2Q 2022 Investment Strategy Update

Russia's war with Ukraine slowly grinds on into the 5th month, with failure not an option to Putin. With this war, food, crop and oil price escalated, causing high inflation unseen in many countries globally. To combat high inflation, central banks have been aggressively raising interest rate (June - 0.75%, forecast July - 0.75%, forecast September - 0.5%), hoping to cool the economy down. This however, have a damping effect on equity, as rising interest rate means a drop in consumer consumption (Yes, all your loans on floating rate are going to get more expensive!) which has a high risk of tipping the economy into recession. Currently, analyst is predicting a 40% chance of USA entering recession in the next 12 months and this is reflective in NASDAQ (entered bear 2 months ago); S&P 500 (entered bear 2 weeks ago); DJI (narrowly avoided bear 1 week ago by 400 points).

FYI: Bear Market refers to a drop of at least 20% from the index peak.

With the war seemingly not ending anytime soon (only God knows when and how this will end), let us spend a few mins in prayer for the people of Ukraine. May God in His sovereign will put an end to the Russian act of aggression and this unjustified war. May God in His mercy bring light to the people of Ukraine suffering the effect of war in this dark hour. May God also bless the people of the world with great health and protection against the Covid-19 virus that is ravaging the face of the Earth. Amen

Face with market uncertainty and volatility, I guess it is time we go back to the company fundamentals, where good and sound company will eventually pull through any crisis. DJI ended at 30775, a decrease of 3903 points (-11.25%) compared to 1Q 2022. For Singapore, STI ended at 3102, an decrease of 306 points (-8.98%) compared to last quarter. Singapore market are not spared from the high inflation rate concerns and rising interest rates, moving in line with the USA market, though for banking counters (accounting for 43.3% of STI weightage), rising interest rates is a positive for them as they stand to earn more profits from the widening NIM. For this quarter, not much actions from me except taking opportunistic additions for counters that I deem have high growth potential:

Transaction 1: Bought 2 batch Grab shares in April and May.

US investors still seem to not have confidence in Grab, continuing dumping its share to an all time low of $2.32 on 26 May 2022. For me, given they have won the digital bank license for Singapore and Malaysia speaks volume. Anyway, Grab will be focusing on returning to profitability by cutting down on consumer incentives. From end user point of view, this has seem to take effect after 19-May as the discounts given is not as high as per 3 months ago. Example: Self collect on GrabFood is now only entitled to 15% discount compared to previous 20%, unless you purchase their subscription, then you are entitled to 20% discount. Anyway, GxS bank is preparing to start operation soon in Singapore in the next few months. Hopefully, this will contribute to their bottom line profit.

Transaction 2: Exit Amara totally in June (at a loss).

High number of director resignations, plus the review for their flagship hotel in SG is not that great on major hotel booking websites, guess I better run first before more problems start surfacing. Having held this counter for close to 9 years, I don't think the management will be privatizing the company anytime soon.

Transaction 3: Bought 1 batch OxPay Financial shares in June.

I got won over by this up and coming business plan. Basically, they provide Merchant Payment Services (MPS) and Digital Commerce Enabling Solutions (DCES). Whenever a customer uses their system for payment, they will get a portion of the fee (~0.5%) as payment. Think of the card terminals and the software facilitating the payment between the customer, merchant and their banks. As long as their customer base is huge, this should be a stable cash generating machine to provide dividends.

Transaction 4: Bought 1 batch DBS shares in June.

Interest rates are rising, which will increase DBS Net Interest Margin (Profits) due to increasing loan interest rate. It was already reported a few days ago that all SG banks has revised their home loan interest rate up. Buying to hold for long term with the hindsight that business are growing and dividends declared are increasing yearly.

Marriott has restarted their dividend payout, and share buybacks will soon follow. I was right about Marriott TP. It did rise to $190.30 (>$185 which I predicted) on 20-Apr-22, before Putin's war destroyed everything. Oh well, guess I have to hold the shares a little longer. That is all for now. See you all in Q3 2022 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Daycation - Day out at the South (and East)

Since there is a long weekend and RL has invited us to visit her at the Westin Singapore while A is busy with helping out his friend wedding, we decided to bring *OEE* out to meet AM and play at the Westin infinity pool. Unlike JW Marriott South Beach, the water at the infinity pool is not that cold (and not that windy), which we are glad and *OEE* and AM have fun playing with the water all to themselves. Unfortunately, the infinity pool does not have a baby area and any child that is inside the pool needs constant supervision. View from the top is not bad, as we have a perfect view of the Singapore Flyer, the National Stadium and the sea.

Lunch was at Suntec Food Republic Blanco Beef Noodle and we are presently surprised how much Suntec has changed. Half the shops there are not what we remembered from years ago. The little ones are going cranky after lunch as it approaches their nap time and we went back to the hotel for them to take their nap. Dinner was at Changi Jewel Dian Xiao Er (An impromptu decision) where A joined us after the wedding lunch. It was really rare to see so many people out in the Jewel mall after the COVID restriction was lifted last week. Overall, a day well spent.

St Regis Staycation + Botanic Garden Visit

This is our 2nd staycation at St Regis after 8 months with *mds* and *OEE*. Little did we know that we are assigned to the same hotel room as last time. Room 1506, I will remember that. Same as last time, we chose St Regis for staycation was due to the promotion "Live Exquisite 32-Hour Stay" on offer:

• Early check-in at 10:00am
• Late check-out at 6:00pm
• Epicurean breakfast at Brasserie Les Saveurs for 2 adults
• Signature St. Regis Butler Service

However, this time round, one of the services on offer has changed:

• Complimentary (unlimited) drinks is only offered based on arrival and during 6am - 11am.

So after COVID-19, they have removed the all day complimentary drink services, which is kind of sad as we are all looking forward to their hot chocolate!

Same view as before. Nice scenery!

This time round, we got a fruit platter instead of brownies

As we have some time in the afternoon, we decided to bring *OEE* to botanic garden to have a little evening walk. First day after mask wearing is optional outdoors. Still not many people around and the garden air is refreshing after the rain

We had a good walk before having porridge at Mui Kee and took a Grab back to hotel as *OEE* is too tired to walk further. Daddy ended up 抱抱 *OEE* to travel from point to point. Next morning was spent at the pool after breakfast and *OEE* really enjoys his time water playing. Lunch was ordered from Grab before we checked out at 6pm. 

1Q 2022 Investment Strategy Update

2022 started on a high but soon got dragged down over worries of Russia's troop built up at Ukraine border (threat of war) and a more aggressive Federal interest rate hike. Putin finally put his invasion plan into action on 24-Feb-2022 and with it, caused the sharp increase in Crude Oil Price. With Russia's miscalculation of a quick war and facing massive casualty rate, the situation has potentially turned into a prolong War of Attrition, with the Ukrainians putting up a good fight with weapons supplied by NATO and the Americans. Due to Russia-Ukraine war, the food, crop and oil price escalated, potentially halting global GDP growth as the world comes out from the shadow of COVID-19 lockdown, and in the worst case scenario, bringing some countries back into recession again.

Let us spend the next few mins in prayer for the people of Ukraine. May God bless the safety of the Ukrainians. May God in His will stop the Russian act of aggression and bring peace to the land once again. May God also in His mercy provide the displaced people strength and hope in the midst of suffering. Amen.

DJI ended at 34678, an decrease of 1660 points (-4.56%) compared to 4Q 2021. For Singapore, STI ended at 3408, an increase of 285 points (+9.12%) compared to last quarter. Singapore market largely outperform DJI due to the exposure to bank equity counters (DBS, UOB and OCBC accounted for 43.3% of STI weightage), which rises in expectation of increase in Federal interest rate. For this quarter, not much actions from me except taking the opportunity to accumulate more shares during the correction period for potentially good companies with room for growth:

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Man Utd shares in January. 

Buying at a low price of $14.17, potentially looking to sell off at around $20. Now with the sale of Chelsea looming in the next few weeks, the final bid value could be used as a reference comparison of how much Man Utd is worth. At the minimum, Man Utd should be valued on par with Chelsea, if not more.

Transaction 2: Bought 3 batches Grab shares in January and March. 

Investors seem to not have confidence in Grab, dumping its share when it reported its first financial result, which is below estimations due to massive incentives given to their driver and delivery partners during the quarter period. On the other hand. I bought in and average down as I believe Grab should be doing ok once they start monetizing their Ads Platform and start their digital banking operation in 2022. Time will tell if I am right. Anyway, my position in Grab is not big.

Transaction 3: Bought 1 batch Danaher shares in January. 

Accumulate good company during the correction period. This counter is a free cash flow generating machine. I believe its share price should shoot up once they start acquiring companies again.

Transaction 4: Bought 1 batch Mapletree Industrial Trust shares in March. 

Planning to accumulate and keep MIT shares for the long term as they have a good track record of raising their NAV and DPU.

That is all for now. See you all in Q2 2022 update and thank you for reading thus far.

DUCKtours

[20-Jan-2022] Used up the last of our Singapore Rediscover vouchers before they expires on 31-Dec-2021 to purchase the DUCKtours on Klook to bring *OEE* out for a land and sea excursion. The whole trip lasted about 50 mins exploring the Singapore River (20mins) and a road trip around the central district (25mins). Truthfully speaking, if not for the vouchers to defray some of the cost, we would not have gone on this trip by ourselves as the tickets are quite expensive, with the adult costing $34.40/pax and child costing $26.40/pax after 20% discount.

Here is a map of the whole tour for your reference: DUCKtours Map

Well, our trip for the day can be considered anything but ordinary. We can only marvel by God's plan how things turn out all right in the end for us. Thank God for His Blessings on us! Things doesn't start out well for us as we cannot find a taxi on Grab to take us to Suntec City. In the end, we called a taxi on the ComfortDelgro App at 50% surge compared to a normal metered price. With little time to spare, we got onto the taxi at 14:13 and alighted at 14:41, with 19mins to spare to make our way to the counter for the 15:00 tour. Well, not too bad... until we found out the taxi brought us to the "Sands Expo & Convention Centre" instead of "Suntec Convention Centre"! Oh No! We made a mad dash to the MRT carrying *OEE* to take 1 MRT stop down to promenade, praying all along that whatever happens, may His Will be done and we will accept the outcome! I am glad that the past Army Training carrying that 10Kg Signal Set did not go to waste as the experience gained was put to good use today. Hah! After dashing up the MRT escalator and following the signs in Suntec, we finally saw this big DUCKtour Sign that says 30m ahead and time check 14:59. Ok... we are not late yet, only to find a sign displaying a re-direction order: "Due to COVID-19 measures, please turn right at Sephora and proceed out the Suntec entrance for the DUCKtour counter" What! Ok. we will definitely be late. Well, whatever His Will be done! We followed the re-direction and finally found the DUCKtour counter. Quite right, the DUCK has gone 4 mins ago. We explained our situation to the employees at the counter and they graciously ask us to wait for a while as they go check the system if they can assign us at a later timing. At this moment... it started pouring heavily, real heavily..... As the staff came out, he asked us to line up at the ticket booth, and his colleague will attend to us, meaning there is Hope! Cut the long story short, we are assigned to the 4pm slot, and by 3.40pm, the rain has stopped and it is bright and sunny again! On hindsight, maybe the Lord wanted us to enjoy the ride with *OEE* and hence, we miss the 3pm trip which will get us caught in the heavy rain with no good photos to take for memory.

Anyway, below are some photos that you will see on the "Sea trip"! Thank God for His wonderful Blessing on us!

4Q 2021 Investment Strategy Update

With the blink of an eye, one year flew past. Focus of 2021 is still much about COVID-19, not the original virus, but its mutation. We have the Delta version, and now the Omicron variant, which is less serious, but more infectious. Countries are transiting to endemic states, though border controls for international leisure are pretty much still in place, with the exception of vaccinated travel lanes for business. Hospitality sector and airlines are estimated to return to pre-COVID levels in the next 2 years, depending on when this pandemic wave is over. Experts are currently debating if the Omicron variant will be the last of COVID-19, that will ensure its survival among us humans.

For me, some big changes are happening to my company. For one, they will be implementing the flexi-work arrangement, which employees are only required to return to office 2 days out of a week of your choice. For the rest of the 3 days, employees are to Work From Home. We have also just shifted to a new smaller office unit and the new pantry looks exciting, with better drinks and snacks stock up. Organization too need to adopt to the new norms.

DJI ended at 36338, an increase of 2495 points (+7.37%) compared to 3Q 2021. For Singapore, STI ended at 3123, an increase of 37 points (+1.19%) compared to last quarter. Singapore market has lagged DJI again, not matching the growth seen at the USA market. For Q4, the investor community are pretty hyped that the world seems to be moving out from the shadows of COVID. Airline and hospitality sector are hitting their annual highs. Government are looking at finally ending budget stimulus and raising interest rates as economy are returning to their pre-COVID levels. USA in particular, are increasingly likely to start raising interest rates in 2022.

With 2021 drawing to a close, it is time for the annual review against my 3 year plan (Next 3 years (2020 - 2022) Investment Plan) set back in Dec 2019. Below are my result:

Original 2020-2022 plan: 

1. 50% Equity, 50% Reits/Trusts 
2. Portfolio Dividend Yield to be 3.50% in 2020, 4.20% in 2021, 4.80% in 2022.

End 2021 result: 

1. 59.81% Equity, 40.19% Reits/Trusts 
2. 81.60% SG Equity, 18.40% USA Equity 
3. Portfolio Yield at 3.07% in 2021 (+0.42% from 2020, but miss 2021 4.20% target)

Verdict: Miss Target

Below is my end 2021 portfolio snapshot:

Total dividend received in 2021: $4,335.27 (~$361.27/month)

2021 continues to be a challenging year. All I can do is to have patience and wait for the norms to return, so that investment can bear fruits at the time when I bought them at their pandemic lows. Thank God for blessing my family with good health and providing all that we need. Thank God that I still managed to grow my overall portfolio value and dividend returns. We need to start planning early for retirement passive income, which requires time to build up slowly brick by brick. Now, enough talking, below are my transaction for this quarter: 

Transaction 1: Sold 1 batch Marriott shares in October. 

Time to cash in as the stock raise to $160. Cant resist the high price and decide to lock in some profits. The next batch to sell will probably be the time when Marriott restart their dividend and share buybacks. I estimate by then, the price should hit $185. Lets see if I am spot on.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch Danaher shares in October. 

As the community are looking at re-opening of economy in October, medical shares got battered as they deem COVID are soon to be over and there will be lesser demand for COVID testing and related services. They are proved wrong a few weeks later with the Omicron emergence. Anyway, bought in this counter for the long term during the price drop for the company culture of using free cash flow to continue investing and acquire companies for growth.

Transaction 3: Bought 1 batch Visa shares in November. 

With Omicron ravaging countries rapidly in November, financial counters took a hit as countries re-impose lockdowns and investors start selling their position and took profits accumulated over the past few months. For me, I bought in more shares for the long term during the dip due to Visa generous free cash flow and share buyback program. With lesser supply, price are bound to rise over time. Simple theory.

Transaction 4: Bought 2 batch Grab shares in November. 

What excitement to see our fellow SG company debut in NASDAQ? Well, I personally believe Grab will be able to start making a profit after further fine-tuning their business model. Imagine the vast potential Grab can tap once they start monetizing their Ad outreach through their app and the start of their digital bank partnership with Singtel in 2022? Well, we will have more clarity once they start reporting their first financial result since listing. In the mean time, I just took some position when the share tanks. 

Transaction 5: Bought 1 batch Singtel shares in December. 

Continue accumulating Singtel shares in the face of price weakness due to pandemic and international border closure. Once things start to normalize, Singtel price should recover to at least $3.00. Anyway, India Bharti Airtel has bottom out and start turning in a profit after 5 years of brutal price war locally. This should help Singtel with its underlying profit and resumption of generous dividend.

Transaction 6: Bought 1 batch DBS shares in December. 

Continue accumulating DBS shares until USA starts raising interest rates. I believe current price of $32 still do not reflect DBS true strength, after they have acquired stakes in China Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank in April this year and taken over India Lakshmi Vilas Bank in Nov 2020. Personally, I believe DBS will make record profits for the next 4 quarter at least once interest rates begin to rise.

Transaction 7: Bought 1 batch China Everbright Water shares in December.

Continue accumulating China Everbright Water shares for their annual increase in dividend, yearly winning bids for government projects and most importantly, China push for sustainability. With this, wastewater treatment will be one of the main country focus which I cannot see a reason how this company can run into trouble, with such a strong backing from the parent company listed in HKSE. With the current $0.305 price, this work out to be a dividend yield of 6.55%.

Well, that is all for now. See you all in Q1 2022 update and thank you for reading thus far (I know this is such a long posting). Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Stay healthy, stay safe, stay mask up and may God Bless you with a good year ahead~

Jurong Bird Park Trip

30-Dec: We are back to the bird park again after 11 months, before their official shift to Mandai in 2022, taking advantage of the current promotion where infants below 2 years are free and adults have 50% off the usual ticket price.

We are glad that *OEE* did managed to take notice and focus on the birds during the showtime. Nonetheless, due to the wet weather brought by the monsoon season, some of the shows duration are cut short. Once again, as most of the park do not have shelter, we did not managed to visit all the attractions as considerable time are spent hiding from the rain.

Well, all of the parent and child got to see the doctor the next day as we are down with cough and dripping nose. >.<

16th Year Blog Anniversary

Oops, this month really fly by without me realizing that I have missed my blog anniversary. This blog has been running for the 16th year and I believe this is quite an achievement. Wondering how many people have managed to keep blog running for this long. *OEE* has been growing up well and it is fun having him around the house filled with his laughter. To end off, may I give thanks to Him whom have bless us with everything we need and good health. May I pray that may He continue to keep my family safe and healthy, and guide us in everything we do.

Some Statistic:

Page Count: 73278 +4234

Year on Year increase: -2424 -36.41%

Marvel Studios' Eternals

 

Synopsis: The Eternals, a race of immortal beings with superhuman powers who have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years, reunite to battle the evil Deviants. [Source: Cathay Cineplexes]

Marvel continue their storyline after Avengers with the first introduction of Eternals, which are entirely made up of new casts and new characters. Good effort by the producers trying to develop each characters storyline, which ends up with limitless possibilities where the sequel can be develop next. It was nice stepping into a cinema again after 22 months, and a big thanks to Grab for the 2 free tickets to the show. Fighting scenes wise are typically Marvel, lots of CGI, not too intense but well a good show nonetheless. 

Rate: 7/10

River Wonders Trip

Since our SG vouchers are expiring in 1 months' time and there is nothing else much worthwhile to do in Singapore, we decided to go River Safari again. Though we have been here just 8 months ago, but the venue has now been transformed and rebranded as River Wonders. In addition, we managed to catch a sneak peek at the Lego dinosaurs exhibits just before their official start date.

Below are some of the Lego dinosaurs captured at River Wonders. And yes, it is a blessing that we got a nice cool cloudy day to tour the site with *OEE*. Thank God and hope *OEE* has a fun day today. What else is there.... Ahh yes, the star of the River Wonders - New Dad Panda. Yup, as usual, he is enjoying his Bamboo.

Finally, we managed to catch the show "Once Upon a River". You can only book your seats 2 hours before the show start, fastest finger first, 2 pax a booking, limited to 50 seats per venue with the current Safe Management Measures Rules.

Goodbye Ohm Energy. Hello Senoko Energy

With unfavorable market conditions caused by surging wholesale electricity price (This is caused by several factors – a significant rise in global spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices due to higher demand and lower production; higher-than-usual electricity demand domestically; and a reduction in the supply of piped natural gas from Indonesia), 3 electricity retailers have exited Singapore Open Electricity Market, and 1 have let go about 800 accounts. Unfortunately, the vendor I have signed my contract with is also hit by these market condition. In an email sent to me before the news broke, they announced they will be ceasing operation, with my account transferred back to SP Services on 20-Oct-21.

Well, it has been a good 3 years of journey with you.

Well, with such unfavorable market conditions, naturally, the plans available currently on market is not as good as before. With some research, I finally landed on Senoko Energy with their 2 years discount off tariff at 3%, mainly to take advantage of their current promotion of $60 bill rebate for any 2 years plan (Promo Code: TAKE60) and a referral bill rebate at $30. What I like about this company is that even for contract renewal, you can also apply their bill rebate promotion, which is rarely seen in other retailers.

Anyway, for others who are thinking of switching to Senoko Energy, here is my referral code for you to use to obtain a $30 rebate for you and for me!

Refer a friend to sign up for an electricity plan with Senoko Energy and both of you will earn a $30 bill rebate each to offset your electricity bill. The more successful referrals, the more you earn!

Use your referral code!

713E8QCU

3Q 2021 Investment Strategy Update

Q3 has been a rather busy quarter for me. New assignment, office shifting, tightening measures. All these have kept me well occupied, leaving no time to look at other opportunities for investment. For Singapore side, IPOs have also dried up, with no new mega companies coming on board. Singapore too have a roller coaster ride with COVID-19 control measures, with the affected industries (F&B, retails, medicals) also having a roller coaster ride with the changing government policies. Globally, with increasing vaccination rate, countries are slowly opening up, with Thailand being one of the first Asean country to begin accepting fully vaccinated tourists with no quarantine restriction from 01-Oct. With the easing control measures, previously battered tourist sector (airlines, hotels, entertainment) will stand to benefit the most.

DJI ended at 33843, a decrease of 659 points (-1.91%) compared to 2Q 2021. For Singapore, STI ended at 3086, a decrease of 44 points (-1.40%) compared to last quarter. There are not much changes for Q3. For me, the next 3 months will probably focus a little more effort looking at hotel counters (e.g: Mariott). Situation are improving, Marriott are looking at re-starting dividends and stock buyback somewhere next year. It might be time for me to cash out some of my equity on hand as the stock rises. For this quarter, not much actions except participating in the rights of reits as they continue their expansion strategy:

Transaction 1: Participated in IReit Global Rights in July.

Expansion into being landlords of 27 Decathlon retail buildings in France seems like a good defensive move due to the long lease sign up (6+4 years) and rental pegged to CPI, which typically rises 1% to 2% every year.

That is all for now. See you all in Q4 2021 update and thank you for reading thus far.

25 Jul 2021

 

Before and after re-painting of blocks. Just for memory sake. HDB blocks are repainted every seven years, as part of Repair and Redecoration works. At least, they have kept the commitment. And yes, the new paint truly suits the estate name - Greenwalk

Staycation @ St Regis Singapore

Having stayed 1 full day here, I can say there is really no hotel like St Regis Singapore. The view, the perks, the room, the service (almost) are top notch! Wanting to have a last staycation before *OEE* goes to school for his playgroup, we picked St Regis Singapore just to have a 1 day indulgence. Thank God that we managed to get the lowest price available for the day. To maximize our time, we picked the "Live Exquisite 32-Hour Stay" package, below are the details:

• Early check-in at 10:00am
• Late check-out at 6:00pm
• Epicurean breakfast at Brasserie Les Saveurs
• Signature St. Regis Butler Service

Yes, the Butler Service is really a game changer. The service is available for each and every single room that you book in St Regis Singapore. Well, some perks that we really enjoyed is getting the 24/7 complimentary hot beverage delivered to your room, which we gladly ordered every few hours. Having forgotten to bring my iPhone cable to hotel, charging services is also available, which I gladly utilize.

Hot Chocolate!

The view from our room is also fantastic! Having indicated high floor preference during booking, they assigned me to 15th floor, which is not bad at all.

View from room. Bright and Sunny AM

Talk about changing weather. Dark and Gloomy PM

The room itself is also pretty spacious, at least they are bigger than your usual hotel room. Love the big toilet and the "all by itself" bath tub!

*OEE* managed to get a free St Regis teddy bear during the check-in process. Well, I guess that is the perk for having a kid around. Haha~

Staycation cannot end without a dip into the pool. We visited the kids pool area at Level 2. On the second day, due to the slight drizzle, we have the whole pool to ourselves. *OEE* have such fun crawling up and down the 0.1m deep pool 😃

For our breakfast, they do have quite a variety for your selection, which is way more than what you get at a normal hotel buffet. For us, we got ourselves Chicken Congee, Laksa, Nasi Lemak, Dim Sum, Fruit Platter, French croissant and chocolate bread, Juices, Waffles with Raspberries, Coffee and Hot Chocolate! For dinner, we ate at Yan Ting, which have nice Braised Fish Maw Broth with Dried Scallops and Braised Ee-fu Noodles with Seafood and XO Sauce!

2Q 2021 Investment Strategy Update

Q2 rumbles on with countries locking down again with the more infectious delta COVID-19 variant rampaging the local community. 1.5 years on since the onset of pandemic, social distancing and working from home has become the new normal of our daily life. When will international travel re-opens again? No one knows, but countries have been encouraging local tourism, else the local hospitality industry are long dead. Encouraging economic readings and inflation has prompt the USA Feds to tilt to preparation to start raising the rates. Banks counters are what I will be focusing on in the next 2 quarters as they will be the first to benefit once rates are increased.

DJI ended at 34502, an increase of 1521 points (+4.61%) compared to 1Q 2021. For Singapore, STI ended at 3130, a decrease of 35 points (-1.10%) compared to last quarter. This Q2 also marks the end of saga (or end of road) for both Krisenergy and Eagle Hospitality Trust. Not expecting any cash back as both company debts are way more than what can be recovered from liquidation. Well, that is the risk of investment, will remove both counter from my portfolio once they are delisted. For me this quarter, not much actions except participating in the rights of reits as they continue their expansion strategy:

Transaction 1: Participated in Mapletree Industrial Trust Rights in June.

It has been a long time since MIT last issued rights to retail investor to participate in their building acquisition as they normally preferred to deal with private placement. This time round, the rights are used for acquiring a portfolio of 29 data centers in USA. The deal will be yield accretive, so no need to wait, just accept your allocated portion and apply for excess.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch Altimeter Growth Corp shares in June.

If you haven't heard of Altimeter Growth Corp, it is now time to take note of it. This is the SPAC that Grab will be merging for its listing in Nasdaq end of the year. Currently, the price is at about 20% premium of Grab private placement ($10 a share) when they list. How to get to the private placement? I am not sure unless you have some link to their bankers. Once the listing is confirm, AGC will change to Grab. Do take note though, there are 3 types on AGC counter on the market (AGC, AGCU, AGCWW). AGC is the ordinary share which will convert to Grab 1 for 1. AGCU is the share attached with warrants (1 AGCU have 0.2 warrants attached, so you will need 5 AGCU to exercise 1 warrants at $11.50). AGCWW as expected is the warrants itself. 

Transaction 3: Bought 1 batch DBS shares in June.

The best bank share with the best growth potential in SGX, after having just amalgamated Lakshmi Vilas Bank with DBS Bank India Limited in Nov 2020. It is also in advance talks for the purchase of Citibank India consumer unit should Citibank decided to sell and it just took a 13% stake in Shenzhen bank for $1.08 billion in Apr 2020. Just buy and hold to prepare for easing of dividend restriction and USA fed raising of rates.

Transaction 4: Bought 1 batch China Everbright shares in June.

Continue accumulating good quality company giving potential 8% yield. Dividend has increase from S$0.0067 per share to S$0.0104 per share. As a China government linked wastewater treatment company, I can hardly see it goes wrong, coupled with the fact that tariff treatment price will increase with China increasingly higher wastewater discharge standards.

That is all for now. See you all in Q3 2021 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Flower Dome Trip

With the company day off on 03-May for the May day (Sat) holiday, we decided to bring *OEE* to look at flowers in a nice big air-conditioned glass house, utilizing the SingapoRediscover vouchers which just have their expiry date extended by 6 more months to 31 Dec 2021. This time, the main exhibit in Flower Dome is Glass in Bloom.

Date: 13 Apr - 01 Aug 2021

There are various glass exhibits located at different venues, namely Flower Dome, Dragonfly Lake, Serene Garden and Cloud Forest. For more details, you can refer here.

At least for the flower dome, we found there is nothing interesting about the glass sculptures, except that they are uniquely crafted and colorful. Nonetheless, we have an awesome time taking photos together with *OEE* 😃

Had dinner over at McDonalds before catching a cab back home. Interestingly, we found that there is no self-collection service at this counter, else, we would have use the Grab 30% self-collection discount voucher. Hmm

1Q 2021 Investment Strategy Update

Q1 marks the start of the global rollout of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Getting the population vaccinated also mark the start at getting the country to reopen again. Since then, new COVID-19 cases has seen a drastic drop, plus the recent USA stimulus fending concerns of inflation and rising interest rates, it has caused a shift away from current favorite technology counters into past forgotten hospitality and tourism sector that stand to benefit the most when countries re-opens again. In the recent few weeks, there is also a COVID-19 resurgent trend in Europe causing concerns of further extension in lockdowns, putting a damper in equity recovery.

DJI ended at 32981, an increase of 2375 points (+7.75%) compared to 4Q 2020. For Singapore, STI ended at 3165, an increase of 322 points (+11.32%) compared to last quarter. For me, all the actions are still seen over at the USA market, withdrawing from highly valued technology shares and shifting into counters that stands to benefit when countries start reopening:

Transaction 1: Sold all Apple shares in February.

Since the start of global vaccine rollout, I believe it is time to start positioning for countries reopening and the past record breaking profit will be a bar too high to repeat again. Time to step away until a lower price for re-entry.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch Visa shares in February.

As countries begin to re-open for travel, business travel and to a lower extend, tourism will start to pick up. With the pent-up demands, this is the time where credit and debit cards stand to be put to good use. Bought in Visa in anticipation of the new spending wave to come.

That is all for now. See you all in Q2 2021 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Singapore Zoo Trip

All thanks to Wildlife Reserve promotion again during early March, we brought *OEE* to visit the Singapore Zoo to see some of his animal friends "live" that he is seeing from his everyday playbook and toys.

Promotion Period: 3-7 March 2021 (Online) 

Validity: Any days in March 2021 

Eligibility: Only local residents

It is highly advisable to bring along fans and spray heavy doses of insect repellent before entering the gate. You will soon find that most of the zoo compound are unsheltered and you will be at the mercy of the weather elements and mosquitoes. Currently, some parts of the zoo are under renovation and some parts of the animal enclosure (such as elephants and hippopotamus) are closed. Most important of all, do bring your own water as the drinks inside the zoo are ridiculously priced, with the exception of iJooz orange juice vending machine, which you can get a cup at $3.

Well, not much photos from me as I was busy carrying *OEE* around on my arms. Only managed to snap a few photos whenever I am inside an air-conditioned room or there is no sun =p

Australia Wallaby

Papua New Guinea Tree Kangaroo 

Chimpanzees and Orangutans monkeying around 

Giraffes in the setting sun