Happy times have come for the Singapore stock market as the index achieved a six-year high back in early July.
Businesses are enjoying good traction along with a sanguine economic outlook.
In line with this feel-good feeling, many stocks have seen their share prices hit a year-high.
Investors may be eyeing the Singapore blue-chip stocks that offer an added layer of stability on top of growth and dividends.
We profile three Singapore blue-chip firms that recently scaled their 52-week highs to determine if they can continue to climb.
Singtel (SGX: Z74)
Singtel is Singapore’s largest telecommunication company (telco) and provides a comprehensive range of services including mobile, broadband, pay TV, data centre, and cybersecurity services.
Singtel’s share price recently hit a 52-week high of S$3.13, up 27.8% year-to-date.
The telco recently released its business update for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (1Q FY2025) ending 30 June 2024.
The group saw a resilient performance with underlying operating revenue dipping just 1% year on year to S$3.4 billion.
Underlying (core) operating profit, however, jumped 16.1% year on year to S$382 million.
After accounting for higher finance costs, Singtel posted a 5.4% year-on-year increase in its underlying net profit to S$603 million.
Singtel has reaffirmed its FY2025 outlook for a high single-digit to low double-digit year-on-year growth in operating profit (excluding associates’ contributions).
It is also on track to realise cost savings of S$200 million from Singtel Singapore and Optus.
Management’s promise to pay out a value realisation dividend (VRD) of between S$0.03 to S$0.06 is also on track.
Singtel also released its recent Investor Day 2024 slides that detailed its growth plans.
It intends to scale Nxera, its data centre division, to more than 200 MW by 2026 with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) to double by 2028.
For NCS, Singtel is eyeing larger markets to bring in revenue for the division.
The aim is for 40% of revenue to come from outside Singapore, up from the current 14% for 1Q FY2025.
Over time, management is also targeting astute capital recycling and working to simplify holding structures to achieve a better cost structure and realise value for shareholders.
Hongkong Land (SGX: H78)
Hongkong Land, or HKL, is a property investment, management, and development group.
The group owns more than 850,000 square metres of prime office and luxury retail assets in cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Jakarta.
HKL’s share price hit its 52-week high of US$3.81 recently and is up 8.4% year-to-date.
The share price has also rebounded 35% from its 52-week low of US$2.78.
For the first half of 2024 (1H 2024), revenue shot up 45% year on year to US$972.4 million with investment properties delivering a solid performance.
However, operating profit tumbled 45.5% year on year to US$214.1 million because of non-cash provisions against the carrying value of certain projects in China.
The underlying loss came in at US$7 million against an underlying net profit of US$422 million in 1H 2023.
Despite the loss, HKL maintained its interim dividend at US$0.06.
The group is undergoing a comprehensive strategic review of its overall business strategy and commercial properties and will present a strategy update before the end of this year.
Tomorrow’s CENTRAL, a US$1 billion investment to reimagine HKL’s core Hong Kong retail portfolio, is scheduled to commence in phases over the next three years.
Over in Shanghai, the property giant will develop its West Bund Project, a district with commercial and residential properties, and plans to open this project in phases from 2024 to 2027.
Frasers Centrepoint Trust (SGX: J69U)
Frasers Centrepoint Trust, or FCT, is a retail REIT with a portfolio of nine suburban malls and one office building.
The REIT’s assets under management stood at around S$7.1 billion as of 31 March 2024.
FCT’s unit price touched its 52-week high of S$2.39 recently and is up 5.8% year-to-date.
The retail REIT’s shares also rebounded 18.4% from its 52-week low of S$2.01.
FCT recently released an encouraging business update for its third quarter of fiscal 2024 (3Q FY2024) ending 30 June 2024.
Retail portfolio committed occupancy stayed high at 99.7% while shopper traffic for the quarter registered a 4.1% year-on-year increase.
Research firm CBRE expects prime retail rents to sustain its recovery for 2024, potentially giving FCT’s rental reversion a boost.
Aggregate leverage stood at 39.1% with an all-in average cost of debt of 4.2%.
The REIT has no refinancing risk for the remainder of FY2024 and has almost 16% of its loans coming due in FY2025.
Its Tampines 1 asset enhancement initiative (AEI) is on track to be completed this month and has seen 100% committed occupancy.
Around 9,000 square feet of net lettable area was created and deployed to prime retail floors.
Management is confident of achieving a return on investment of more than 8% for this AEI.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
