INSTITUTIONS were net buyers of Singapore stocks over the five trading sessions through to May 9, with S$15.3 million of net institutional inflow, as 23 primary-listed companies conducted buybacks with a total consideration of S$53.4 million.

 

CapitaLand Investment (CLI) : 9CI 0% led the buyback consideration tally, buying back 17,055,700 shares at an average price of S$2.61 per share. This brought the percentage of company shares bought back on the current mandate to 0.47 per cent. The preceding year&rsquo s buyback mandate saw CLI buy back 1.03 per cent of its issued shares (excluding treasury shares) between Sep 28, 2023, and Jan 26, 2024.

 

With its Q1 FY24 business update, CLI also reiterated its mandate to target funds under management growth from S$100 billion to S$200 billion in five years, driven by organic expansion and strategic inorganic initiatives.

 

Digital Core Reit Management also bought back 108,200 units of Digital Core Reit : DCRU 0% at US$0.58 per unit. The previous buyback mandate saw the manager buy back 1.33 per cent of the issued units between Jun 6, 2023, and Apr 17, 2024.

 

Leading the net institutional inflow over the five sessions were DBS : D05 +0.34%, UOB : U11 -0.03%, Jardine Matheson Holdings : J36 +1.18%, CLI, Mapletree Logistics Trust : M44U 0%, Keppel DC Reit : AJBU 0%, iFast Corp : AIY 0%, Olam Group : VC2 0%, Suntec Reit : T82U 0% and Aims Apac Reit : O5RU -0.76%.

 

Meanwhile, Keppel : BN4 +1.66%, OCBC : O39 +1.51%, Genting Singapore : G13 0%, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust : N2IU 0%, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit : A17U +1.17%, Mapletree Industrial Trust : ME8U 0%, Singtel : Z74 0%, AEM Holdings : AWX 0% and Singapore Technologies Engineering : S63 0% led the net institutional outflow over the five sessions.

 

The five trading sessions saw more than 80 changes to director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for around 40 primary-listed stocks. Directors or chief executive officers filed 16 acquisitions and two disposals, while substantial shareholders filed six acquisitions and one disposal.

 

 

Analyst Thilan Wickramasinghe has lowered his target price to $3.44 while UOB Kay Hian analysts Leow Huey Chuen and Jacquelyn Yow kept their target price unchanged at $3.35. 

 

Maybank Securities analyst Thilan Wickramasinghe has kept his &ldquo hold&rdquo call on Wilmar International F34 0.00% as he recommends investors &ldquo wait for better days&rdquo . The analyst is also unimpressed with the group&rsquo s limited dividend growth.

 

&ldquo Wilmar&rsquo s recent 1QFY2024 shows bright spots in consumer and wholesale recovery, especially in China. However, its industrial segments remain under pressure from tightening margins amidst falling commodity prices and weak demand,&rdquo he writes in his May 6 report. That said, Wilmar&rsquo s food products business should see an improvement in margins moving forward with the drop in commodity prices, he notes.

 

&ldquo Until there is better clarity on China&rsquo s growth trajectory, we think the prospects of turnaround could see headwinds. New businesses such as central kitchens show promise, but material earnings contribution is some way off,&rdquo adds Wickramasinghe.

 

After Wilmar&rsquo s quarterly results announcement, Wickramasinghe&rsquo s peers have been mixed on their outlook. RHB Bank Singapore downgraded its call to &ldquo neutral&rdquo from &ldquo buy&rdquo while Citi Research retained its &ldquo buy&rdquo call.

 

Wickramasinghe has lowered his target price to $3.44 from $3.99 after reducing his earnings per share (EPS) estimates for the FY2024 to FY2025 on lower commodity prices and margins. His discounted cash flow target price is derived from a weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of 5.9%, a terminal growth of 1% and peer P/E of 27 times, which was raised from peer revaluations.

 

UOB Kay Hian analysts Leow Huey Chuen and Jacquelyn Yow have kept their &ldquo hold&rdquo call but with an unchanged target price of $3.35.

 

&ldquo Our valuation is based on FY2024 EPS and uses the sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) valuation by pegging [a] P/E of 18 times, 10 times and 11 times for food products, feeds & industrial products and plantations & sugar mills respectively,&rdquo they write in their May 7 report.

 

In the 2QFY2024, the analysts expect Wilmar&rsquo s earnings to improve on a q-o-q and y-o-y basis due to an enhanced operating margin and good sales volume across all segments. The forecast, based on insights from recent analyst briefings with Wilmar and its subsidiary, Yihai Kerry Arawana (YKA), marks a departure from previous years when the earnings in the 2Q traditionally see a q-o-q decline due to decreased sales volumes following the festive season.

 

To this end, Leow and Yow also believe YKA would see a continued improvement in its performance with stronger consumer sentiment, margin improvement and higher utilisation rate for soybean crushing.

 

AGRIBUSINESS Wilmar International : F34 +0.59%&rsquo s Ukraine tank terminal facility has been hit by a missile, and it will assess the damage to the subsidiary&rsquo s facility after fire has been put out.

 

The constituent stock of the Straits Times Index reported in a regulatory filing on Sunday (Apr 21) that a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea Ukranian port of Pivdennyi on Friday had hit the facility of Delta Wilmar Ukraine, an 80 per cent owned subsidiary of Wilmar.

 

No casualties have been reported, Wilmar said, adding: &ldquo An assessment of the extent of the damage caused will be carried out as soon as the fire at the facility is put out.&rdquo

 

Also, Wilmar will provide in due course details of the incident.