The Edge Singapore Thu, May 26, 2022
David Loh Kim Kang, executive director and joint chairman of Centurion Corp, has increased his stake in the operator of workers and students’ accommodation. On May 23, Loh acquired 1.5 million shares for 35 cents each on the open market. In a separate filing, Loh was shown to have bought another 158,700 shares on the same day, also at 35 cents each.
This brings his direct stake to around 39.65 million shares or 4.715%. In addition, he has a deemed stake in another 425.96 million shares or 50.662%. This includes 200,000 shares held by his wife Wong Wan Pei. In total, Loh has an interest of 465.6 million shares, equivalent to 55.377%.
The last time Loh bought Centurion Corp shares from the market was on Oct 5, 2020, when he acquired 200,000 shares for 33.5 cents.
Loh controls Centurion Corp with Han Seng Juan, the company’s non-executive director and the other joint chairman. The company’s business had suffered during the pandemic as students gave up their rooms to go back to their home countries.
In a sign of recovery, the company on May 19 announced it is acquiring a new student accommodation property in the UK for GPB10.445 million ($18.04 million). The freehold 103-bed property in Nottingham will enlarge Centurion’s purpose-built student accommodation portfolio to 2,910 beds in 11 assets across five cities.
Besides this latest Nottingham property, Centurion’s other existing assets are in Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Newcastle. The Nottingham property was built in 2018 and is operating as The Orbital will be rebranded as dwell Orbital upon completion of the acquisition. It is sited at a short walk to Nottingham Trent University and accessible to the University of Nottingham as well.
“The new asset is expected to be accretive upon the proposed acquisition’s completion, and we will be able to further tap on management synergies in Nottingham and the UK,” says Centurion CEO Kong Chee Min.
In a business update on May 10, the company’s reported revenue for 1QFY2022 ended March of nearly $45.1 million, up 47% y-o-y. Growth was seen in both the workers’ and students’ accommodation segments.
On April 22, the company announced that the Centurion US Student Housing Fund has commenced the sale process of its portfolio of assets in the US. Centurion Corp has an interest of around 28.7% in the US Fund.
For the FY2021 ended December 2021, Centurion reported earnings of $52.7 million, up 207% y-o-y. Revenue for the same period was up 11% to $143 million.
Chairman Gooi Soon Chai of Frencken increased his stake in the electronics manufacturer last week. On May 19, he acquired 200,000 shares on the open market for $1 each. This brings his total direct stake to nearly 7.1 million shares or 1.65%.
Gooi also has a deemed stake via different entities totalling some 93.3 million shares or 21.84%. As of May 23, Gooi has a total stake of 100.5 million shares or 23.54% in Frencken.
Frencken’s president Dennis Au also raised his stake in the company. On May 19, he acquired 200,000 shares for $232,000 or $1.16 each. With that, Au’s stake has increased from 3.81 million to 4.01 million shares or 0.94%.
Gooi and Au bought a day after the company gave its 1QFY2022 ended March business update that triggered a couple of less than optimistic calls from analysts.
In the quarter under review, Frencken’s net margin was 6.5%, lower than the 8.1% achieved in 1QFY2021. Earnings for the same quarter were down 12.6% y-o-y to $12.8 million despite a 9.3% y-o-y growth in revenue to $198.4 million.
The weaker bottom line was due to supply chain disruptions, inflationary pressure and the need to spend for future growth. Ling Lee Keng of DBS Group Research has cut her call from “buy” to “hold” along with a lower target price of $1.36 from $2.09 previously. “We expect margin pressure to persist, at least in the near term,” says Ling.
