Stocks to watch: DBS, OCBC, UOB, Yangzijiang, Manulife US Reit, Trek 2000

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Thursday:

DBS, OCBC, UOB: Singapore banks posted lower profits for the third quarter of this year as the trio continued to bulk up provisions to cushion against bad loans as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. On Thursday, DBS reported a 20 per cent drop in its bottom line and said it will pay a dividend per share of S$0.18, while OCBC saw net profit falling 12 per cent. UOB on Wednesday said it is confident that its provisions should be strong enough to withstand further build-up of bad loans.

At Wednesday's close, DBS shares rose S$0.12 or 0.6 per cent to S$21.55, OCBC gained S$0.06 or 0.7 per cent to S$8.63, and UOB was up S$0.35 or 1.8 per cent to S$19.80.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding: The Chinese shipbuilder's net profit slumped by 17 per cent year on year to 585.2 million yuan (S$119.4 million) for the July-September period. Yangzijiang's shares closed at S$0.94 on Wednesday, up S$0.01 or 1.1 per cent, before the results were released.

Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust (Manulife US Reit): Its portfolio occupancy declined slightly to 94.3 per cent for the three months ended Sept 30, from 96.2 per cent the previous quarter. This was largely due to known expiries unrelated to the Covid-19 pandemic and a slowdown in new leases, the manager said on Thursday. Manulife US Reit units ended trading at US$0.74, up 4.2 per cent or US$0.03.

Trek 2000 International: It sank into the red for the third quarter with a net loss of US$700,000, versus a net profit of US$4,000 for the year-ago period. The mainboard-listed firm attributed this to a decrease in the market price of products in the face of increased competition during the coronavirus pandemic. The stock tumbled 0.8 Singapore cent or 10.3 per cent to end at seven cents on Wednesday, before the results were released.

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CapitaLand, Sembcorp Industries: Property behemoth CapitaLand has teamed up with SP Group and Sembcorp to jointly study the use of integrated energy solutions to power data centres, the three companies said on Thursday. CapitaLand shares closed at S$2.56 on Wednesday, down S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent, while Sembcorp finished at S$1.64, down S$0.02 or 1.2 per cent.

ISDN Holdings: The motion control systems specialist's net profit more than doubled to S$15.1 million for the first nine months of 2020, up from S$7.3 million for the same period last year. The mainboard-listed company's shares finished Wednesday at S$0.38, up S$0.02 or 5.6 per cent, before the announcement.

Kingsmen Creatives: The communication design and production group's Malaysia-based subsidiary has agreed to sell a freehold property in Selangor for RM10 million (S$3.3 million). Mainboard-listed Kingsmen's stock last traded at S$0.23 on Monday.