Vard Holdings - Secures S$17.5m equipment contract
Stocks are likely to start the session lower on the back of the overnight fall on Wall Street. But with STI having already fallen 1.2% yesterday, further downside in the current session should be limited to slightly above 3300. Support is firm at 3250 that is close to 13x (-0.5SD) 12-mth forward PE.
Vard Holdings, through its specialized subsidiary SEAONICS, has secured a large equipment contract for a vessel under construction at FINCANTIERI S.p.A.in Italy. The value of the equipment contract exceeds 100m kroner (S$17.5m), and is the largest to date for SEAONICS.
Dyna-Mac has secured a contract with a preliminary sum close to S$89m for the construction of 10 units of FPSO topsides modules and 1 unit of flare tower from BW Offshore, a leading global provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry. The contract is expected to contribute positively to the earnings for FY Dec 2015.
Marco Polo Marinehas secured multiple multi-year contracts since November 2014 amounting to more than US$46m. These contracts are representative across time and bare-boat charter arrangements with contracts secured with new clients, contracts being renewed as well as option extensions being exercised with existing clients.
Ntegrator has secured new contracts worth S$14.5m from repeat customers Viettel Global Investment, M1 and Huawei. The orders from Viettel are for the supply of a batch of highperformance batteries under a newly signed frame contract. M1 awarded a contract to Ntegrator for the upgrading of the Carrier Ethernet Network while Huawei awarded a fiber cable installation contract.
Manufacturing Integration Technologyhas signed a contract worth $10.5m to deliver 2 lines of equipment for making building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) to an existing customer in China. This is the single largest order for solar equipment secured by the Company since its entry into this business in 2009. This contract brings MIT's outstanding order book in 2015 to $42m.
Falling to its lowest in close to two years, December's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for Singapore pointed to industrial activity contracting. The overall PMI reading of 49.6 for last month, down from 51.8 in November, was worse than expected. The market's consensus forecast was for a milder fall to 51. Chief of the factors dragging December's PMI lower, was a fall in new orders. While new export orders still showed mild expansion, the new orders sub-index fell a sharp 3.7 points to a reading of 49.6. This was the sharpest plunge in new orders since 2009, after the great financial crisis. The key electronics sector's PMI kept above 50, slipping slightly from November's 50.6 to 50.5 last month. However, new electronics export orders stayed in contraction for a second straight month, and production and other electronics indicators declined from November's levels too.
As economies in Asia continue to outperform their western counterparts, demand for office space in top Asian cities has shown no sign of abating. Asian cities, including Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and New Delhi, dominate the list of the world's priciest office markets, according to global property consultancy CBRE. In CBRE Research's biannual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, the Asia-Pacific region had seven cities in the top 10 list of office markets based on occupancy costs in the third quarter of 2014.
US stocks fell as the drop in oil price raised concerns that capital spending cuts will hurt earnings. WTI fell to USD50pbl while Brent ended at USD53pbl as concerns about supply glut and weak demand continued. Concerns that Greece might leave the euro region further dampened sentiment. The country begins an election campaign that its Prime Minister said may lead to an exit from the currency union should the anti-austerity Syriza party win in the 25 Jan election.
Source: DBS