Stocks to watch: Keppel, Singapore Airlines, SGX, iFast, Accordia Golf, Tuan Sing

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

Keppel Corp: In a twist that caught many off-guard, Temasek Holdings is pulling out of its S$4 billion partial offer for Keppel, after the latter breached a key term of the deal with a S$697.6 million net loss for the second quarter. The withdrawal was announced on Monday afternoon; market watchers told The Business Times they were surprised by the timing. Keppel shares closed flat at S$5.40 last Friday.

Singapore Airlines (SIA): The flag carrier and the Air Line Pilots Association - Singapore (Alpa-S) have inked a memorandum of agreement which will see pilots taking a 10 per cent cut in their basic salary and an adjustment to their compulsory no-pay leave scheme. SIA shares dropped S$0.04 or 1.1 per cent to end at S$3.49 on Friday.

Singapore Exchange (SGX): On Tuesday, SGX announced it is "significantly expanding" its shelf of benchmark equity derivatives with a series of Asia ex-Japan and emerging markets Asia regional and single-country futures. SGX shares finished at S$8.64 on Friday, down S$0.22 or 2.5 per cent. 

iFast Corp: The mainboard-listed stock rose on Friday, prompting a query from SGX. In its reply to the bourse operator, the wealth management and brokerage platform noted a Bloomberg report that Hong Kong had shortlisted two finalists to digitalise its retirement funds system. iFast shares gained S$0.26 or 13.5 per cent to close at S$2.19 on Friday.

Accordia Golf Trust (AGT): Its trustee-manager announced late Friday night that AGT's sponsor, Accordia Golf, is now willing to fork out 65.2 billion yen (S$848.4 million) to buy over the trust's 88 golf courses in Japan, an increase of 3.4 billion yen from the original offered price. The trustee-manager has also received letters from two unitholders withdrawing their requisition notice for an extraordinary general meeting. AGT units last traded at S$0.65 last Tuesday, before it called for a trading halt on Wednesday. The halt was lifted on Saturday.

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Tuan Sing Holdings: The property developer is looking to divest Robinson Point for S$500 million, and expects to realise a gain of about S$128.3 million on the sale. The company called for a trading halt last Thursday morning, and lifted it on Friday night after the announcement. Its shares closed at 27.5 Singapore cents on Wednesday.

Hong Leong Finance: Net profit for the financial services arm of Hong Leong Group shrank by 30.5 per cent to S$36.5 million for the first half of this year, due to greater allowances for loans in response to the risks of the coronavirus pandemic. Hong Leong Finance shares lost S$0.02 or 0.9 per cent to end at S$2.30 on Friday, before the results were released.

Venture Corp: The electronics manufacturing services provider's net profit fell 28.2 per cent to S$130.5 million for the six months ended June. Nevertheless, Venture Corp declared an interim dividend of S$0.25 per share, up from S$0.20 a year earlier. The counter fell S$0.13 or 0.7 per cent to close at S$18.84 on Friday, before the results were released.

EC World Reit: On Friday after trading hours, the trust's manager reported a distribution per unit of 1.386 Singapore cents for the second quarter of this year, down 10.4 per cent from a year ago on income retention amid a cautious outlook. Units of EC World Reit finished Friday at 64 Singapore cents, up 0.5 cent or 0.8 per cent.

IReit Global: It has proposed to buy the remaining 60 per cent interest in a Spanish office portfolio from asset manager Tikehau Capital for 47.8 million euros (S$77.4 million). IReit Global units were flat at 75.5 Singapore cents at Friday's close, before the announcement.

Top Glove: The Malaysian glove maker on Monday said it expects to pay about RM53 million (S$17.3 million) in remediation fees to migrant workers it employed before it implemented a new standard for ethical recruitment in January 2019. The stock finished at S$9.29 on Friday, down S$0.01 or 0.1 per cent.

Trading halts: Sembcorp Industries (SCI) and Sembcorp Marine (SMM) on Tuesday called for trading halts, ahead of their extraordinary general meetings later in the day for shareholders to vote on their two-part proposal. On Friday, SCI shares rose S$0.06 or 3.3 per cent to close at S$1.90, while SMM shares tumbled 2.5 Singapore cents or 6.7 per cent to 35 cents.

Separately, KS Energy called for a trading halt on Friday afternoon, after its shares sank 0.4 Singapore cent or 23.5 per cent to 1.3 cents earlier in the day. After market close, the offshore and marine firm said it is standing by the suitability of Kris Wiluan to remain as its executive chairman and chief executive officer, even as he faces 112 charges of alleged false trading and market rigging.