We’ve come to the final month of the year, and it’s been a roller-coaster journey for the stock market.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) hit highs of above 3,400 in both February and April, buoyed by news of border reopening and economic recovery.
The bellwether index then crashed to a low of below 3,000 as the twin troubles of inflation and surging interest rates led to a wave of pessimism.
Amid the volatility, there are still companies whose business has chugged along fine.
These are the stocks that have sailed through the year and reported a good set of earnings thus far.
You can also look forward to these businesses holding their own as 2023 rolls by.
Three top stocks are on our radar for this month.
Cortina Holdings (SGX: C41)
Cortina is a luxury watch chain that started in 1972.
The group has six boutiques in Singapore, nine in Malaysia, three in Thailand, five in Taiwan, and one each in both Hong Kong and Indonesia.
Cortina sells a variety of Swiss luxury brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe, Panerai, Cartier, and Chopard.
The group reported a robust set of earnings for its fiscal 2023’s first half (1H2023) ending 30 September 2022.
Revenue jumped 25% year on year to S$406.9 million while net profit surged by 49% year on year to S$37.9 million.
Cortina also generated a healthy free cash flow of S$36.4 million.
This set of good results follows up from Cortina’s strong FY2022 financial numbers where the luxury watch retailer reported a 64% year on year surge in revenue and a 73% year on year jump in net profit to S$68.8 million.
In line with the good results, the group paid out a final dividend of S$0.02, a special dividend of S$0.05, and a bonus special 50th-anniversary dividend of S$0.05.
Total dividends came up to S$0.12 per share, giving the shares a trailing dividend yield of 3%.
The group has plans to grow its customer base and improve the customer experience for both its Cortina and Sincere Watch boutiques. The latter was acquired by the group for S$84.7 million in March last year.
The expansion will focus on Malaysia in the next 12 months and Cortina has revived the Sincere Haute Horlogerie concept in Singapore and intends to replicate it in Thailand in due course.
ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited (SGX: C52)
ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited, or CDG, is one of the world’s largest transport companies with a fleet size of around 34,000 buses, taxis, and rental vehicles.
The group also operates 177 kilometres of light and heavy rail networks in Singapore and New Zealand.
CDG released an encouraging business update for its fiscal 2022’s third quarter (3Q2022).
Revenue rose 10.1% year on year to S$969.5 million while net profit climbed 32.9% year on year to S$34.3 million.
Operating profit excluding non-recurring items surged by 49% year on year to S$59 million.
However, if government reliefs are excluded, CDG would have seen operating profit more than double year on year to S$53.6 million.
Last month, the transport giant reported encouraging business developments.
The group, along with partner Engie SA (EPA: ENGI), was awarded two projects for the installation of electric vehicle charging points covering nearly 2,000 HDB car parks.
Over in Australia, CDG snagged three metropolitan bus contracts in Sydney totalling S$1.7 billion and will run for between seven to eight years.
Sembcorp Industries Ltd (SGX: U96)
Sembcorp Industries Ltd, or SCI, is an energy and urban solutions provider.
The group has an energy portfolio totalling 16.6 gigawatts (GW) comprising 7.1 GW of renewable energy capacity.
For the first half of 2022 (1H2022), SCI reported a 45% year on year jump in revenue to S$4.8 billion.
Core net profit excluding exceptional items soared more than a 10-fold year on year from S$46 million to S$490 million.
An interim dividend of S$0.04 was declared and paid, double the S$0.02 paid out last year.
SCI has been aggressively bulking up its renewables portfolio last month.
The group carried out a total of three transactions that bring it closer to achieving its target of 10 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2025.
The first was the acquisition of 795 MW of solar assets in China, while the second involved the purchase of Vector Green in India which added close to 600 MW of renewable capacity.
The third acquisition was for 830 MW of renewable assets in China, thereby bringing the group’s gross installed capacity to 9.4 GW.
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Disclaimer: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
