United Overseas Land

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UOL GROUP - UOL Group said its full year net profit rose 76 percent to S$745.8 million, helped by strong residential sales.

Its revenue hit a record high of S$1.3 billion in 2010, 29 percent higher than S$1 billion a year earlier.

Source: Reuters

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Property developer UOL Group said its net profit more than doubled to S$230 million ($184.7 million)for the first quarter, up from a restated S$98.7 million a year ago, helped by higher recognition of sales from its residential projects as well as the adoption of a new accounting policy.


Source: Reuters

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RESEARCH ALERT-IIFL starts UOL at add; target S$5.78

SINGAPORE, July 8 (Reuters) - IIFL has initiated coverage of Singapore property firm UOL Group with an add rating and a target price of S$5.78.

STATEMENT: IIFL said UOL is one of the largest hotel room owners and residential developers in Singapore, with a stake in more than 3,200 hotel rooms as well as 4.1 million square feet of residential projects under development in the city-state.

UOL also has a stake in over 5,000 hotel rooms across China, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam and Myanmar, IIFL said in a report, adding that the firm's hositality business is benefiting from high occupancy rates and rising average room rates.

IIFL said UOL can make acquisitions worth around S$1 billion ($818 million) in 2011 if the group's gearing increases to 45 percent from 37 percent as of its first quarter.

"The group remains largely shielded from any slowdown in the Singapore property market as its profits from earlier projects are locked in," IIFL said.

"Also, its commercial assets are well-established and are likely to continue delivering steady performance."

Source: Reuters

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RESEARCH ALERT-BAML starts UOL at buy, target S$6.20

SINGAPORE, July 18 (Reuters) - Bank of America Merrill Lynch has initiated coverage of Singapore property developer UOL Group at buy with a target price of S$6.20.

STATEMENT: Although Merrill said it remains cautious on the property sector, it likes UOL for its exposure to Singapore's commercial and hotel sectors, as well as its pre-sold residential land bank.

"Under current market conditions, we have a preference for property companies with commercial assets given the stable nature of recurring income and the ability of asset values to hold under a slowing growth environment," said Merrill in a report.

Although UOL trades at a discount of 44 percent to its restated net asset value, compared to 22 percent for its peers, UOL is expected to benefit as investors shift their property portfolio towards one that is more defensive in nature in the second half, Merrill said.

At 0628 GMT, UOL shares were 0.2 percent at S$4.97, and have gained 4.6 percent since the start of the year.

Source: Reuters

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MIDCAP-Singapore's UOL Group seen attractive on valuations

Feb 10(Reuters) - UOL Group Ltd is a standout stock on a valuation and momentum metric among 39 stocks in Singapore's financial sector, including real estate, data from Thomson Reuters StarMine shows.

The data includes stocks covered by at least three analysts.

The property developer has the highest percentile score of 95 in StarMine's Valuation and Momentum (Val-Mo) model.

On Thursday, the stock closed at S$4.66, less than half its intrinsic value of S$10.72, as determined by StarMine.

The shares have risen nearly 15 percent so far this year, versus a 12 percent rise in the main Straits Times Index <.FTSTI>.

UOL also has a high SmartHoldings percentile score of 90, indicating a potential increase in institutional ownership.

Of the eight analysts tracking the stock, seven have a strong buy or buy recommendation and one has a hold rating.

CONTEXT: UOL is due to report fourth quarter results on February 24.

StarMine's Val-Mo model provides a 1-100 percentile ranking of stocks and rates companies based on a combination of two value and two momentum metrics.

On its Intrinsic Valuation model, StarMine adjusts for the usually optimistic bias in analysts' EPS forecasts and then uses the resulting growth rate and dividends to determine the valuation.

The StarMine SmartHoldings model is a global stock selection model that ranks stocks based on the expected future increase, or decrease, in institutional ownership.

Source: Reuters

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Hotels and rentals hold the fort
OUTPERFORM - Maintained
Share Price S$4.49 - Tgt. S$5.47

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No surprises for UOL 1Q12 result, with lower development bookings offset by strong growth in hotel revenues and rentals.

We see this growth momentum as a stock catalyst in 2012.

With UOL's residential stock now mostly sold, it is on the look-out for opportunistic deals.

1Q12 core earnings formed 25% of our full year and 23% of consensus.

We tweak our FY12-13 core EPS on recognitions and keep our target price (still on 25% disc to RNAV).

At 38% discount to RNAV (0.6x P/BV), we find valuations compelling vs. its resilient SOP.

Maintain Outperform.


Source: CIMB

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Property developer UOL Group posted a 19 percent fall in its net profit to S$171.7 million for the second quarter, mainly due to lower income from property development sales and smaller fair value gains from investment properties.


Source: Reuters

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UOL Group - Proposing to delist PPAC
May 13, 2013

UOL provided some positive guidance on rental reversions in its 1Q13 earnings call.

However, the main event was on its plan to delist PPAC at an offer price of S$2.55.

We see this as another step towards a cleaner group structure, helping to further narrow its RNAV discount.

1Q13 core earnings were in line, at 23% of our full year estimate and 22% of consensus.

We adjust our FY13-15 core EPS and lift our target price, based on a 20% discount to RNAV, on its latest land win in Seng Kang.

We also ascribe a higher value for PPAC. We expect PPAC to be delisted, and if so, should lift our RNAV marginally in the future. Maintain Outperform.

Source: CIMB

http://www.remisiers.org/cms_images/res ... 052013.pdf

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May 13, 2013

UOL Group: Proposed delisting of Pan Pacific Hotels
● 1Q13 numbers in line
● Proposed PPHG delisting
● Still cautious on resi. sector


1Q13 PATMI down 17% at S$77.7m

UOL’s 1Q13 PATMI decreased 15% YoY to S$71.7m mostly due to a weak contribution from its hotel segment (listed hotel subsidiary PPHG saw its 1Q13 PATMI dip 45%% to S$9.5m).

1Q earnings now make up 19% of our full-year forecast, which we judge to be generally within expectations and is tracking marginally below due to lumpy progress recognition at development projects.


Proposal to delist Pan Pacific Hotel Group

The group has made a cash offer of S$2.55 per share to delist PPHG (Pan Pacific Hotels Group), conditional on the shareholder approval. The offer price represents a 9% premium over PPHG’s last transacted price of S$2.34 and gives shareholders, in UOL’s view, a reasonable exit alternative which may not be available given low trading liquidity and free float (UOL owns 81.57% and UOB 7.99%).

We see this as a sensible move which would consolidate the group’s hotel assets at a fairly reasonable price, given our estimated RNAV of S$2.80 for PPHG. That said, from our discussions with management, it appears unlikely that material operating changes, i.e., a major re-structuring or REIT listing, are in store.


Still cautious on residential sector

UOL remains cautious on the residential sector and are more likely to “replenish land” than to land-bank aggressively. Going forward, it looks to launch its Bright Hill (445units) and St Patrick’s Garden (186 units) projects in 2H13.

The group also recently won a new GLS site at Sengkang West Way at S$262.1m which is expected to yield 550 homes. In addition, UOL reports precommitment levels at the One KM mall to be around 55%.


Maintain HOLD with higher S$7.16 fair value

We see mid-term catalysts to be upcoming launches at Bright Hill and St. Patrick’s and see PPHG’s potential privatization as a mild positive for the stock.

Maintain HOLD with a higher fair value estimate of S$7.16 (20% RNAV disc.), versus S$6.01 previously, as we work into our valuation model higher prices of listed holdings and the Sengkang acquisition.

Source: OCBC

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May 11, 2013

UOL to take Pan Pacific Hotels private
Developer's exit offer of $2.55 a share values its subsidiary at $1.53 billion


DEVELOPER UOL will spend up to $281.9 million to take its hotel arm private, it said yesterday.

UOL, controlled by billionaire Wee Cho Yaw, already owns 81.6 per cent of mainboard-listed Pan Pacific Hotels Group. It is offering $2.55 apiece for the rest of the shares it does not own in Pan Pacific, which values the subsidiary at around $1.53 billion.

Pan Pacific's second-largest shareholder, United Overseas Bank, has a stake of 7.99 per cent valued at around $122.2 million.

UOL's exit offer is 9 per cent higher than Pan Pacific's closing share price of $2.34 on Thursday, which put the hotel operator's market capitalisation at around $1.4 billion as of yesterday. Both companies halted trading of their shares before markets opened yesterday morning.

UOL chief financial officer Wellington Foo said on a conference call yesterday evening that taking Pan Pacific private would give UOL greater flexibility in managing its hotels.

Most of UOL's hotel assets are owned and managed by Pan Pacific but some are owned by UOL, such as Pan Pacific Orchard.

Noting that UOL could then "put them together" rather than keep these hotels separate, Mr Foo did not rule out establishing a holding company for all of UOL's hotel assets but said that was "not imminent".

UOL said in a statement yesterday the voluntary delisting of Pan Pacific would give an exit option to minority shareholders who find it difficult to realise their investment, due to the stock's low trading liquidity and low free float.

Pan Pacific has a free float of up to 10.44 per cent. Its shares have risen almost 30 per cent over the past 52 weeks, reaching a high of $2.54 on Feb 27 this year.

The privatisation is subject to approval from 75 per cent of shareholders but it is a done deal, given that UOL's stake exceeds that threshold.

Analysts yesterday said UOL's next privatisation target could be other UOL-linked companies such as developer United Industrial Corporation (UIC) and landlord Singapore Land (SingLand).

"The speculation is that if this (Pan Pacific) is privatised, then most people will start looking at UIC and SingLand to be the next target," said CIMB-GK analyst Donald Chua in a Bloomberg report yesterday.

But Mr Foo yesterday said UOL did not foresee taking UIC private in the near future, and that UOL did not control SingLand directly. UOL owns around 43 per cent of UIC, which in turn owns around 80 per cent of SingLand.

Both UOL and Pan Pacific posted first-quarter results yesterday.

UOL's net profit fell 15 per cent to $71.7 million, owing to higher currency exchange losses and lower profit from hotel operations, which were affected by the opening costs of the $350 million Parkroyal on Pickering hotel in January.

The group's revenue for the three months ended March 31 dropped 17 per cent to $247.8 million, due to lower contribution from property development.

Pan Pacific's net profit tumbled 45 per cent to $9.5 million for the quarter despite a 1 per cent rise in revenue to $97.8 million.

UOL shares closed at $7.26 on Thursday. Trading in UOL and Pan Pacific shares will resume on Monday.


Source: The Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com