3Q 2023 Investment Strategy Update

A quarter of sideway movement, while investors at large waiting for the next economy cycle signal. This basically sums up the feeling for the last 3 months. Generally, economy are slowing down, inflation are slowing down and federal rate hikes are taking a pause, without pushing the market into a recession (Or they aim for a soft landing). Companies are cutting expenses and investment to preserve profit, hiring are slowing down in most of the markets, with all signs preparing for the next economy downturn. War between Ukraine and Russia are not looking to end anytime soon. China property market is a timebomb waiting to unleash the next major jolt (bomb) to the world, with major Chinese developers going into defaults. A silver lining though is that China government are trying to control the fallout, with aggressive slashing of local rates to pump cash into the local market. Hopefully, this cycle of slowing down can pass soon to put the world economy into a path of sustainable growth.

DJI ended at 33507, an decrease of 900 points (-2.61%) compared to 2Q 2023. For Singapore, STI ended at 3217, an increase of 12 points (+0.37%) compared to last quarter. Not much movement in the recent months as investors waits for a clearer direction.

Almost 1 year on (since 22 Nov 2022) when the Glazer announced exploring strategic directions for Manchester United, 2 bids have been submitted to the Raine Group, rumored around 5 billion pounds range. I am still waiting for Glazer's confirmation to SELL Man Utd. Understood they are looking at >6 billion pounds valuation, but realistically speaking, they are not a good owner to grow the football team (Currently 3W 4L, sitting at 10th place, definitely not a good start). The longer they drag, the lower the valuation, with poor performance on pitch. Hopefully, they can make up their mind soon to exit the business.

For this quarter, I am continuing to focus on accumulating US Reits (Except Manulife US Reit), as I believed they are too oversold in the Singapore market and their current yield is too good to be missed. Once the interest rates start to come down, US Reits should start appreciating in value.

Transaction 1: Participate in IREIT Global Rights issue in July.

Participated in the preference rights issue to “fund the acquisition of a portfolio of 17 retail properties located across France which are fully let to B&M France SAS.” Managed to get some excess rights to round up to the 100s for future trading purposes.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch Prime US Reit shares in July. 

30+% yield is just too tempting to be missed. Load up more as I don't think it will fold like the Manulife US Reit. Manager is quite prudent in controlling debt, carefully avoiding borrowing more to maintain dividend. Temasek being a 10% shareholder also adds to its credibility.

That is all for now. See you all in Q4 2023 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Renewal with Senoko Energy (With $60 rebate & Referral Code)

Time flies. 2 years have almost past since I signed up with Senoko Energy after the collapse of Ohm Energy. No trouble so far with this retail company. I decided to stick by it, mainly to take advantage of their current promotion of $60 bill rebate for any 2 years plan (Promo Code: LUV60) and a referral bill rebate at $20. What I like about this company is that even for contract renewal, you can also apply their bill rebate promotion.

Though they have long discontinued their discount off tariff plans, the fixed rate plan they have now essentially provides a 5% discount off SP Tariff rate. Below is the plan they are currently offering for renewal:

Refer a friend to sign up for an electricity plan with Senoko Energy and both of you will earn a $20 bill rebate each to offset your electricity bill. The more successful referrals, the more you earn! Feel free to use my referral code for an additional $20 rebate!

Use your referral code! 

713E8QCU

Penang Day 1 to 6 - The Top Penang & Bro Wedding

22 Jun - First time taking *OEE* overseas on a plane together as a family. Main item on the trip is to attend my brother's wedding. Now that *OEE* is 3.5 years old, he is learning to assert his own independence. We are not sure how challenging it will be, but on a bright side, the flight time is just 85mins. We are praying hard everything will be manageable and smooth sailing for the flight...

By God's Grace, no big issue came up. We managed to get a taxi (private car) from the airport counter and we soon arrived at our hotel - Courtyard Marriott Penang. The hotel has a good view overlooking part of the Georgetown area, and the swimming pool has a great scenic view as well.

First meal in Penang - Char Kuey Teow (using duck egg) [Nice!]

After dinner, it was time to put *OEE* to bed, and for us to conserve energy for a day out tomorrow at The Top Penang, where 3 attractions awaits.

23 Jun - Caught a Grab to The Top Penang and spend some time searching for the main entrance to the attractions. If anyone is coming via Grab, the location to choose on the app is "Komtar Walk" which will drop you right at the entrance steps.

LED Screen for Jurassic Research Center

First stop for us is the Jurassic Research Center. There are some outdoor exhibits. As the weather then is still good, we decided to visit this first. I would say the folks running this has made a good use of the rooftop of the building. Instead of wasting the space, they have convert it to some live moving dinosaurs.

Our next stop is the Top Boutique Museum. I would say the exhibits are nothing spectacular. But since our 3 in 1 pass has this attraction, we might as well not waste it.

Our last stop is the Rainbow Skywalk, where we hope to catch the sunset at Level 68 with a panoramic view of the whole Georgetown. For the skywalk portion (where it is a small section see-through glass floor jutting out of the building), there is a constant long line of people queuing for entry. We gave up queuing for that and instead, found ourselves a good spot and wait for the setting sun.

Wax figures before taking the lift up to Level 65

24 Jun - Whole day basically was spent shifting hotel to my bro wedding venue - Lone Pine Hotel, which will soon be rebranded as Lone Pine, Penang, a Marriott Tribute Portfolio Resort. Nice place with access to beach with water sport activities (external operators).

25 Jun - Morning was spent visiting the beach and let *OEE* play with sand for the first time and explore seawater. Afternoon was pretty much attending my bro wedding event. One interesting point was that *OEE* was busy dancing the whole night to the live band songs! Didn't know he is such a great dancer!

26 Jun - A chill and relaxing day to use the swimming pool for *OEE* to play with water and explore the much raved Penang food. Ordered from Grab Food their Michelin Signature - Duck Blood Curry Mee 鸭血咖喱面. We have no regrets! Their curry mee is really unlike what we have in Singapore, and it is really good. Their steam chicken as well! Coupled with the old school Kopi where they tied using raffia strings, the whole experience is just heavenly!

27 Jun - Check out and make our way back to Singapore. Plane got delayed 1 hour due to late take-off and *OEE* diaper leaked during landing. Opps... much apologies to the SIA cleaning crew. >.<

2Q 2023 Investment Strategy Update

Nothing significant changed compared to last quarter. Ukraine war is still going on, interest rate is still sky high, though there are signs that central banks are looking at taking a pause on the rate increase to see if inflation can be tapered to a sustainable rate, without dragging the economy into recession. I must say that things are not looking good. There are already signs that companies are holding back investment and new orders as things start to slow down, though only time will tell if this situation is only temporary, or it is the start of a recession cycle.

DJI ended at 34407, an increase of 1133 points (+3.40%) compared to 1Q 2023. For Singapore, STI ended at 3205, a decrease of 53 points (-1.62%) compared to last quarter. Markets are moving sideways in the recent months as investors waits for a clearer direction. 

For this quarter, not much action from me, except waiting for the official announcement if the Glazers are going to sell off Man Utd. I personally think at the end, they will leave Man Utd, but not before getting the highest bid for their shares. Other than this, I am focus on accumulating US Reits, as their current yield is still too good to be missed.

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Grab shares in May. 

GXS has started getting active with now accepting loans. Grab continued with adjusting their customer incentives system to make the business more profitable. Recently, Grab announced slashing 11% of their workforce to be aligned with the current business environment. I think Grab will be on target to turn profitable and has a great potential for share value increase.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch Prime US Reit shares in June. 

At least to me, this does not look like a Reit in distress. Tenants are still paying rents, occupancy rate is reasonably good, gearing % is not too bad, but this does not show in the share value, probably due to the high interest rate environment. But with the current yield at 30% for a reit, this is too good to be miss.

Transaction 3: Bought 1 batch Mapletree Industrial Trust shares in June.

Usual stocking up on this good counter, while waiting for interest rate to drop and the Kolam Ayer 2 cluster to start contribution to unlock more share price value.

That is all for now. See you all in Q3 2023 update and thank you for reading thus far.

NARUTO TV Animation 20th Anniversary Exhibition Singapore

Took leave today to visit the NARUTO exhibition at Marina Square Level 3. Overall, good experience to take pictures with the figurines and reminisce the anime scenes again, though I completed watching it some time ago. The ticket for the exhibition is priced at $22 with a 1 hour tour limit (the folks will start reminding you of the time when you have 15 mins remaining). The venue is not that big, though I appreciate that they can be more lax with the time, as my slot only have 2 groups. There is also a VR session that you can do at the end of the tour, but you will need to pay extra $3 (the $25 ticket option) when you buy the ticket. Merchandise shop at the end is on the pricy side (Imagine 1 T-shirt cost $60 with just a simple print).

Point to note: There is a lot lesser people if you choose to go during the weekday morning session.

For more information, you can take a look at this Mothership article. If not, enjoy the photos.

1Q 2023 Investment Strategy Update

What a curveball that history throws at us. Just when we thought we have seen the last of COVID-19 crisis, the world is opening up, economy is picking up, interest rate is rising to tamp the hot economy, then came the sudden news of the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank after a bank run, marking the second-largest bank failure in United States history and the largest since the 2007–2008 financial crisis. 2 days later, Signature Bank also failed, and followed by Credit Suisse crisis 7 days later, with UBS taking over the company to save it from failure. This cast jittery repercussion around the world. Is this the start of another crisis? Or is this just a blip in the market? Only time will tell. As of now, investors are staying on the sideline, waiting to see how this situation will play out.

DJI ended at 33274, an increase of 127 points (+0.38%) compared to 4Q 2022. For Singapore, STI ended at 3258, an increase of 7 points (+0.21%) compared to last quarter. Singapore market has the 3 big banks (DBS, UOB, OCBC accounting for 43.5% of STI weightage) to thank for, keeping the index stable due to their strong fundamentals.

For this quarter, not much action from me, except trying to play out if Glazer indeed will call an end to their relationship with Man United. I personally think at the end, they will leave Man Utd, but not before getting the highest bid for their shares:

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Man Utd shares in January. Sold 1 batch in February. Bought 1 batch in March.

Buying in thinking Glazer will set a dateline for initial bid submission, which came true. Amid rumors of the amount of initial bid (4.5B pounds), sold them in February after news emerge that Glazer might not be selling after all as the bids are way below their expectation (6.0B pounds). Glad did not make a loss. Buy in again in March before the second bid submission. I highly think Glazer will narrow down to 2 preferred bidders and go for a third round. Personally, I think if Glazer do decides to sell, the final price will be between 5.5-6 billion pounds (6.6 - 7.2 billion USD) which translates to $40 - $43. We shall see in time what is the outcome.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch Grab in February. 

Grab is adjusting their customer incentives system to make the business more profitable - Lesser discount on delivery fee (drop from $4 to $3 discount), lesser discount on self pick-ups (drop from 20% to 15% discount), lesser points awarded from using GrabPay. I guess these streamlining results will start to show in the subsequent quarters as they do their adjustments. Plus GXS bank is now fully operational! 

That is all for now. See you all in Q2 2023 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Bidding Jurong Bird Park Farewell

Brought *OEE* to the Jurong Bird Park before they officially closed on 03-Jan-2023. And expectedly, the place is packed with people. Well, seems like most of the folks have put COVID-19 behind us as the majority of the people are un-masked. One final look around before the place shifted to the new Mandai Area. Yup, and this time we took the tram ride one full circle.

Something new, the flamingo lounge is open for business. I must say that their Char Kuay Teow, Chicken Satay, Pisang Goreng and Popiah are not bad. However, you can skip the Prawn Mee Soup and Curry Puff, they are not so nice.

On a hindsight, *OEE* caught the COVID-19 bug the very next day... Oh well. Safe and fast recovery, my little one. Pray that God will protect you from the nasty effect of the virus.