S’pore’s Q1 GDP grows 7.2% year-on-year

S’pore’s Q1 GDP grows 7.2% year-on-year
SINGAPORE: Economic activity in Singapore has continued to stay firm, and the advance estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Thursday showed GDP expanded by 7.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter.

Despite the slowdown in the US economy and the turbulence in financial markets, economic growth in Singapore picked up pace in the first three months of 2008.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, real GDP expanded by 16.9 per cent, after declining by 4.8 per cent in the previous quarter.

The economic growth in the first quarter was broad-based, with the manufacturing, construction, financial services and transport hub services sectors contributing to sustained economic activity.

The preliminary GDP estimates for the first quarter of 2008, including performance by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, will be released in May. - CNA/ac
Source : Channel NewsAsia  - 10 April 2008

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Economists say S’pore’s GDP growth likely to rebound in Q1

Economists say S’pore’s GDP growth likely to rebound in Q1

By Ng Baoying, 

SINGAPORE : Singapore’s economy is expected to see a rebound in the first quarter. Economists are forecasting GDP to expand by some 6.8% on year, swinging up from the 4.8% decline in the previous three months.

They said the boost will come from a rebound in the pharmaceutical and electronics manufacturing sector. But going foreward, they expect growth numbers to go downhill.

The construction sector is one of the main pillars of Singapore’s growth so far this year. Together with manufacturing, the construction sector is holding up the first quarter’s rebound, according to economists.

Irvin Seah, economist with DBS Group Research, said: “The only bright spark in the economy will probably be the construction sector. The construction sector has been growing at about 20 per cent so far last year.

“And with healthy pipelines of projects coming up - for example the two IRs (integrated resorts), MRT line, Marina Bay Financial Centre and facilities for the Youth Olympics in 2010, we have a very healthy pipeline of mega projects - that will continue to power this sector in the next couple of years.”

Kit Wei Zheng, from the Asia-Pac Economic and Market Analysis unit at Citicorp Investment Bank, said: “The key source of rebound will come from the manufacturing sector.

“We saw manufacturing growth in the first two months of the year rise to 11.4 percent from just 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter last year. This is largely a function of a large rebound in pharmaceuticals, which surged more than 60 percent in January this year.

“The second source of strength (in relation to manufacturing) will come from trade related services.”

Economists are also expecting to see some good numbers from the services sector, which is seen as a reliable pillar of growth despite a slowdown in the financial services sector.

Seah said: “The services sector is likely to continue to remain a stable, reliable pillar of growth. But we do see moderations in service sector growth, led by the financial services sector.

“(This is due to) risk aversion and equity tightness in the sector. Investors’ risk appetites have diminished and that will slow down financial services activity drastically.

“The property market has also slowed down recently and that means lower housing loans. The business services sector will also see slower growth going forward.”

Economists warned that the going will get tougher in the next few quarters due to a cooling global economic climate, where the electronics sector is expected to bear the brunt of a slowdown in US consumer spending.

But rather than call it a recession, some prefer the term “cyclical speed bump”.

Kit said: “It’s a strong start to the year, but it may be what we call a calm before a storm. We now expect a protracted US recession and growth in other major industrial economies will continue to slow. In Asia, we expect China to register growth of 9.8 percent - the first under-10 percent growth in more than five years.

“(Against) this backdrop of slowing global economy, we expect more headwinds for Singapore exports. We expect that the electronics sector in particular, to bear the brunt in the slowdown of US consumer spending.

“Having said that, we are not expecting a recession but a cyclical slowdown. Our forecast for the full year stands at 4.7 percent, which you can call a cyclical speed bump rather than a recession. If you compare it to the last US recession in 2001 when economy contracted more than 2 percent, I think this is a relatively decent performance.

“Why we are relatively confident comes from three key sources of resilience. The first is the manufacturing sector has basically diversified and there is less dependence on electronics.

“We have seen the share of electronics in total GDP fall from around 12 percent in the last recession to around 7 percent currently. At the same time, sectors less sensitive to US business cycle have increased their share of GDP.” For example, the biomedical and transport engineering sectors now account for about 10 percent of GDP.

The government will release advance estimates of first quarter growth on April 10. - CNA /ls

Source : Channel NewsAsia  - 10 April 2008

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Credo Real Estate looks to spread its wings - Singapore

Credo Real Estate looks to spread its wings - Singapore

Six-year-old outfit ventures into auction, eyes fund management
By KALPANA RASHIWALA

CREDO Real Estate, the No 1 collective sales broker last year with $2.17 billion of deals, plans to branch into new areas of business - including auctions, residential project marketing, valuation and even property funds management.
 
Mr Singh: Lull in the en bloc market gives Credo a chance to work on new initiatives and also reflect, re-strategise, regroup and ‘meet people’ 
Managing director Karamjit Singh told BT: ‘This lull in the en bloc sales market is giving us an opportunity to work on new initiatives. Last year, there were opportunities that came our way but we had to decline them because it was difficult to take time off to pursue them.’

‘It was also very hard to entice good people to join us because they themselves were also very busy. So now’s a good time to reflect, re-strategise, regroup and most importantly, to meet people,’ he added.

Despite the quieter en bloc sales market today, brokering collective sales will still be the mainstay of Credo’s business for now, although the firm is now very selective in taking new appointments.

In fact, the property consultancy firm is using the current slowdown to study the possibility of getting ISO 9000 certification for its en bloc sales business - possibly a first here.

‘We’re in discussion with an ISO consultant. Getting the certification will give added assurance to clients,’ Mr Singh said. ‘It means ensuring a certain minimum standard of output, process management and consistency so the en bloc sales part of the business can be run more efficiently and on a structured basis, as we expand into new areas.’

Credo currently has 16 staff and will be marking its sixth year of business next week. Mr Singh, 36, worked at Colliers and Jones Lang LaSalle before setting up Credo in 2002, which he runs today with fellow executive directors Tan Hong Boon and Yong Choon Fah.

The firm plans to enter the new businesses over the next 12 months, but much would hinge on finding the right people.

‘We’re still meeting people, going through the processes and making sure we find the right person in terms of energy, integrity and ability to be a team player,’ said Mr Singh.

‘We’re not rushing into it. The benefit of getting the right person in our set-up is that we’re able to provide a platform for him or her to own part of the company by joining us as an executive director while the company is still small.’

The first new business to get off the ground is auctions.

Credo recently appointed Irinn Lee, formerly the No 2 at DTZ’s auction department, and plans to conduct its first auction around June or July.

To set itself apart from existing property auction heavyweights, Credo will not be auctioning individual shop units and apartments. Instead, the focus will be on development sites, good class bungalows and other investment sales deals, riding on the company’s traditional strength as a land specialist.

Development sites could also include smallish en bloc sales involving a few adjoining landed homes.

‘Our idea is to grow the Singapore auctions market instead of just grabbing the market share of existing players. Our auction house aims to be Singapore’s only land auctioneer,’ Mr Singh said.

Credo is also thinking of providing auction and tender services to smaller en bloc sales agents who may lack the expertise to do so - given that the revised en bloc legislation requires every site to be launched for sale by public tender or auction.

‘Auction is the best way of selling a property where transparency is paramount - for instance, where multiple parties or members are involved, as in the case of a large family, religious organisation or clan association,’ Mr Singh said.

He describes the proposed funds management business as a ‘radical set-up’ compared with the other new businesses.

He said: ‘What we’ve in mind is to start off with a local focus. It could be a Singapore property development or investment fund, with a view to eventually branch out to Asian emerging markets.

‘This will have to be a separate set-up from Credo. We can’t compromise on conflict-of-interest issues. For instance, our funds will abstain from buying properties marketed by Credo.

‘We’ll need a team of professionals - in raising funds, shareholder management, sourcing and marketing of projects, designing, construction management. There’s a shortage of investment sales specialists with localised knowledge who are in the funds management business. The idea is to sniff out opportunities. There’s always a certain level of market imperfection that we could look to capitalise on.’

For its proposed valuations business, Credo hopes to zoom in on land valuations rather than do bread-and-butter mortgage valuations. Again, en bloc sales are creating a niche opportunity for valuations that Credo hopes to tap.

‘Under the new en bloc rules, there’s a requirement for valuation at every close of tender. Increasingly too, owners in en bloc projects are choosing valuation as the main method, or one of the factors in the formula, for apportionment of sales proceeds,’ Mr Singh said.

And venturing into residential project marketing ‘dovetails closely with what we’re doing - selling land parcels to developers’.

‘When the developers are ready to launch their new projects on these sites, we can extend our services and help them by marketing the project and offloading it for them,’ Mr Singh said.

Source : Business Times  - 10 April 2008

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Soilbuild clinches Fusionopolis contract

Soilbuild clinches Fusionopolis contract
MAINBOARD-LISTED Soilbuild Group Holdings yesterday said it has clinched the Concept-and-Fixed Price Tender (CPT), called by JTC Corporation, to develop and lease Fusionopolis Phase 2B.
The proposed development, estimated to cost about $148 million, is a 16-storey multi-tenanted facility at one-north in the Buona Vista area.

It will cater to the infocommunications, media, science and engineering research and development industries. This is Soilbuild’s fifth CPT contract with JTC.

Fusionopolis Phase 2B sits on a 7,734 square metre site with a plot ratio of 6.5, which translates into a maximum gross floor area of 50,271 sq m.

It will comprise an office space white component of about 7,200 sq m and a retail space of 300 sq m. The development is expected to take 22 months to complete, with the target date set for the second half of 2009.

Soilbuild’s winning design for Fusionopolis Phase 2B is by world-renowned architect Ken Yeang, who impressed JTC with his green and sustainable building concept.

Low Soon Sim, Soilbuild’s executive director, said the group was confident that Fusionopolis Phase 2B would attract strong interest.
 
He said the award of the project tied in with the group’s overall strategy to grow its recurrent income stream through its business space segment.

‘The shorter development cycle also complements the two-to- three-year investment-to- sales cycle for our core residential property segment,’ he said.

‘With the full year contribution in 2008 from our current three completed investment properties, we are on course to meet our medium-term target of $10 million in annual recurrent income since we began our expansion into the business space segment in 2005.’

In all, Soilbuild has about two million square feet of business space in the pipeline.

Source : Business Times  - 10 April 2008

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OCBC makes CAD report against Soh-Singapore

OCBC makes CAD report against Soh-Singapore

Man behind failed Jade bid says he has no idea why report was made
By CHEW XIANG
(SINGAPORE) OCBC Bank has made a report to the Commercial Affairs Department on the events surrounding the failed takeover bid for Jade Technologies.
BT understands that the report was against Anthony Soh and his investment vehicle Asia Pacific Links (APL), but not directed against Jade Technologies, the target of an aborted takeover bid by Dr Soh.

In a statement released last night, OCBC’s head of corporate communications Koh Ching Ching said: ‘In the course of our advisory assignment, a series of events had occurred which caused us to question the integrity of the representations which we have received. This was the basis for our resignation as financial adviser in the takeover.

‘We have reported the matter to the Commercial Affairs Department. Therefore, we are not able to provide any further details at this juncture.’

When contacted, Dr Soh said: ‘I have no idea why they reported to CAD. But if it’s related to the disclosure of the pledged shares I think it’s a bit too far.

‘I will cooperate with the authorities and I’ll do full disclosure to defend myself.’

Early last month, Dr Soh made through APL a 22.5 cents a share conditional offer for Jade, stating he owned about 46.5 per cent of the company. OCBC Bank was the financial adviser to the offeror.
 
Dr Soh disclosed in a letter to Jade’s board on April 1 he had pledged 30.5 per cent of Jade’s share capital to Australian broker Opes Prime as security for margin loans. OCBC Bank quit that day as financial adviser to the offeror.

When Opes failed, ownership of those shares passed to its creditors, among them Merrill Lynch. With a much smaller shareholding than thought, Dr Soh admitted last Saturday he could not guarantee he had enough funds to satisfy full acceptances of the offer.
Source : Business Times  - 10 April 2008

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