Between Aug 15 and 16, Wee Investments acquired two million shares of UOL, at an average price of S$5.21 per share. This increased the deemed interests of both UOL chairman Wee Ee Lim and director Wee Ee-Chao. Wee Ee Lim&rsquo s total interest increased from 15.79 per cent to 16.03 per cent. The preceding acquisition was between Jun 27 and 28, with 426,700 shares acquired at an average price of S$5.20 per share.

 

On Aug 13, the group reported a 3 per cent decline in net attributable profit for its H1 FY2024 (ended Jun 30) to S$130.4 million, mainly due to attributable fair value losses of S$12.2 million compared with fair value and other gains of S$3.3 million for H1 FY2023.

 

UOL noted that Singapore&rsquo s residential property market is expected to remain stable with slower price growth, supported by healthy household balance sheets.

 

The Singapore-listed property and hospitality group added that office rents are projected to stay resilient despite increased supply, while the retail and hospitality sectors are expected to continue their recovery, driven by strong leasing demand and a tourism rebound. UOL&rsquo s overseas hospitality segment is growing with the recent launches of Pan Pacific Jakarta and Parkroyal Serviced Suites Jakarta. 

Between Jun 27 and 28, Wee Investments acquired 426,700 shares of UOL : U14 +0.38% Group at an average price of S$5.20 per share. With a consideration of S$2.2 million, this increased the deemed interests of UOL Group chairman Wee Ee Lim and director Wee Ee-chao.

 

This has brought the total interest of Wee Ee Lim from 15.74 per cent to 15.79 per cent.

 

The preceding acquisition of UOL Group shares by Wee Investments via a market transaction was back in March 2023 with 300,000 shares bought at S$6.74 per share.

 

Wee Ee Lim was appointed chairman of the group in February 2024. Prior to this, he was deputy chairman from the time of the appointment in August 2015.

 

He is also the chairman of Singapore Land Group and a non-executive and non-independent director of UOB.

 

In addition, he is the president and CEO of Haw Par Corporation since 2003 and has been closely involved in the management and growth of the Haw Par Group for more than 30 years.

 

An STI constituent, UOL Group is a leading Singapore-listed property and hospitality group.

 

With a rich history that began as Faber Union in 1963, today UOL Group maintains a robust portfolio that includes residential properties, commercial investments, and a strong foothold in the hospitality industry, with around S$22 billion in total assets.

 

For its FY23 (ended Dec 31), UOL Group reported a 44 per cent increase in net attributable profit to S$707.7 million, mainly due to a gain of S$442.3 million from the sale of a wholly owned subsidiary which held Parkroyal on Kitchener Road. In FY23, 85 per cent of the group&rsquo s revenue was from Singapore.

 

Looking to the remainder of FY24, Wee Ee Lim maintains that demand for private residential properties in Singapore is expected to grow at a slower pace. He adds that office rents are likely to moderate due to new pipeline of offices and more companies may right-size in view of economic uncertainties.

 

On the hospitality side, Wee Ee Lim expects that with tourism projected to recover fully this year, the retail sector should benefit with higher tourist arrivals, and retail rents would be further supported by a lack of supply in retail space. Likewise, he expects that Singapore&rsquo s hospitality sector is likely to continue its growth with the regional travel recovery.

 

As at Jul 4, UOL Group maintains a return-on-equity ratio of 6.5 per cent, and as at the same date, a price-to-book ratio of 0.4x, a discount to the five-year average price-to-book ratio of 0.6x.

 

The stock has ranked as Singapore&rsquo s 23rd most traded by average daily turnover this year, in addition to ranking among the 10 stocks that have booked the most net retail inflow.

 

The Reuters Consensus Estimate Target Price for UOL Group is S$7.715. This represents the average of individual estimates provided by analysts covering the company, with estimates typically representing analyst&rsquo s opinion of the stock performance over the next 18 months.

 

INSTITUTIONS were net buyers of Singapore stocks over the five trading sessions through to Jul 4, with S$188 million of net institutional inflow, as 20 primary-listed companies conducted buybacks with a total consideration of S$23.6 million.

 

CapitaLand Investment : 9CI -2.21% (CLI) led the buyback consideration tally for the five sessions, acquiring 5,970,400 shares at an average price of S$2.65 per share. This brings the percentage of shares acquired on the current mandate to 1.47 per cent of the issued shares (excluding treasury shares) as of the date of the share-buyback resolution.

 

For the contingent of non-STI primary-listed companies that conducted buybacks, First Resources : EB5 +0.72% led the consideration tally with 1.15 million shares purchased at an average price of S$1.38 per share.

 

OUE : LJ3 -0.86% also filed that the date of purchase of its off-market acquisition of 84,038,036 shares was Jul 5.

 

Leading the net institutional inflow were DBS : D05 -1.47%, UOB : U11 -0.21%, Singtel : Z74 -1.38%, OCBC : O39 -0.99%, Seatrium : 5E2 0%, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding : BS6 -1.23%, Sats : S58 -0.34%, Great Eastern : G07 +0.08%, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust : N2IU 0%, and Venture Corporation : V03 -0.42%.

 

Meanwhile, Sembcorp Industries : U96 -0.62%, Genting Singapore : G13 -0.59%, Jardine Cycle & Carriage : C07 -0.27%, Singapore Airlines : C6L -0.43%, Mapletree Industrial Trust : ME8U 0%, Singapore Exchange : S68 -0.52%, Keppel : BN4 +0.31%, CapitaLand Ascendas Reit : A17U -0.78%, Wilmar International : F34 0% and CapitaLand Ascott Trust : HMN 0% led the net institutional outflow.

 

The five trading sessions saw around 100 director interests and substantial shareholdings filed for close to 50 primary-listed stocks. Directors or chief executives filed 19 acquisitions, and no disposals, while substantial shareholders filed 11 acquisitions and nine disposals.