HK 第14部分; Singapore A-Z
Encouraged by all the absurdly-cheap stocks in HK, I decided to do an A-Z screening on Singapore stocks. Haw Par Corp came out as my local favorite.
Special thanks to math for enabling this post!
Conclusions
Haw Par Corp was the only Singapore stock, I found, that truly matches the absurd-cheapness of various HK stocks… but there are others that come close. Interestingly, there are various stocks with prices near multi-year lows. Haw Par reminds me a lot of an HK favorite of mine, Pak Fah Yeow $239.hk, which I wrote about here. Haw Par’s stock price is more than covered by financial assets value, mostly represented by a chunk of shares in United Overseas Bank (UOB). The Tiger Balm brand may account for about SG$ 3-4 per share (or more) in value.
In my screening I had a (mostly very very) brief look at all the stocks on the Singapore exchange, except for the ones from industries I usually find less-appealing; telecoms, materials, real estate, etc. I focused on identifying(relatively) easy-to-understand businesses with solid, if not strong fundamentals, and of course attractively-looking valuations. Obviously, this is strictly a very quick-and-dirty assessment, without any in-depth analysis. So, no need to feel offended if your favorite Singapore stocks did not make the cut. The table below shows the stocks I found interesting.
NB, ThaiBev is probably the only stock with solid trading liquidity, and apart from ThaiBev and Haw Par, market caps are tiny.
Singapore stocks A-Z screening results:
Definitions: Financial assets (value): cash + financial assets per share, FAV/P: financial assets value per share divided by share price (this tells you what portion of the share price is covered by financial assets value), P/E: price-to-earnings ratio, DY (%): dividend yield.
A nice gimmick of the Singapore exchange is that listed companies provide a written release with responses to shareholder questions in the run-up to the annual shareholders’ meeting. Do all listed companies do this in Singapore? This practice provides a bit of compensation for the lack of earnings call transcripts (in most cases). Unfortunately, the listed companies usually do not elaborate too much with their answers.
In the section below, you can read more details on the selected list of companies.
Audience Analytics
$1AZ.si
Conclusions; Business intelligence & data companies can be wonderful mousetraps when they own exclusive, ‘must-have’ information. $1AZ already has wonderful profit margins. At the moment, however, I think it is too early to assess whether it is going to be ‘must-have’. Moreoever, the shares are awfully illiquid.
Description
Business intelligence (>90% mix); Organizing business awards and conducting business impact assessments on these awards. Awards include SME100, HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia, CXP Best Customer Experience Awards and the Golden Bull Award.
Exhibitions such as Malaysia Career & Training Fair (MCTF), Mega Career Fair and Post Graduate Education Fair.
Business media such as SME Magazine, HR Asia, Capital Asia, CXP Asia, Energy Asia, Truth TV and Logistics Asia. Business intelligence and analytics services offered via a Software-as-a-Service model which includes the proprietary analysis tool “Total Engagement Assessment Model” to provide accurate and timely data to HR professionals to better understand their workforce.
Shareholders; Datuk William Ng and Dato’ Ryan Ooi control the company through Bain Equity which owns 142.2m shares or an 83.99% interest.
Recent events; On 2024/01/04, $1Az launched Asia Institute for Sustainability, which primarily provides training in sustainability.
Credit Bureau Asia
$TCU.si
Conclusions; The second business intelligence & data company, I came across. I like the business activities itself. I just feel that $TCU should trade at a substantial discount due to the dependency on licenses from Dun & Bradstreet and Equifax + the complex corporate structure without full ownership throughout.
Description; $TCU provides credit and risk information solutions across Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar, mostly through joint ventures with Dun & Bradstreet and Equifax. It is the dominant market leader in Singapore, Cambodia and Myanmar with data for Financial Institutions.
Shareholders; Executive Chairman/CEO Koo Chiang owns 147.4m shares / 64%.
Recent events;
On 2024/04/01, $TCU announced a 5-year renewal of the Commercial Services Agreement and the Trademark License Agreement with Dun & Bradstreet covering Singapore and the Malaysia.
$TCU is planning expansion into Vietnam and China.
Delfi
$P34.si
Conclusions; Delfi is well-covered by Mr Asian Century Stocks: Michael Fritzell. His write-up below covers the story very well. Michael is of course a must-follow for anyone interested in Asian stocks.
Personally, I do wonder about brand strength within the Delfi chocolate brands portfolio. I would certainly expect higher (normalized) profit margins from a chocolate brand owner.
Further reading;
Asian Century Stocks / Michael Fritzell write-up
Haw Par
$H02.si
Conclusions; Haw Par has an infamous history in Singapore. Do visit the
Haw Par Villa if you every have the chance. It seems like a blast!
While the villa is not part of the listed company, the famous Tiger Balm brand is. For the Tiger Balm brand alone, I would be tempted to buy some shares. However, most of the value in Haw Par seems to be represented by other cash and financial assets, predominantly the stake in United Overseas Bank. Personally, I prefer HK stock Pak Fah Yeow $239.hk to gain exposure to demand trends for embrocation products and cures-for-all small ailments. Like Tiger Balm, Pak Fah Yeow’s Hoe Hin White Flower Oil is an institution with almost acentury of heritage.
Recent events;
Covid recovery seems to have further legs; “Asian markets were buoyed by thereturn of tourists, the full recovery to pre-pandemic levels is still underway due tohigh travel costs and constrained fl ight capacity.”
Haw Par is entering a new era aft er the passing of late Chairman Dr Wee Cho Yaw on 2024/02/03. In the recent annual report his son Chairman Wee Ee Chao writes; “The Group will continue to maintain a disciplined approach to risk and cost management to mitigate the uncertainties of the global economy while staying agile to capitalise on emerging opportunities.”
Further reading;
Asian Century Stocks / Michael Fritzell write-up and update (paid)
Huat / Nicolas van Broekhoven write-up
SUTL Enterprise
$BHU.si
