[SINGAPORE] Over the five trading sessions from May 23 to May 29, institutions were marginal net sellers of Singapore stocks, with net institutional outflow of S$2 million compared to net outflow of S$65 million for the preceding five sessions. This keeps the net institutional outflow for the 2025 year to May 29 at S$1.73 billion.
Institutional Flows
Over the five trading sessions through May 29, the stocks that saw the highest net institutional outflow were SingTel, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings, Genting Singapore, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, UOB, CapitaLand Investment, ComfortDelGro, Lendlease Global Commercial Reit, Riverstone Holdings, and Mapletree Industrial Trust.
Meanwhile DBS, Singapore Exchange, ST Engineering, Singapore Airlines, Sats, Seatrium, Thai Beverage Public Co, Frasers Hospitality Trust, Keppel, and Hongkong Land Holdings led the net institutional inflow over the five sessions.
From a sector perspective, telecommunications and Reits experienced the highest net institutional outflow, while financial services and industrials saw the most net institutional inflow.
Share buybacks
The five sessions through May 29 saw 18 primary-listed companies make buybacks with a total consideration of S$45 million. Secondary-listed Hongkong Land conducted share repurchases on four of the five sessions, with 1,563,300 shares bought at an average price of US$5.24 apiece. The manager of ESR-Reit also bought back 500,000 units of the Reit at an average price of S$2.22 per unit.
Director transactions
The five trading sessions spanning May 23 through May 29 saw close to 90 director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for more than 30 primary-listed stocks. Directors or CEOs again filed 24 acquisitions and two disposals, while substantial shareholders filed 22 acquisitions and six disposals.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
This included director or CEO acquisitions in Cosmosteel Holdings, Edition, Far East Orchard, Ho Bee Land, Nam Cheong, Niks Professional, Q & M Dental Group (Singapore), Samudera Shipping Line, Sinostar PEC Holdings, SunMoon Food Company, UMS Integration, Venture Corporation and Wing Tai Holdings.
Q & M Dental Group (Singapore)
On May 26, Q & M Dental Group (Singapore) non-independent executive director and group chief executive officer Ng Chin Siau increased his total interest from 53.72 per cent to 53.92 per cent. The 1,882,200 shares were acquired by Quan Min Holdings at an average price of S$0.345 apiece.
Since the end of April, Dr Ng has increased his total interest from 53.02 per cent. The group reported its FY2024 results in early March. Despite total revenue being comparable to FY2023, FY2024’s focus on operational efficiency and cost discipline led to a 27 per cent increase in attributable net profit to S$14.6 million, with FY2025’s strategy targeting regional expansion and ESG.
Venture Corporation
On May 22, Chua KL Family acquired 30,000 shares at S$11.08 apiece. This took the deemed interest of Venture Corporation independent non-executive director Chua Kee Lock to 0.01 per cent.
Chua is the group president and CEO of Vertex Venture Holdings (VH), a Singapore-based venture capital investment holding company wholly owned by Temasek Holdings. VH anchors a global network of independently managed funds, including five early-stage technology funds, an early-stage healthcare fund, and a growth-stage fund, all supported by third-party capital. Chua also serves as managing partner of Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India and chairman of Vertex Growth Fund.
His acquisition follows Venture Corporation detailing in its Q1 FY2025 business update that it improved its net profit margin to 9.1 per cent. This was driven by ongoing cost efficiency efforts and the delivery of higher-value solutions through its differentiated capabilities. The group also noted that overall revenue declined, primarily due to reduced demand in the lifestyle consumer technology segment, where research-and-development-led design innovations enhanced product reliability and lifespan, resulting in fewer replacements.
Excluding this segment, the group maintained that revenue would have increased in Q1 FY2025 from Q1 FY2024. Meanwhile, Venture Corporation highlighted those initiatives in other domains – such as networking and communications, and advanced industrials – continued to gain traction, showing year-on-year progress.
Wing Tai Holdings
Wing Tai Holdings chairman and managing director Cheng Wai Keung continued to raise his deemed interest in the company from 61.78 per cent to 61.84 per cent, through 395,000 shares bought by his spouse, Helen Chow.
UMS Integration
On May 26, UMS Integration CEO Andy Luong acquired 100,000 shares at an average price of S$1.15 per share. This increased his deemed interest from 15.36 per cent to 15.38 per cent. His preceding acquisitions on the open market were in April, with 199,800 shares acquired at S$0.925 apiece and in September 2024 with 600,000 shares acquired at S$0.983 apiece.
This followed the Q1 FY2025 business update released on May 9. Luong noted that the group performed well in Q1, achieving improved revenue, gross margin expansion, and healthy cash flow despite a challenging global business environment compared with the same period last year. He added that significant progress was made in meeting the needs of key customers, with sales in Malaysia nearly trebling due to strong orders from a new key customer.
Luong also maintained that despite the ongoing trade tensions affecting global sentiment, the order forecasts from the group’s key customers remain unchanged.
Cosmosteel Holdings
Between May 23 and 27, Cosmosteel Holdings executive director and CEO Jack Ong acquired 500,000 shares at an average price of S$0.220 apiece, increasing his direct interest from 16.81 per cent to 17 per cent. This follows his acquisition of 6,050,000 shares between May 20 and 22. On May 15, Evolve Capital Advisory, on behalf of 3HA Capital, announced a voluntary conditional cash offer for all issued and paid-up ordinary shares of Cosmosteel Holdings at S$0.20 apiece.
Samudera Shipping Line
Between May 23 and 28, Samudera Shipping Line executive director and CEO Bani Maulana Mulia acquired 73,100 shares at an average price of S$0.819 apiece. This increased his direct interest from 0.67 per cent to 0.68 per cent and followed his acquisition of 99,600 shares at S$0.80 apiece between May 8 and 14.
Ho Bee Land
Between May 26 and 29, Ho Bee Holdings acquired 38,600 shares of the company at S$1.77 apiece. This marginally increased the deemed interest of Ho Bee Land executive chairman Chua Thian Poh, which is at 75.65 per cent. This closely followed the acquisition of 129,200 shares at S$1.75 per share between May 16 and 20.
Sinostar PEC Holdings
Between May 23 and 29, Sinostar PEC Holdings executive chairman and CEO Li Xiang Ping acquired one million shares at S$0.147 apiece. This increased his deemed interest in the China-based producer and supplier of downstream petrochemical products from 69.46 per cent to 69.56 per cent. This follows his acquisition of 800,000 shares at S$0.142 apiece between May 19 and 21, and 880,000 shares acquired in April. Since the end of 2019, he has raised his deemed interest from 57.80 per cent, primarily through a rights issue earlier this year.
Nam Cheong
Between May 21 and 26, Nam Cheong executive chairman Tiong Su Kouk increased his total interest from 32.17 per cent to 32.18 per cent. This was through the acquisition of 30,000 shares by his wife, Wong Bak Hee, at an average price of S$0.52 apiece. The acquisition follows Nam Cheong providing a Q1 FY2025 business update on May 14 detailing its gross profit increased 13 per cent from Q1FY2024 to RM 56.3 million (S$17.1 million).
This followed its FY2024 gross profit increasing to RM 363.3 million from RM 168.6 million in FY2023. Nam Cheong said that its sustained performance underscores the success of its strategic shift towards a more resilient chartering model and its ability to navigate market challenges.
Nam Cheong and its subsidiaries are one of South-east Asia’s leading offshore support vessel (OSV) providers, originating from Sarawak, Malaysia. Tiong has maintained majority shareholding control with an active role in the management of the group since 1999. He oversees its strategic direction and has played a significant role in steering the company from being primarily involved in the construction of barges and fishing vessels in Malaysia to the building of offshore support vessels.
The stock has ranked among the top 70 local stocks traded by turnover this year, while also ranking among the 40 stocks that have booked the most net institutional inflow.
The writer is the market strategist at Singapore Exchange (SGX). To read SGX’s market research reports, visit sgx.com/research
