares or 17.25% of the company. The average price of the purchases is thus around S$0.01 per share. This seems to indicate that the major shareholder is extremely optimistic about the future of Oceanus Group.

2. Historical Oceanus Group Price Recap.

In 2022, Oceanus Group placed out additional 5.2 per cent of its existing share capital with Alacrity also taking part at S$0.023 per share. 

I recalled that in April 2021 I have ventured into Oceanus at S$0.038 per share and exited at around S$0.040 per share a few months later (Oct 2021). Interestingly, Oceanus Group went on to make losses despite initially getting out of the watchlist of SGX after its current CEO turn the business around. Its current prices has plunged to S$0.009 to S$0.01 per share this week.  

3. Financials

While Oceans Group is still making losses for its latest FY2023, it has managed to reduce its losses to <S$2.2Mil> relative to FY2022 staggering losses of <S$11.7Mil>. With the continuous growth in its trading business and topline revenue generation, FY2024 maybe the year of breakeven with some profits.

Parting thoughts

I think that Oceanus Group is roaring back to life with the results of the transformation work set in place for the past 4 years gradually surfacing. Hence I decided to take up a minor position in Oceanus Group again with 65,000 shares @ S$0.01 per share. Perhaps, Oceanus Group is finally ripe for harvesting. 

S-REIT With 10.7% Dividend Yield and Consistent Occupancies & Resilient Results Plus Key Risks To Note.

Today, I will be looking into this S-REIT that does not have much analysts coverage and that its market unit price has plunged close to almost 50% of its IPO price back in 2020 albeit resilient results and high occupancies of over 95% for the past few years.

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Investment Portfolios Updates (26 May 2024) - Net S$602K and Projected Annualised Passive Income of S$41K.

These past 2 months have been absolutely horrendous for investors that held SREITs in high concentration in their investment portfolios. It is like putting money into a blackhole where it just kept pulverising. The only good thing is that I have diverted most of my new funds, as well as dividends received recently, into the bond funds on Endowus platform. Lots of further work in progress to diversify the portfolios further from real estate related investments.   

1. Portfolio 1- Stocks held in SGX Central Depository 

(Note: This portfolio is designed to provide immediate dividends for use as it is under my own CDP account and the dividends credited goes directly to my bank account.)

Have decided to sell off all my Netlink Trust units for now as there seems to be better opportunities out there. Also, the 6.1% distribution yield from Netlink Trust are not sustainable for the long term as Netlink Trust is actually paying out distributions from bank borrowings. Please see my YouTube Video here: "Netlink Trust 6.13% Distribution Yield Unsustainable and Ballooning Accumulated Losses of -S$617Mil".

2. Portfolio 2- Margin purchased securities

(Note: My margin purchased securities has grown to a sufficient scale to sustain itself and can pay off annual financing charges as well as to gradually pay down the margin loan through dividends generated.) 

The valuation of SREITs in my margin portfolio continued to nose-dive. Dividends from stocks were used to pay off margin loan financing as well as foraging into the HKEX in the form of Ping An and Link REIT after seeing signs of recovery in the China and Hong Kong market. 

3. Portfolio 3 (with Tiger Brokers and MooMoo) 

(Venture into higher risk as well as capital growth stocks here)

I opened up another online trading account MooMoo here to further diversify the online brokers and also the lower commission on offer by MooMoo. MooMoo is also giving away more than S$280 worth of US shares for signing up. Have took up additional stakes in Alibaba as well as Ping An Insurance. 

4. Portfolio 4 (Endowus Unit Trusts & Other Investments)

I have continued re-investing dividends from my Portfolio 1 mainly into the bond funds on Endowus platform. The market value for Endowus bond fund approximates the historical cost (with the exception of Income Insurance share price) hence I did not make any further fair value adjustments. From various sources that were using Philip Securities, privately held Income Insurance seems to be trading privately from S$20 to $22 per share on the blockchain powered Alta digital exchange platform. Logically, I think I should be selling it off if it is really at more than 100% capital gain and then reinvesting the proceeds. Nevertheless, since the amount I am holding is just a small stake, I think I will just keep it as a form of souvenir. 

Netlink Trust 6.13% Distribution Yield Unsustainable and Ballooning Accumulated Losses of -S$617Mil.

I was looking through the FY2024 results of Netlink Trust ending 31 March 2024. It was shocking to see that once again, it is still paying out excessive distributions. Its accumulated losses ballooned to <-S$617Mil> as at 31 March 2024. Apparently since this is a "Business Trust", it is thus "ok". Today, I will be sharing my thoughts on the latest results in the following video and the key risk to take note if one were to invest in Netlink Trust.  

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Alibaba Full Year Results- Don't Miss the Forest For the Trees.

Not sure why many analysts were extremely disappointed with Alibaba for missing earnings expectations which brought about a sell down in the US market. On the contrary, I thought that Alibaba did fairly well for its last March Quarter 2024 and full year. Revenue continued to grow by 7% on a year to year basis for Q4. So clearly, Alibaba seems to be returning to growth mode. I will ignore the "Net Income" due to the "fair value" mark to market for its non-core business activities (public listed investments) and focus instead on the non-GAAP net income.  Also interestingly, Alibaba is going to pay out dividends again!

1. Not too bad results- investment for topline revenue growth

Q4 March 24 Results

The non-GAAP net income for Q4 ended 31 March 2024 decreased 11% from  RMB 27,375Mil to RMB 24,418Mil. Nevertheless non-GAAP diluted earnings per share decrease only 5% year on year due mainly to share buy-back (please see below).

2. Share Repurchases

Share buy-back

US$4.8 billion was spent buying back ADs and shares in US and Hong Kong markets respectively. This help mitigate the earnings per share decline due to latest strategies to re-ignite growth in Alibaba's business. 

3. Fantastic upcoming pay out of regular cash dividends and special dividends to rewards shareholders.

Wow, Alibaba really seems to be becoming a dividend stock. Total year end approved payouts will be a total of US$0.2075. I am currently holding on to about 2,300 shares. So this translates to a dividend of US$477.25. Less off withholding tax of 10% and the quantum we are looking at is thus US$429.53 (S$580) on 3 July 2024 (Wednesday). This is a respectable sustainable dividend yield of almost 2%. Ex-dividend date is on 3 June 2024.

Parting thoughts

Today (15th May) is Buddha's Day in Hong Kong and a public holiday. Once the HKSE open on 16th May 2024, the price will probably drop by 5%-6% to mirror the US market. If there is another strong pull-back on the 9988 counter, I may look into accumulating more Alibaba shares.  

Strong Alibaba Stock Rally Sustainable? How To Get Exposure To China Tech Sector Without Placing All Your Eggs In One Basket?

Hi folks, China stocks have been rallying over the past 2 weeks. Is this just a temporary China bear market rally? For those interested in China tech stocks such as Alibaba and wanted some exposure but worried on total failure of the business, jumping into the ETF bandwagon might be a good way to diversify away the over-concentration risk in a few counters.

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Why I No Longer Invest In Fixed Deposits But Parked Funds Into Robo Advisor Platform Money Fund Instead?

Hi folks, hope everyone has a good rest and enjoyable time thus far for this week. This is a short video to explore the better options out there in the Singapore market as alternative to fixed deposit.

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Singtel Announced Shocking S$3.1 Billion Impairment Losses!

On 29th April 2024 (Monday) before trading commences, Singtel Group just announced that it will be taking up impairment provision of approximately S$3.1 billion for its 2nd half financial year ending 31 March 2024. While these non-cash impairment does not impact current cashflow or upcoming dividends, a huge chuck of net assets per share has been wiped off. Previous CAPEX and investments have declined in valuation due to drop in fixed carriage revenue generation and the associated plunge in future cashflow. 

1. Optus main culprit

(i) The Optus Enterprise segment has been badly hit due to the prevailing Australian market. As a result, Optus reported steep declines in its fixed carriage revenue. It will be taking up <S$470Mil> impairment for its Enterprise fixed assets.

(ii) The plunge here further triggered Singtel impairment review of its goodwill in Optus. Goodwill refers to the excess over the book value of Optus during its acquisition back in 2001. Coupled with higher discount rate and softer macroeconomic outlook in Australia, a whopping <S$2 billion> is being wiped off here.

2. Other impairment hits

(iii) Singtel also took another <S$340Mil> impairment for goodwill of its Asia Pacific cyber security business due to lower corporate spending in the region.

(iv). Singtel will also take a hit of <S$280Mil> of goodwill impairment provision for its business vested in NCS Australia.

3. Some good news amidst the impairment losses shockwave-Network sharing deal with TPG

Optus announced the good news that Optus has inked an agreement with Australia TPG Telecom on network sharing by providing TPG with access to its regional radio network.

The non-exclusive network sharing agreement has an initial term of 11 years and include an option for TPG Telecom to extend the agreement for a further 5 years. Optus will receive +A$1.6 billion (S$1.4 billion) over the duration of the 11 years term.

Summary

Due to the above, Singtel will be announcing a rare loss for its 2nd half of its financial year ending 31 March 2024. Nevertheless, Singtel expects itself to be overall profitable for the whole financial year performance taking into account its 1st half results. 

Buy More Keppel DC REIT or Sell Off All? Mixed Signals From Analysts And Market Noise After Q1 2024 Results.

Keppel DC REIT ("KDC") is now a faint shadow of its former glory. Its fall from grace begin when tenants default and a high interest rate environment broke the myth of invincibility and resiliency which many investors previously harboured for data centre REITs. Some even compare holding on to data centre REITs as a safe bond-like haven. Today, I will touch on my thoughts on whether one should buy more of KDC or simply just dump all units and move on to other investments with more upside potential. 

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Using Hospitalisation & Surgical Insurance To Get Free Medical Checkup and Medical Treatment at Private Specialist Clinics- Beware of the Consequences.

Yup, you folks read the topic and subject header correctly- it is not a typo. What the heck am I talking about? Apparently, there are a number of people out there who has found a hidden "hack" to make use of their Hospitalisation & Surgical ("H&S") insurance plan to get free health check-up or medical treatment by specialist clinics. According to my friend (let's call him Kenny for the purpose of today's sharing session), as long as you know the right doctors at the private hospitals, they will know how to write in their medical report for one to file a H&S claim against their insurance companies to cover their medical examination costs and also 5 star hotel stay equivalent at A Class ward in private hospitals.

1.  "It is stupid to spend your own money on medical checkup. Make use of your H&S plan"- per Kenny.

My "friend" Kenny is a very street smart guy. A few months back, when I mentioned that I had recently spent S$1.5K in medical consultation and treatment for my chronic illness (asthma) at a respiratory specialist clinic, Kenny immediately commented that I should have consulted him earlier for alternative route. He and his spouse never waste their money for health-checkup or specialist treatment. As aforesaid mentioned, Kenny asserted that he knows of ways to be able to make a claim on H&S. He also remarked that "It is stupid to spend your own money on medical checkup. Make good use of your H&S plan". 

Coincidentally, Kenny has some chest pain issues then. So, he checked himself into a private hospital for 1 day to do a battery of tests which came up to S$13K in total bill. The results of the tests did not reveal any medical issues. True enough, the insurer approved the entire H&S claim of S$13K and made a full payment on behalf to the private hospital (The H&S plan of Kenny was purchased many years back hence it is the only one that I knew of that still covers "all charges" if one has bought the Extra Rider under the old scheme while rest of insurers such as NTUC Income Insurance Limited had already forced a co-payment in cash by policy holders under the old H&S scheme). 

2. Insurance Companies are not stupid- they have safeguards in place to mitigate such occurrences and deal with folks with these mindset for claims. 

To continue with the above story, Kenny got a shock when his H&S insurer wrote to him that due to this claim, they will be increasing his premiums by  three-fold for 1 year which amounted to increase of S$2k-$3K per annum. Kenny was very upset and told his insurance agent that he will be terminating his H&S with the insurance company. Currently, he has asked for quotes from a few other H&S insurers in the market for H&S replacement coverage.

It turns out that there is no free lunch after all. The consequences just came in a bit later.    

Mapletree Industrial Trust Rapid Plunge in Valuation- Opportunity in Current Crisis or Value Trap?

Mapletree Industrial Trust ("MIT") recent market price has declined rapidly amidst the higher financing cost environment and Middle East troubles. Today, I will touch on whether the current crisis presents a good entry point for MIT and my recent additional investment this week.

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Lendlease Global Commercial REIT- Aggregate Leverage Computation and Good Buy?

Lendlease Global Commercial REIT ("LREIT") market price has remained in the doldrum despite the major JEM acquisition. Today, I will touch on how to compute the Aggregate Leverage ratio stipulated by MAS as well as my personal thoughts on whether LREIT is still a good buy at this juncture. 

Please see below for my latest video on YouTube channel. Going forward, I will be posting various exclusive investment contents only onto my YouTube channel. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel also to get the latest content for sharing.

Singtel Trading HALT and The Perpetual Rumour of Optus Sales.

This is really weird. Singtel actually needs to call for a trading halt this morning (3 April 2024) to tell investors again that it is not in talk or discussion to sell Optus. Earlier this year as well as recently on 13th March 2024, Singtel had already vehemently denied that it was in a deal discussion with Canadian private equity firm Brookfield to sell away its strategic stake in Optus. 

The strange rumour is being perpetuated by the Australian media on an impending sales of Optus to a Canadian Private Equity firm and the eventual "latest breakdown" of the deal during negotiation is kind of absurd.  

Parting thoughts
For the past few weeks, a number of investors seemed to believe and harbour hope that there is "no smoke without fire" and Singtel is going to announce a big surprise with a sales of Optus. Singtel price declined by <-3.15%> from S$2.54 as at 2 April 2024 to S$2.46 at of 12pm, 3 Apr 2024 after the trading halt was lifted.

Investment Portfolios Updates (28 March 2024) - Net S$594K and Projected Annualised Passive Income of S$41K.

Gross investments (including deployable cash) is at S$880K. Net investment value is currently at S$594K (after margin financing) with projected passive income of only S$41K due to Keppel Pacific Oak US office REIT suspending dividends for 2 years. SREITs have again sunk to the bottom of the ocean after rising up in earlier part of the year. Going forward, I have included a "Portfolio Allocation" pie chart to keep track of my current shift away from intense SREITs focused investment portfolios.  I have been busy investing and diversifying into Bond Funds via Endowus before the official announcement of the widely anticipated interest rate cuts by the US Fed in 2nd half of 2024. 

(Note: Please also refer to my other Family Portfolio which is projected to yield +S$20K of passive income per annum).

1. Portfolio 1- Stocks held in SGX Central Depository 

(Note: This portfolio is designed to provide immediate dividends for use as it is under my own CDP account and the dividends credited goes directly to my bank account.)

I have sold off part of my DigiCore REIT units to buy into Mapletree Logistics Trust. In addition, I have also sold off all my holdings in Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust and bought into United Overseas Bank when there was a decline in its price. 

2. Portfolio 2- Margin purchased securities

(Note: My margin purchased securities has grown to a sufficient scale to sustain itself and can pay off annual financing charges as well as to gradually pay down the margin loan through dividends generated.) 

(a) Bought into 3,0000 shares of China Ping An insurance group as its price has reached one of its all-time low. Bought it more for capital appreciation recovery play and its attractive 8% dividend yield (albeit a 10% withholding tax). I think that the high dividend yield will more than compensate the possibility of long waiting time for its stock price to recover by at least 50%. 

(b) Have also paid back some margin loan as well as converting more expensive USD loans to SGD denominated since my natural forex hedging strategy against USD assets held is no longer effective with the huge drop in valuation of US Office REITs. 

3. Portfolio 3 (with Tiger Brokers)- Venture into higher risk as well as capital growth stocks here

(a) For the last 1 week, I have been using Tiger Brokers and this portfolio to do some short term trading between UOB and Mapletree Logistics Trust and managed to make some side income of S$400. Will probably be taking this money out for spending on food. Inflation has been crazy for the past year.

(b) Added Ping An insurance group to this portfolio too.

(c) Added more into Alibaba when its price dropped below HKD70 a share. 

4. Portfolio 4 (Endowus & Other Investments)

(a) While others folks have bought into more REITs to exploit on their extremely low market prices, I have been building up my stake in bond funds via Endowus. The high interest rates lead to many bond trusts paying out higher distribution as interest rates rise. If interest rate were to be cut, bond prices should further appreciate. In addition, have also been buying into global equities fund for further diversification and long term capital appreciation.  

Summary

I used to have more than 90% of my overall investments concentrated in SREITs. It is still a long way to push it down further to my own targeted reduced allocation of 50%. With the expected cuts in interest rates by the Fed since the last Powell announcement, SREITs valuation are currently rallying again which is like a game of see-saw. It is also a long long way to go to re-build up my annual passive income distribution from the SREIT cut in dividends and higher borrowing costs. 

2024 Dividends Receipts as at 20 March 2024- based On Ex-Dividend Date Occurrence (S$16.8K).

I thought it would be useful for myself to have a summary by months (instead of the exact payment dates listing in StocksCafe) of the dividends received thus far as well as future dividends that will be received to plan for re-deployment.

Key Highlights:

1. As alluded to the above illustration, most of the Q1 dividend receipts are actually in the month of March 2024 whereas Jan and Feb have just a couple of hundreds of dollars. 

2. StocksCafe unfortunately only has data from the main stocks markets on dividends distribution. So for folks using Robo advisor platform like Endowus or Syfe, there are no integrated Income funds monthly distribution data being input into StocksCafe for automated tracking. It has to be done manually in StocksCafe system to reflect the payout from those unit-trusts or Income Portfolios. But I am happy enough with the former, that is, the automation at least for HKEX and SGX based dividends payment which has already significantly improved my life from the days of super tedious excel tracking of all dividends for each and every stocks in my portfolio. In short, I am not presenting the monthly distribution received from my Endowus Income Portfolios for now- this portfolio is still immaterial in size but I plan to build it up till S$200K eventually in the next few years.

3. I am currently in the midst of rebuilding my amount of yearly dividends which has been greatly impacted by the self-implosion in the US Office REITs. For example, Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT decided to stop paying any distribution for 2 years. The rapid increase in interest rates also mean higher margin financing cost and reduces the net dividends available. 

Parting Thoughts

There seems to be some detractors online who frowned down on REITs which hold a significant part of their investment properties in China and Hong Kong (even for Temasek sponsor held REITs) such as Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Mapletree Logistics Trust. My personal take is that China and Hong Kong will eventually recover from its current headwinds if one is taking a long term view. There are abundance talented smart, resourceful and hardworking Chinese and Hong Kongers colleagues that I have known and met…some of the finest people out there. So don’t be too quick to belittle and discount China and Hong Kong.  

Mapletree Logistics Trust Plummeted Close To Another 5 year low of S$1.410 Per Unit.

This is a short post for my own reference and also sharing. Today, Mapletree Logistics Trust ("MLT") has plummeted to an astonishing low point of S$1.410 per unit as of 20 March 2024. The only worse period than this is during the COVID crisis in March 2020 (S$1.362 per unit before a V-shaped recovery in unit price then). There seems to be an abundance of extreme pessimism permeating throughout the current SREIT stock market segment. Based on its last quarterly DPU of S$0.02253 per unit and annualising it, we will get a distribution yield of 6.4% now based on S$1.410 per unit. This is way better than the beginning of the year 5.3% at the price of S$1.710 as at 2nd Jan 2024.  

1. SG 10 year risk free bond for benchmarking of premium

The current 10 year bond rate is 3.114% as at 20 March 2024. Hence the current distribution yield of 6.34% is approximately +3.23% higher than the risk free rate. Personally, I thought this is a more decent return relative to the 5.3% yield in earlier part of the year.

2. Script dividend election price for recent distribution is S$1.524 per unit.  

Another interesting point to note is that the re-investment price for those who opted for the script dividend are getting new units at S$1.524 per unit. With the weak market price of S$1.410 per unit, this is a further 7.4% discount to the re-investment plan price.

3. Aggregate leverage ratio of 38.8% and 83% of debt hedged with fixed interest rate.

MLT leverage ratio for Q3 FY23/24 is at a healthy 38.8% (below my personal 40% red line as well as MAS 45%) . Moreover, 83% of its debt are hedged into fixed interest rate which gives stable and clear visibility for the next 3.7 years. 

Parting thoughts

In view of the above plus points and also the indisputable fact that MLT has a very strong sponsor in Temasek Holdings, I have taken up additional 4,000 MLT units @ S$1.42 per unit this week using my Tiger Brokers account. I have an upcoming S$12K dividends by end of March 2024 for adding on to MLT next week if the price were to suddenly plunge further after the Fed Reserve meeting. 

Betrayal by Friends and Spouse and Handling Dispute At Work.

The former Night Owl Cinematic ("NOC")  Sylvia Chan is back and hitting hard. Unless you have been living under a rock, the NOC saga has been dragging on for 3 years now. For those wondering what this is about, I will leave the link to her latest YouTube videos here. Today's post is not about the NOC saga, rather, it is on dealing with similar situation in commercial or voluntary organisations where you have Party 1 and Party 2 going after each other throats and where you are being drawn into the "Dirty Messy Fiasco".  I will just share my thoughts on the handling of such situation in event that you are being drawn into the quicksand or is actually part of the warring party. 

1. If possible, don't get drawn in at all.

Avoid taking sides or joining any camps if you encounter such disputes/fights going on between Party 1 and Party 2. Don't ever just listen to one side, always listen to the other side also for their version of what actually happened. You will find that most of the time, there are no obvious right and wrong over what had happened. 

The only thing of certainty is that those participating (and if you are caught in it) in such fiasco end up either worsening the already ugly situation or making even more enemies. 

2.  鹬蚌相争，渔翁得利 （The fisherman takes advantage from the fight between the snipe and the clam).

I have seen this happened in my home's residential committee. 2 groups of residents levying breach of statutory act by the other group or accusation of fraudulent use of funds or abuse of power. The 2 groups were so busy fighting one another that the subcontractors/vendors got away with slacking on the job as the committee overseeing them were too busy with infighting. End of the day, it is a lose lose situation for all.

3. The Narcissist will not listen- His/Her viewpoint is always supreme and right over others.

If you are dealing with a narcissist out on a war path against you, don't waste your time. Try to avoid that person or speak directly to his/her boss to directly override him/her. If unfortunately the person with narcissism is your boss, then maybe better to just resign and look for new job as nothing much you can do.

Note: Narcissistic personality disorder ("NPD") is actually a mental illness which involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration. Others often describe people with NPD as cocky, manipulative, selfish, patronizing, and demanding.

Parting thoughts

A lot of time, lack of communications or misunderstanding lead to many conflicts. In addition, always show proper respect to ensure that the other party does not lose too much "face" during communication even if the other party is "wrong" in your own opinion. Sometimes, ego is the root of all evil. 😎 

Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust Acquisition of Germany Logistics Assets From Sponsor- My Quick Thoughts.

Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust (“FLCT”) announced on the morning of  March 15, 2024 that it will be acquiring 4 logistics properties in Germany from its Sponsor, Frasers Property at a 5.1% discount to professional valuation at a purchase consideration of S$189Mil. However, FLCT price dropped by close to 2% from previous day in line with the rest of the general SREIT market price upon the announcement. I was a a bit surprised at  the decline in market price despite the deal being yield accretive since it will be 100% financed by debt. Nevertheless, this reflects investors current risk appetite and sentiment towards SREITs.

Aggregate Leverage Ratio Analysis

I did a quick high level check to find out whether this deal has a severe detrimental impact on FLCT leverage ratio. The S$189Mil deal makes up around 2.8% of its current investment properties portfolio. Its aggregate ratio would have grown from 32.4% as at September 2023 to 34.3% as at end March 2024 (expected completion date). This is still way below my personal conservative red line of 40% (the MAS one is 45%). There is thus still adequate debt headroom for buffer against further economic shocks from falling properties valuation as well as further yield accretive acquisition.

Parting Thoughts

I thought that the long WALE of 6.1 years and also reputable 3PL tenants such as Schenker for the 4 properties are an arguably good buy. Saying that, interest rate risk as well as stubborn inflation that are still above the Fed target are still downside factors to watch out. In addition, management of FLCT could have been more investor friendly to work out the details of the exact yield accretive impact for more transparent disclosure in their presentation materials. 

Prudential Dividend Funds- Weird Sales Cold Call By Personal Assistant of Unknown Agent.

Dividend paying funds seems to be the rage these days. Out of the blue, I suddenly got a cold call earlier this week from a personal assistant ("PA") of an unknown agent who asked me whether I want to find out more about their Prudential dividend fund. She is trying to fix me up on an appointment with her financial advisory agent to find out more about dividend paying funds. It was a bizarre and hard conversation with this curt PA:

Prudential PA: "Sir, have you heard of Prudential dividend investment fund?"

BK (me): "Sorry, may I know who's on the line and what is this call about?" 

Prudential PA: "Sir, what's your name, is it a good time to talk to you?" 

(Hmm, why she keep asking my name when she herself has not introduced herself or shed light on what this is all about?)

BK (me): "May I know who's on the line and what is this about?" 

Prudential PA: "Have you heard of Prudential dividend investment fund? Can you spare me 5 minutes?"

BK (me): "Nope, never heard before.  I got a meeting. But I can spare you a minute." 

Prudential PA: "WHAT's your name? HAVE YOU HEARD OF Prudential dividend investment fund? I will get my agent Sam to contact you. "

BK (me):" I already got a Prudential Agent lah".

Prudential PA: "But has your agent brief you on anything about our Prudential dividend investment fund? It also offer you insurance protection at the same time."

BK (me): "Nope, my current Prudential agent never brief me on this product."

Prudential PA: "Great. Then I will get my agent, Sam, to call you. WHAT's your name?!" 
(I can sense the lady getting impatient and irritated with me as her voice was raised".)

BK (me): "Ok, your agent can call me."

Prudential PA: " I will get my agent to call you". (Next moment, she just put down and cut off her phone abruptly without even saying goodbye).

Well, strange that the personal assistant is getting so desperate to want to get an appointment for her boss via cold calling but her brusque attitude over the entire tele-conversion is really out of the world. Also, is making a living so cut-throat now that they can just target a customer who already has an existing Prudential agent that has remain close in contact with me over the years? What makes this weird PA thinks that she can just wrest the business relationship away from the existing agent that easily? 

Endowus Investment and Management Fees Savings Hack of Up To S$600 per annum.

I have been using Endowus since end August 2023. So, I thought that it is a good time to take a look back at the use of Endowus platform for investment and to share my experiences. Overall, I like the easy to use mobile and web version of the platform. For today's sharing. I think I will touch on the fees chargeable by Endowus for access to their platform via cash investments.

1. Any Upfront Sales Charge or Transaction fees?

The unique thing about investing via Endowus platform (relative to direct purchase of Unit Trusts) is that there is no upfront sales fees and transaction fee. In addition, Endowus also provides a 100% Cashback on trailer fees. Hence, there is no point to buy unit trusts from the traditional route of banks or insurance companies Investment Linked Products ILP).

In addition, there is no charges for redemption/selling of units in the "Endowus Goal' being created.

2. Annual Fees of up to 0.6% per annum Chargeable by Endowus.

There are basically 2 types of recurring management fees here for buying into Unit Trust on Endowus. (i) The first one is the usual fund level management fees by the actual fund managers and (ii) Endowus level management fees, which is of interest here to us for the purpose of today's discussion.

If one is investing into the "Advised Portfolios" of "Core", "Satellite", "Income" or self-created Multi Fund portfolio, the Endowus level management fees will be between 0.25% to 0.60% per annum. The higher your investment quantum per goal, the lower is your fees. Note that quantum threshold to determine your fees is based on quantum of per investment goal you created in Endowus. Hence an Endowus user CANNOT combine all the balances in different goals to argue that he/she has reached the higher level tier to enjoy cheaper rate. 

3. Endowus Mangement Fees Hack- Go For Single Fund creation instead of multiple funds

Most retail and newbie investor will end up with this higher 0.60% management fees due to smaller capital being invested upfront in any single goal. If one invested just into one single fund, then this platform management fees will drop by half to only 0.30%. For a S$200K capital, this is a savings of +$600 per annum and +S$6K over a decade! 

Hence instead of creating a single goal with say multiple funds of 5 unit trusts, one can simply just create 5 goals with 1 unit trust in each goal. This will drop the platform management fees to only 0.30% since Endowus has a special single fund goal charges of a mere 0.30% per annum. 

Parting thoughts

If one wants to go with the pre-set "advised" portfolios such as Income Portfolio recommended by Endowus, then there will be the higher platform management fees charge of 0.60%. This is well worth it given that Endowus investment team will monitor and give various recommendations to change the constituents of the portfolio to those better performing or drop under performing ones.

If one decides to DIY to create a portfolio of one's own favourite unit trusts and if one wants to save on the platform management fees of 0.30% differences per annum (as alluded to pt 3 above), one can simply create multiple goals with 1 single fund in it. The downside to this would be that one would need to manually track on excel one's recurring allocation per month into the different months and also perform one's own balancing.