European and US stocks put aside news of a hung parliament in Italy after the country sold ₤6.5bil of 5- and 10-year bonds in the first post-election auction. In US, investors focused on data that further supported evidence of a recovery in the housing market. January pending home sales rose 4.5% m-o-m, better than the 1.9% figure expected. With the overnight rally in US/European markets, STI can react to 3280-3290. Still we think this is part and parcel of the choppy trend that has developed since beginning February.

UOB recorded a weak quarter with net interest margin (NIM) slipping 8bps, more than peers. Pretax profit was 16% lower q-o-q. Overall, results were in line ex-lower tax impact. FY12 earnings were driven by lower provisions, while higher pre-provision profits came from non-interest income. UOB has declared 40 Scts final plus 10 Scts special DPS, higher than expected, bringing FY12 yield to 3.4%. Maintain HOLD, TP at S$19.70. NIM compression and higher provisions would likely exert pressure on earnings, limiting upside to the stock. We prefer OCBC over UOB.

Core toll road earnings for China Merchants Hldgs (Pacific) in line with expectations; net profit of HK$656m (+105% yoy) is a record for the group. Yongtaiwen Expressway drove earnings growth in '12 whilst Ningbo-Beilun Port Expressway will drive growth in '13. S2.75cts final dividend was declared, offering full year yield of about 6%. CMP will continue to execute on growing its toll road business. It could further expand by looking at more toll road assets, either from its parent or third parties Maintain BUY and S$1.20 TP.

First Resources' 4Q12 core earnings of US$47.3m were above our expectation of US$42m; 2.5 S cents final DPS was declared. Borrowing costs were lower than expected on conversion of CB. FY13F-14F earnings were tweaked by 0-1% after imputing FY12 actual numbers. BUY call maintained, TP: S$ 2.16.

4Q12 earnings for Indofood Agri Resources came in at Rp163 bn (-49% y-o-y; -37% q-o-q), below our Rp185 bn estimate. In addition to poor sales volumes, costs were higher, and provisions were booked; an associate also contributed its share of losses. FY13F-14F earnings cut by 5-7% on net higher cost expectations. HOLD call maintained, TP revised lower to S$1.20 (Prev S$ 1.29).

4Q losses for Petra Food were expected; Branded Consumer EBITDA within expectations. The disposal of Cocoa Ingredients is targeted to complete by Jun/Jul 2013 or earlier. HOLD maintained, TP: S$4.06 (Prev S$ 3.97).

4Q12 results for Sound Global were significantly below expectation. All business segments underperformed with the biggest variance from the product/equipment segment. But RMB3.5b orderbook provides visibility and could still support growth. Current Buy rating, earnings forecast and TP under review.

Midas reported FY12 net earnings that declined 85% y-o-y to RMB27.8m as revenue declined 20% y-o-y to RMB870m. This was due to lower delivery of railway related projects during the year. Gross margin for the core aluminium alloy business fell by 4.8ppt to 29.4% as a result lower utilisation whilst contribution from associate NPRT fell into a loss of RMB5.7m from a positive RMB8.3m a year ago. A S 0.25cts dividend was declared (vs S 0.5cts last year). This set of results comes as no surprise as orders have been slow in coming for Midas, in particular no high speed train orders have been awarded by the MoR for about 2 years. Looking ahead, without any significant wins in the last 6 months, the next 2 quarters should also be fairly weak for the Group and we would need to see more orders being won at a quicker pace to see a firmer turnaround in the second half of the year for Midas. Current Buy rating and S$0.50 TP under review.

4Q12 and FY12 results for Pan United were in line. Final DPS of 2.5 Scts was declared, higher than last year, bringing total dividend for FY12 to 4 Scts. We expect Pan United to re-rate ahead of uptick in construction demand. Will provide further updates post results briefing.

Keppel Corp has announced a second batch of orders worth US$300m, comprising three different contracts, all from repeat customers. The first order is for a newbuild jackup rig, awarded by Star Drilling Pte Ltd, a company promoted by the companies of D.P. Jindal Group. This will be Jindal's third KFELS B Class jackup, which is scheduled to be delivered in 4Q 2014. The other two contracts are for the upgrading of semisubmersibles, from Ensco PLC and the other from Diamond Offshore. These contracts bring KEP's FY13 YTD wins to S$572m. No change to our numbers and BUY call.

OKP Holdings has been awarded the tender for the proposed dredging of Sungei Api Api by PUB. The amount of the contract is S$6.7m and is expected to be completed by 3 September 2014.

Source: DBSV