Frencken Group chairman and non-executive non-independent director Gooi Soon Chai has increased his deemed interest, with his family acquiring 10,000 shares on Jun 23. Gooi maintains a 23.75 per cent total interest in the company, up from 23.66 per cent at the end of 2024. The acquisition followed his family acquiring 45,000 shares on May 21 and Sinn Hin Company acquiring 30,000 shares on May 29.

 

Gooi was appointed as a director in February 2015 and as the group&rsquo s chairman in August 2016. He has over 30 years of global leadership in technology, with deep expertise across semiconductors, life sciences and electronics, and has led multiple successful transformations, driving exponential growth in the semiconductor, automotive and industrial electronics sectors.

 

The IMS division currently contributes about 11 per cent of Frencken Group&rsquo s overall revenue, while the mechatronics division &ndash seen by Gooi to be a key driver of growth &ndash accounts for the majority at around 89 per cent. 

 

On Jun 3, the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, ETLA, has accepted a lease offer from JTC for an industrial site at Kaki Bukit Avenue 5. 

 

The group plans to build a new, larger manufacturing facility at the site to expand and consolidate its mechatronics operations, currently located at Changi North and Seletar Aerospace Link.

 

Back at the FY24 annual general meeting held in April, Gooi said that the group operates across high-growth sectors &ndash semiconductor, medical and life sciences &ndash while maintaining a presence in industrial automation and automotive. 

 

He highlighted that with a global footprint spanning the US, Singapore and China, the group remains agile amid tariff challenges and recently expanded its US operations.

 

Gooi maintained that the group&rsquo s customer base includes industry-leading clients and it partners closely with customers on supply chain strategies and currently operates a US facility, with potential for expansion based on demand. He added that growth opportunities also exist in Europe, where several clients are scaling up.

 

In FY24, the group achieved a 14.3 per cent increase in attributable net profit of S$37.1 million, up from S$32.5 million in FY23. 

 

For its subsequent Q1FY25 (ending Mar 31), Frencken Group&rsquo s revenue rose 11.5 per cent year on year to S$215.8 million, driven by stronger contributions from the mechatronics division. 

 

The gross profit margin also improved to 14.8 per cent from 13.7 per cent, reflecting better operating leverage. Attributable net profit also grew 12 per cent to S$10 million, up from S$9 million in Q1FY24.

Financial services and telecommunications see the most outflow

 

[SINGAPORE] Over the five trading sessions from Jun 20 to 26, institutions remained net sellers of Singapore stocks, with net institutional outflow of S$248 million following the S$74 million net outflow for the preceding five sessions. Net institutional outflow for the year to Jun 26 now stands at S$2.16 billion, driven by S$2.73 billion of net institutional outflow from the trio of banks on the Straits Times Index.

 

Institutional flows

Over the last five trading sessions, stocks that saw the highest net institutional outflow were Singtel : Z74 +0.79%, OCBC : O39 +0.74%, DBS : D05 +0.99%, Wilmar International : F34 +0.69%, CapitaLand Investment : 9CI +1.54%, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding : BS6 0%, Sembcorp Industries : U96 -1.01%, Singapore Technologies Engineering : S63 -0.51%, Jardine Cycle & Carriage : C07 +0.29%, and City Developments : C09 +0.98%.

 

Meanwhile, UOB : U11 +0.42%, Keppel DC Reit : AJBU +1.3%, Singapore Exchange : S68 -0.41%, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust : C38U +0.93%, Keppel : BN4 +0.81%, Frasers Centrepoint Trust : J69U +0.44%, Jardine Matheson Holdings : J36 -0.6%, Frasers Hospitality Trust : ACV 0%, Mapletree Industrial Trust : ME8U +1.5% and Yangzijiang Financial Holding : YF8 +1.39% led the net institutional inflow over the five sessions.

 

This means, that from a sector perspective, Reits and technology experienced the highest net institutional inflow, while financial services and telecommunications saw the most outflow.

 

Share buybacks

The five sessions saw 19 primary-listed companies make buybacks totalling S$72.9 million. UOB, DBS and OCBC again led the consideration tally, collectively buying back S$69.7 million of shares.

 

On their current buyback mandates, UOB bought back 0.43 per cent of its outstanding shares, while DBS bought back 0.23 per cent (as at Jun 26).

 

Secondary-listed Hongkong Land : H78 +3.36% also continued conducting share repurchases on each of the five sessions at the rate of 440,000 to 450,000 shares per session. 

 

Director transactions

The five trading sessions saw close to 100 filings for more than 30 primary-listed stocks. Directors or CEOs filed 11 acquisitions and three disposals, while substantial shareholders filed 24 acquisitions and 13 disposals. 

 

This included director or CEO acquisitions in Daiwa House Logistics Trust : DHLU +0.88%, Frencken Group : E28 +3.28%, Q& M Dental Group (Singapore) : QC7 +1.14%, Raffles Medical Group : BSL +1.05%, Singapore Shipping Corp : S19 +1.85%, Stamford Land Corp : H07 +1.15% and SunMoon Food Company : AAJ 0%.

The new facility will allow the group to scale up its business with key wafer fab equipment customers

 

[SINGAPORE] Semiconductor maker Frencken will invest S$63 million to build a new and larger five-storey manufacturing facility in Kaki Bukit.

 

The new site will be built on a plot of land leased from Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) to its subsidiary ETLA for a period of 33 years, from Aug 18, 2025, the group said in a bourse filing on Tuesday (Jun 3).

 

The new facility will &ldquo lay a stronger foundation&rdquo for the mainboard-listed company to continue to expand its mechatronics business in Singapore.

 

The new facility will expand its production resources to support existing and new programmes, as well as strengthen its position with key customers in the coming years, it added.

 

In particular, the new plant will have larger clean rooms, allowing the group to scale up its business with key wafer fabrication equipment customers.

 

&ldquo The group believes Singapore will remain a vital and strategic base for its manufacturing operations and future growth,&rdquo said Frencken in the statement.

 

&ldquo The new facility will continue to ensure the group&rsquo s proximity to its semiconductor customers in Singapore.&rdquo

 

Once it is completed, Frencken plans to progressively relocate and consolidate its manufacturing operations in Singapore, which are currently in separate facilities in Changi North and Seletar Aerospace Link.

 

Frencken will fund the construction and fit-out work of the new plant through internally-generated resources and borrowings.

 

As part of the lease agreement with JTC, ETLA has to invest at least S$19.5 million, of which S$13.3 million must be spent on new plant and machinery. This investment must be fulfilled within three years of the commencement date.

 

The remaining amount can consist of the net book value of ETLA&rsquo s existing plant and machinery that will be relocated to the new site.

 

The Kaki Bukit plot has a land area of 12,318 square metres (sq m), and is expected to be developed to a gross plot ratio of not less than 2.19 but not exceeding 2.5.

 

The facility is estimated to yield a gross floor area of 28,594 sq m, subject to the final design and development plans.

 

Construction will begin in the third quarter of 2025, and is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2027.

 

Frencken Group has reported earnings of $10 million for 1QFY2025 ended March 31, 2025, up 12% y-o-y.

 

The group&rsquo s revenue grew 11.5% y-o-y in 1QFY2025 to $215.8 million due to improved operating leverage.

 

Gross profit margin for the period grew 1.1 percentage points (ppts) to 14.8%.

 

The group has two main business divisions &mdash the mechatronics division and IMS division.

 

The group&rsquo s mechatronics division&rsquo s revenue increased 14.9% y-o-y to $195.4 million in 1QFY2025 driven by higher revenue contribution from the semiconductor segment.

 

Accordingly, the semiconductor segment revenue grew 33.7% y-o-y to $106.2 million from steady sales growth to a key customer in Europe and a strong rebound in sales from its Asia operations.

 

The group&rsquo s operations in Asia benefited from a pick-up in demand and reaped rewards from its efforts to broaden product portfolio with key customers in the front-end equipment sector.

 

Under the mechatronics division, the group&rsquo s medical segment increased marginally by 1.2% y-o-y from increased customer orders in Asia. Likewise, the analytical life sciences segment remained stable at $46 million in the reporting period.

 

Still under the mechatronics division, the industrial automation segment saw a revenue decline of 18.7% y-o-y to $7.7 million de to slower orders from a key customer in data storage solutions, due to change in customer&rsquo s product to higher capacity data storage solutions.

 

The IMS division&rsquo s revenue declined 13.9% y-o-y for 1QFY2025 due to lower contributions from the automotive, and consumer and industrial electronics segments. Frencken saw a 15.7% decrease in sales to automotive customers to $14.1 million during 1QFY25, and consumer and industrial electronics segment also recorded softer revenue of $4.1 million, down 14% y-o-y.

 

The semiconductor segment accounted for nearly half of the group&rsquo s revenue in 1QFY2025, while analytical life sciences and medical segments contributed 21% and 15% respectively.

 

As at end March, Frencken has total assets worth $730.2 million, and cash and cash equivalents stood at $145.8 million.

 

Total liabilities for the end of March came in at $284.7 million, total borrowings amounted to $74 million, and debt to equity ratio came in at 16.7%.

 

Frencken says that it presently does not envisage the US tariffs to have a significant direct impact on its sales as based on historical financial information, shipments to the USA only accounted for around 9% of the group&rsquo s revenue in FY2024, of which majority of those exports were shipped from Singapore.

 

Moreover, the import tariffs would be borne by customers based on the incoterms, says Frencken. The group expects the operating conditions to remain challenging and volatile.

 

Frencken is working on several mitigating measures with regards to its tariff assessment on procurement of raw materials. These include ongoing discussions with relevant parties on supply chain adjustments and cost pass-through where applicable.

 

The group expects moderate revenue growth in 1HFY2025 compared to a year before. It anticipates higher revenue for its semiconductor and medical segments, stable revenue for analytical life sciences and industrial automation segments, and lower revenue for the automotive segment.