This month marks the beginning of the release of results of the quarter from July to September 2012. Many analysts and brokerages have downgraded the earnings expectations for the quarter, brought about by weak economic outlook in Europe, slowing demands in China as well as weak economic numbers in Singapore. However, against all odds, my portfolio still grew by 11%, brought about by strong dividends and good performance by SingPost, but increase is capped by the decline in share price in Far East HTrust.
So far, only SingPost has announced its results for the quarter. Results has been decent and within expectations, as revenue increased year-on-year, with pressure from the domestic mail section. I am not too overly worried about this segment as SingPost has been actively building up its revenue from other areas and through acquisitions that has shown to help boost its profits. Most importantly to me, the dividends has been maintained for at least the past 5 years. The consistent payout is in line with the consistent income I am expecting. As I am holding this for the long term for its dividend payout, and possibly reinvesting the dividends later for compounding effects, I am not overly worried about near term price fluctuation.
In addition, after its annual meeting, Wingtai has finally announced its yearly dividend payout of $0.0700 per share, as well as its quarterly results. The quarterly results has been impressive, with profits churned in from recent sale of units, mostly from Foresque Residences. However, possible further cooling measures by the Singapore government remains the top concern for property counters like Wingtai, which may cause dampening in demand of the mid to high end residences in the event of further curbs.
This month, I also saw the sudden decline in the share price of ST Engineering and Far East HTrust. There has been no change in the fundamentals of the counters, but nonetheless, perhaps due to profit taking by retail investors after the recent rise, share price of ST Engineering dropped by more than 5% from its high of $3.60 to $3.40, while Far East HTrust dropped by almost 9% from its high of $1.08 to $0.985. Seeing this as an opportunity to grab more solid counters, I added my holdings in ST Engineering and Far East HTrust at $3.48 and $1.025 respectively.
Furthermore, Rotary issued its profit warning last month, saying that it expects a net loss for the third quarter, as well as full year net loss for FY2012 due to losses in its SATORP project. I will keep watch of this counter till the release of its results, to decide what is my next move for this counter. It has been the biggest drag on my portfolio since the sale of First Ship Lease Trust in January this year.
My Current Portfolio:
Lessons learnt: Holding on to losers even when fundamentals have changed, in hope that a rebound may occur soon, is just a false hope pending doom.
