Cory Diary : Do REITs take back more than they give ?

REITs have been in SGX for long time. Despite that people still has concern whether they take more than they give. If I am to invest in REITs obviously the benchmark will not just be more than they take only. They need to give enough back in the form of capital gain or dividends that are way above inflation in total.

This concept is pretty simple.

REITs Investment Returns = Capital Gain/Loss + Dividends , and Annualized

For the sake of a safer example, I will pick a stable REIT CMT. Yes, the one which I have blogged recently. CMT owns many Malls in Singapore whose tenant income are tied to tourist visits, impact of internet shopping and the local economy. And Funan Mall in the midst of AEI. I will take a peek on CMT for past 6 years performance starting from 1 May '11 ( after Ex-div ) till today.

During this period there are no retail rights issue which makes my calculation easier to compute. To make thing simple, I will use Yahoo monthly chart to calculate CMT annualized return on the stock price against today 1.97 closing. XIRR = -0.08.% which imply a capital loss. And then lookup on the total dividends distributed on the measured periods. Total : $0.6276. Combine both of them as table below.

So annualized returns for CMT for the past 6 years are 5.28%. What this mean is for every $10,000 dollar invested in CMT, you get $528 annually. A total of $3,168 or 31.7% for the total period.

So at least for CMT, is a Myth that REITs are not a good investment vehicle. Like any other stock, when to invest and sell is important. REITs are no exception. Will CMT continues to prosper ? That is for their current management to answer.

Please DYODD.

Cory
20170502

Cory Diary : What do people live for?

Saw this from a friend message link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKXwwEH_ahc

Investment is for quality retirement. Don't retire for sake of it and live like a beggar.

Strive for Quality Living. That's will be the benchmark

Once I realized that, things become clear. Investment for Income has become more important so that I have the money to do what I can with my time.

But I need to remember too ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cy73ex6apo

Being Rich is not about how much you have but how much you can give.

Start small.

Happy Labor Day !

Cory

20170501

Cory Diary : AIMS AMP CAPITAL INDUSTRIAL REIT

I have love-hate relationship with this reit. This counter has almost 8% yield returns but despite my dividends strategy I do not makes much from it that I should in my past trades. In fact, due to my skepticism with it, I always buy and sell the wrong time. And the problem lies with confidence and model of this company.

Trying to time AA REIT is really a bad move. Not understanding the future plan of the REIT result in diminish confidence. And not absorbing the dividend strategy concept is another huge mistake.

AA Reit just announced their 4Q 2017 today.

QoQ DPU up 0.4%. YoY is actually down 5.8%. So what is it. Good or bad ? That's depend how we look at it. If compare to one other REIT which was in shareholder limelight, AA reit ability to hold up so well so far is good. And I know is not by chance it does.

And if we are to measure YoY, -5.8% seems bad. Really bad ? Put it another way, try to balance 5.8% reduction of DPU and ability to deliver 8% yield. I am happy with it as long we have good DPU trajectory and not the Stock price directly. That's the key I need to understand.

Here 's the DPU I have found and put into tables.

If we have look at the left chart, there is reducing DPUs overtime. However if we to look at the right chart, the DPU is very stable. Both chart is actually from high yield AA Reit. They are actually the same data presented in different way.

So the decision to make is simple. Is the DPU returns enough even if it does reduce. If so, stock price volatility is good for me to get cheaper.

Cheers

Cory
20170427

Cory Diary : Quality of Life

I often seen posts on best place to retire. Be it daily necessity, bills or health care. One of the primary reason is cost. Frankly I think this people get it all wrong.

The Best Place to retire is where Love is. Where friends are. Where Home is. Going to faraway land, cheap and lower standard of hygiene ... that's escapism. Out of no choice. Desperation. Worst still, alone. Sorry if I poke too hard. Is a poke anyway. Greener pasture is always on the other side till you are on the other side.

Of course there are always exception so for these people, be relieved there is an escapism mental route for your reasoning. But I know deep in my heart, when I died, I like my grave, ash or whatsoever to be near home of my birth just like our elders who were from China they want to go back to mainland and visit their childhood days.

For average doe in Singapore, who are willing to work for a decent living, manage your saving and invest prudently, frankly is not hard at home. The most expensive is housing and compared to many countries, locally is relatively way better and cheaper for same quality of estate, environment, law, safety, medical and salary scale. We also have the option to rent like many people do in others countries as well which are a norm there. It boils down to expectation.

I have a single friend, who are wealthy enough to buy a small Condo but instead go for 3 room hdb. I question why not a 5 room but to him 3 room is just what he needs. And he decides from day one not to drive which save another huge sum of expenses and hardly affects his life. Personally to me he is a little too frugal but what am I to him ?


My Country, My Home.

BTW is a Poke. To make myself think on my reasoning,. I will never ... hopefully ... due to mainly cost.

Cory

20170422

Cory Diary : CAPITALAND MALL TRUST 1Q17 ( CMT )

When I last blogged about CMT in 28th Jan'17, the stock price on 31st Jan'17 was $1.94. For people who are interested can refer to earlier blog article on CMT 4Q16 HERE. Since then, what has happened ?

There were no distribution since we just Ex-div in 26th Jan'17. Stock price $2.01 as of today 20th Apr'17. Gain of 3.6%. CMT posts today 20th Apr'17 after trading hours, stable 1Q 2017 distribution per unit of 2.73 cents. Achieves higher distributable income despite closure of Funan for redevelopment. Result as below table. As at 31 March 2017, CMT’s average cost of debt and aggregate leverage were 3.2% and 35.3% respectively.

The next table is the comparison with other investment. I let the table speaks to you. If we are to invest in 12 month fixed Deposit in XXXX for 0.35% return, it will takes collective 16 years ! How many 16 years do we left ?

The last table is CMT properties. They are major name locally. As mentioned in my previous article, very hard to go wrong with this REIT. Stock Price will fluctuates with Market Sentiments no doubt but which direction will it goes long run ?

Further update - 20170421
CMT’s 40.0% interest in Raffles City Singapore and 30.0% interest in Westgate.


Cory
20170420

Cory Diary : Job Replacement

Recently one of my staff move on. I am happy for her. Truly. What interesting is after. I need to request for replacement. What surprise me is that my business HR want me to justify why I need replacement which to me suppose to be routine re-fill of position.

Mind you, the company is doing well. So in my head is why are we spending time doing this needless exercise. We have hundreds/thousands of employees. As long is within business allocation of headcounts, why are we doing such. After a month, the replacement request got approved.

If every business or stock I invested in, their Business HR inside are doing this, I am a happy shareholder because I know the business watch their cost regardless of market condition.

Take heel, HR !



Cory
20170419

Cory Diary : Stock Market Volatility 1997 - 2016

The following information is plucked from various sources in the internet and summarized. I am doing that in view of recent North Korea crisis and Syria conflict in Trump era. I do not think we reach market crisis level yet. What I found is that 50% dropped is a major number observed when there are major crisis. The lesser ones are mere correction around 15% range.

Stock Market Crisis


The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. The crisis started in Thailand. Thai government was forced to float the baht due to lack of foreign currency to support its currency peg to the U.S. dollar. STI index severely impact dropping more than 50%.

The Dot-com Bubble was a historic economic bubble and period of excessive speculation that occurred from 1995 to 2001. The collapse of the bubble took place during 1999–2001. In exact, lasted about 2 years in period. STI dropped around 50% from 1999 Dec peak.

This followed quickly by SARS in early Mar 2003. STI hardly impacted even though there were huge fear initially. Can't even see a beep in the monthly chart.

The financial crisis of 2007–2008, also known as the Global Financial Crisis and the 2008 financial crisis. It began in 2007 with a crisis in the subprime mortgage market in the USA, and developed into a full-blown international banking crisis with the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. STI crashed around 50% from peak in 2007.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster initiated primarily by the tsunami following the Tōhoku earthquake on 11 March 2011. There were a small dip to STI Index when we look back on STI historical chart. People who have hold their equity has hardly any impact. People who average down has a windfall on average.

The 'August 2011 stock markets fall' was the sharp drop in stock prices in August 2011 in stock exchanges. This was due to fears of contagion of the European sovereign debt crisis, concerns over the slow economic growth of the United States and its credit rating being downgraded. For STI that's about 15% correction.

The Chinese stock market turbulence began with the popping of the stock market bubble on 12 June 2015 and ended in early February 2016. By 8–9 July 2015, the Shanghai stock market had fallen 30 percent over three weeks as 1,400 companies, or more than half listed, filed for a trading halt in an attempt to prevent further losses. STI not spared either as our economy are more integrated with growing China. STI dropped more than 20%. However is nowhere near the major crisis level we seen in percentage seen.

Brexit, World Markets tumble after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Investors lost more than the equivalent of 2 trillion United States dollars on 24 June 2016, making this day the worst single day drop in history, in absolute terms, according to data from S&P Global. The losses were extended to a combined total of the equivalent of 3 trillion dollars by additional selling on 27 June 2016 according to data from S&P Global. Hardly any practical dent to STI Index.


From above, appears major crisis are mainly has financial engineered implication that came to blow. They corrected roughly 50% whereas European Debt Crisis and Chinese Stock turbulence are more on political resolve and speculation. As for those other lesser crisis that are not result of financial,  there are no prolong impact to us locally. Thus, there aren't clear STI impact.



Cory
20170418

Cory Diary : Trades of Marco Polo Marine

Browsing through my past trades in this counter. Decided to cut loss in early 2015. Net net still make some profit if we exclude opportunity costs. What if  I had not ?

It has been more than 2 years since. Will the company figure a way out ?
I wish them well sincerely.


Cory
20170416

Cory Diary : Dividend Play - Part 2

Dividend Play essentially is about investing in business that are driven to return profits to shareholders. Management naturally will be driven to efficient their operation on what they have after. A strong management has the ability to do that consistently over time. Constantly churning out dividends to shareholders and making use of what has been left to continue to optimize and grow their returns.

A weak manager can constantly ask for money to grow the empire. Many can to fatten their pocket while reducing shareholder returns. The worst situation is when management has too much cash and wasted on lousy investments or to grow their revenue with no meaningful profits. This is where their guard is down. The thirst to do better is not seen. Some maybe even tempted to have their hands on it. The legal way will be to pay themselves very well on shareholders expense.

Surely there will be exception to norm. However they are really exception. Investment is about not losing money and not exchanging for poor deals. A Master said that in his two rules of investment. I looks for result not words from management. And what better way than continue to give me dividends while growing the business by optimizing what they have.

And this will be my main strategy moving forward in my investment.


Cheers

Cory
20170415

Cory Diary : Million dollar home

Few people would have remembered, I blogged about $1M home goal few years ago. To be exact is 4 years ago as per link here. Happy or sad to some, depending on each people felt level, i got mine.  If we include inflation over this period maybe in current dollar term would be 10% lesser in purchasing power. What this mean is Million Dollar home is just a matter of time.

The plan for this home will be for my family for the initial years as I am often based oversea.The reason I like about this property is due to the central location and amenities. I may not be able to get what I want from another project. The other reason is I felt as I blogged earlier in another article, is home has to get smaller for the same price. The cost of government is not going to go lowered and will need land income to support with time. So delaying any further will be asking for smaller home assuming everything else equal.

In the current market situation, property has been held artificially suppressed for more than 3 years already. Will this go on ? Yes, why not. Forever, hardly. Taking a look at the private property index, it has come down 10%, back to 2010 level. link. That's a 10 years chart replicated below.

There is still some room to go lower but not much I feel. But it could be another ride up and I would miss the rare opportunity to upgrade. We can't live forever and bring our property and money to the grave. We work hard so that we have better quality of life for ourselves or our love ones. If there is appreciation on the property, is bonus. If go lower, is occupied anyway for use.

Fortunately I have enough saving for the down payment and increase my portfolio as well. Prepared more than 6 years of cash funds too which I plan to have them mainly in SSB ( 100k limit ) and FD. Surely slight delay in purchasing helps me financially too.  I foresee this will likely be my retirement home if i choose to return to Singapore, my Country, my Homeland, my Birthplace one day.



Cory
20170414

Cory Diary : Dividend Play and Timing

Let's take a REIT Stock which gives 7% dividends annually at current $1 tag. Assuming there is no major "calamity", that's 7 cents annually. Interests up few points during the year, how much is REIT impacted ?

1. Borrowing are secured across few years to decade contract. Some on annual basis. Some on fixed rate. Some Reits hedge their borrowing too.

2. Increase in borrowing cost can be passed down to tenants. In Retail is about 3 years contract. And typically contract renewal are staggers across the periods.

3. Some Reits have internal mechanism where rent escalation is tag to inflation and revenue

4. Rising rates mean the Market is able to absorb the increase to prevent bubble. Is not to kill the goose but to ensure longer road of growths.

Based on above, any dip in well managed Reits, are good entry points. Stock price fluctuation will be mitigated by the dividends. So what we have is likely upsides. Every year we leave too much cash in the bank, the cost are a lot more and is a loss in relative term to inflation.. A gap of 5% between interest and dividends for $100K is $5K. How many Ks we have in our Banks ?


Cory
20170411

Cory Diary : The Lazy, The Dumb, The Struggle and The Greedy

Singapore is one of unique in the world where we have thousands of thousands in millionaire bracket without need to take risk in setting up business ourselves to be one. They are untapped potentials that financial funds always try to ZAP. Is not unheard of where hundreds of thousands HeartLanders were "Scammed" by Bank RMs, Insurance Agents, Property Agents, Business Investment or purely true scams.

"The Lazy" - those who do nothing. They leave their cash in cash or fixed deposits. The most some guaranteed "fixed deposit". Those that are Truly guaranteed. Not those lehman or mini-bond ...
Many also got hook-winded early by "Skirts" to buy Saving Type of Insurances Products. Investment-linked Insurance products.They are the first to clear their property loans. And also likely the one who will have heartbreak lossing $10 in a gamble. Stock market is vice in their atmosphere.

"The Dumb" - They may meddle in currency deposits. Get into Unit Trust and pay fat commission with poor or negative returns.A few got into transferring out their money for true scams and people still wondering why the government has to locked CPF to secure base line sane to us. They play stock market like in guerrilla warfare. Hit and Run is their game. No shit, some do strikes 4D.

"The Struggle" - Get into the Stock game. Some enjoyed the gambling in certain counters. Others in for more stable returns. Some thoughts blue chips mean passive. And the variant types get into Indexes, Preference Shares or Bonds within the equity sphere. The more savvy one make use of their CPF but most aren't and for the record most lose money. A number in the Blogging world hit jackpots and so are one who wield a Russian design Machine Gun or should i say an investment priest that has god of fortune double up on his back. In this abyss, even a Crazy Monk can be a top trader so why can't Bully Tutor be not included. But only Freedom Fighter has them documented and got historic recognition. The last but not the least,  I have to give the hand in the top prize to the story teller of the sages who has moats in his defenses where research and information flows.

"The Greedy" - Played the property game. Flipping like a dolphin. Some venture oversea for Forex and challenge thrusts. The lucky few got into Businesses. Most probably got burned. The rich got bruised only. The really rich few got foreclosure notice coming with huge headlines. And they are still many times over in wealth than average doe. A few tried theirs hands in high risk bonds and the fake rich leveraged and get banged.

Like souls moving through realms, where am I .... is a question at the point of time.


Cory
20170409

Cory Diary : You get what you measured - Cory Sample Portfolio Stock List

When first started investment in stock market, we likely deal with one or two stocks. The idea is to get a feel of stock trading. The mechanics. The excitement. In a Bull market, we will see proportional gigantic returns. Stock picks are probably Tips or from Newspaper reading.

After manage to save sizable sum for larger bets, this increase my stock punch or have a wider stock selections. Still can't bear any significant losses. Soon the start of reading Annual Report. This phase last the longest.

As the fund continues to grow, looked for stability in exchange for lower returns. Predictability has price. And slowly expand to portfolio level of management. In this aspect, we see thinks in more macro investment level and soon managing risks using Preference Shares, Bonds, Index and speculative positions. There is lesser excitement and always reading to find way to spruce up the investment.

Cory Portfolio some point in time

10% Max seems about right for each entity. And increased diversification from 20 to about 30 range. Currently I am still doing more than 100 trades a year so the change seems can be quite drastic since i do multiple buys and sells for a stock. The goal will be more dividends focus and stabilize my investment fever. 

At the next phase, I should be looking for optimization of asset in performance measure. This will means including CPF and FD/Cash into the Performance equation. Obviously this will bring the overall score down further. It is what it is. However my absolute return will climbs and that's what matter. Portfolio yield will be secondary though still important.

Cory

20170408

Cory Diary : STI the Year you are BORN

With STI Index run up recently. Many people maybe interested.

Below, One Picture speaks a Thousand Words with Dividends. Buy Low Sell High. :-)

Cory
20170402

Cory Diary : Q1'17 Performance

Funding Injection

For the 3 months in 2017, I have injected roughly 30% more into my portfolio which would have been laying low in the banks. This reduced my XIRR YTD as there are no income from the 3 months due to enlarge base. The needed injection provide needed base earning and driving for potential future performance. This left my Cash/FD now comprises 31% of my Net Worth.

Funds are injected in

- Singapore Saving Bonds funds are mainly from idle cash/fixed deposit in saving banks. They will likely my future emergency fund location.

- Reits Oversea Exposure as I still feel Singapore dollars will stay weak for some periods. This has seen good rise in price just recently.

- Five Speculative trades just entered. Each quite a sizable ones. No result yet. Time will tell.

(updated for privacy)


XIRR (Compounded Returns)

Apparently last week of market push up my score a little. However this time I am more interested in other metrics. Over the years I have been injecting funds into SSB, PS and Bonds, naturally my XIRR will lowered. If FD has been included, score would have been worst since their returns are between 1-2% range. I need to understand the overall implication and how I can fully utilize while protecting my asset.

- Correction -
Cumulative XIRR from 2007 Jan to 2017 Mar : 6.7% (Cory Portfolio )
Cumulative XIRR from 2009 Jan to 2017 Mar : 8.4% (Cory Portfolio )

whereas STI Index ( 2007 Peak to 2017 Mar ) barely hits 0.6 %.


Since my portfolio has PS, Bond and SSB, is too much work to extract out trades on them. I decided to do a manual simulation just for the past year on short term performance.

- Correction -
XIRR from 2016 Jan to 2017 Mar  : 7.2% (Cory Portfolio )
XIRR from 2016 Jan to 2017 Mar  : 8.7% (Cory Portfolio excluding Fresh Fund in 2017, PS, Bond and SSB)
XIRR from 2016 Jan to 2017 Mar  : 12.3% (STI Index)

The first 3 months of STI Index records significant gains riding on Banks.

Cheers

Cory
20170402

Cory Diary: Is STI Performance truly understood ?

What is STI Index true performance ? The often quoted is 7% XIRR or so called Compounded which includes dividends distributed. This is achieved if one invest all their money one time exact in the year 2005 low and measured on the final price this month of STI. Yes is about 7%.

The issue is can this be repeated ? That is the catch.

Firstly our money in fund is constantly injected and for some withdraw during the 12 years period.

Secondly, how sure are we the next 12 years will be another 7%. Are we sure we can extrapolates ?

Finally, investment period is critical. Investing in 2005, 2011 and now will yield different STI performance. This can be shown by taking the dividends distributed and using different period of entry.

As you can see above, the Compounded or XIRR are total different on entry year. I am not saying STI ETF is not good. I have some too. But I want to remind myself that, if I started investing in STI in year 2008, you are only earning 0.56% after dividends. Is ALL ABOUT ENTRY TIMING.

So is it good to invest in STI ETF now ? You tell me :P

Cory

2017-03-27

Cory Diary : Financial Portfolio Update 20170325

Has been a month since my last post. Seems a long time. Quite amount of office politics that I have to carefully maneuver while getting things done during this period while guiding my team on execution and business alignment. Good news is we are better today than a month ago. More work to do !

2017 is Year of Rates and Banking. Banking continues to recover from last year despite the oil saga.
Unfortunately my portfolio on such is under invest. Fortunately STI Index fund covers some. Index has again proves their usefulness.

(updated for privacy) 

Portfolio Size wise is another new high with return of market optimism. Did some balance in increasing Singapore Saving Bond and reducing some preference shares. Expanded my REITs further ironically in increasing rate environment. And did some sporadic speculation decisions in a few counters. Still slow in moving into financial sector. Not sure have I mentioned before that I have zero out my developer equity segment as I will still enjoy my ride up and down on my property.

Currency wise, I have remitted large amount of S$ with strengthened NT$. New bullets for SGX.
Is a hold for AUD$ and US$ amounts.

All-in-All, new net worth new high due to investment gains. This metric is important as a way for me to track growth and asset base for retirement. 2017 will bring more income due to stronger NT$.

Investment performance wise, XIRR 3.6% on expanded portfolio injection base using 2017 year end date on closure. However YTD XIRR incredible more than 18% despite large stakes in low fixed returns of bonds and preference shares. And this is achieved with pretty plain and relative safe investment strategy that anyone can do. No magic and all common sense decisions. Hopefully the market remains optimistic for rest of year.


Cory
20170325

Reminder for myself : Putting money in Unit Trust do not make me an investor.
It only convince myself that I am incapable to be one.

Cory Diary : Sheng Siong 4Q'2016

Is another profitable period for Sheng Siong. A growth and relative good dividend stock. The Rev/Profit growth is so persistent that every quarter seems like a norm. What I like most is it provides basic essentials therefore relatively recession proof. A mix of growth and yield stock, how much growth imo depends on how fast it can expands and idle cash available to support the expansion considering profit is mainly distributed out.

Sheng Siong 4Q'16

This is cut and paste Key Notes

Dividends
"Propose a final cash dividend of 1.85 cents per share, taking our total dividend for FY2016 to 3.75 cents per share, equivalent to about 89.9% payout on our net profit after tax." That's roughly 4% yield.

Growth
"The Group is still looking for suitable retail space particularly in areas where the Group does not have a presence. However, competition for retail space has not abated and looking for suitable retail outlets may be challenging." There is still enough cash to expand for growth.

Risk
"The Verge and Woodlands Checkpoint supermarkets which were to close on 30 April
and 30 June 2017 respectively as the landlords will be re-developing the sites have now been extended to 31 May and 31 August 2017. These supermarkets contributed 8.6% to FY2016’s revenue."

Without looking into details, appears mitigated by staggered closure, continue store growth and existing sales growth.


Cory
20170223

Cory Diary : LMIR TRUST Report Q4 2016

LIPPO MALLS INDONESIA RETAIL TRUST

DPU 0.87 ( 7.4% increase )

For Stock Price of $0.385, Yield about 9%

Gearing : 31.5%

I like this REIT because of good Indonesian population base growth potential, income outside Singapore with mid term track record. Base on this quarter result, likely next few quarters we will see better rental revision thus potential growth in DPU.

DPU Track Record

The down side is interest rate, mitigated with 70% fixed rate basis. Forex is ok with weaker Singapore dollars. Is this a rare REIT gem ?

Cory

20170216

Cory Diary : REITs Investment

Reits have been in my portfolio for many years. Each year I learn "New Tricks" and pay some school fees. Instead of going through the learning pains, I like to document down what to look for and appears it can be boiled down to 4 pillars

Integrity

This is critical. While there maybe time for speculation, this is not my cup of tea. The other three below are more inter-connected.

DPU

The Managers can do share placement, issue rights, increase borrowing but at the end of the day is how much Dividends Distributed per Share/Unit. An increasing DPU is excellent. A stable DPU is ok in exchange for lesser risk.

Yields

Distributed Income/Current Price. If I am happy with the yield, that price is good price to invest.

While I may wait for opportune moment per chart, the timing will not be too long as price correction could be mitigated by dividend distributed. 

Capital Gains

Chances of higher stock price in the future requires active management of smart managers. This create a forward buffer for my investment. Capital gains should be accorded same recognition as initial amount invested. Money is money regardless gains are capital or not.

Cory

20170202