Today's Focus
Rotary Engineering - Secured two contracts worth S$42m
The trend for improving US economic data continued yesterday, this time in February durable goods orders (consensus 4.9%, actual 5.7%). Market trading action here in Singapore could be mixed though as short-term traders are likely to capitalize on current session strength to lock in gains ahead of the long week-end. Don't expect a big downswing though as overseas news that China banks' bad loan ratio declined last year could underpin the North-Asian bourses.
Rotary Engineering has secured two new contracts worth about S$42m that will commence in the first quarter of 2013. The first contract worth S$30m was awarded by one of the world's leading independent storage operators for oil, gas and chemicals. The project on Jurong Island involves engineering design, procurement, and construction (EPC) of three spherical storage tanks designed for more stringent storage conditions. The second contract with a value of S$12m was awarded by an international speciality chemicals company for the fabrication and installation of pipe rack modules also on Jurong Island.
Chip Eng Seng has entered into an agreement to purchase all units of San Centre, an office building located at Chin Swee Road, with a land area of 2,668.1 square metres and a gross floor area of 12,253.43 square metres at a purchase price of $113m. It is a leasehold property of 99 years commencing on 2 June 1969, and could be redeveloped into a 20-storey commercial or mixed commercial and hotel development.
Global Logistic Properties has pre-leased approximately 91,000 sqm to Deppon Logistics, one of China's largest third-party logistics providers. Deppon Logistics is GLP's second-largest customer in China by leased area. Including the latest lease, Deppon Logistics has leased a total of 267,000 sqm, or 4.1% of total leased area, with GLP across 13 cities in China.
February's manufacturing output fell 16.6% y-o-y, steeper than market expectation of 7.9% decline. The drop was partly attributed to lower activities over the Lunar New Year period. Excluding the biomedical cluster's 18% fall, manufacturing output still shrank 16.2% y-o-y. Electronics led the manufacturing decline with a 21.1% fall from a year ago, far larger than its 3% drop in January. The semiconductors segment, in particular, reverted to a 14.6% contraction after growing 3.9% in January.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) introduced a minimum average size for retail units of 50 square metres (538 square feet) that takes effect today. The aim is to prevent a rise in small units at malls that may not serve their intended purpose. Also introduced were guidelines that retail developments should have minimum corridor widths of two to 2.4 metres for single loaded corridors, and 2.4 to three metres for double-loaded corridors. Single-loaded corridors serve retail shops on one side while double-loaded ones serve retail units on both.
Source: DBSV