Daily World Indices as at 25th of May 2008

Dear Readers,

Starting from today, I will be posting daily world indices. If you miss any of the past indices, you may click on the link found on the left side of the blog under Daily World Indices.

Golden Agri-Resources delivers record revenue and profit

The Group posted an all-time-high quarterly revenue of US$747 million, up 172% from a
year ago. Net profit attributable to shareholders for the quarter was also a record at
US$443 million, two times the profit recorded in the last corresponding quarter.
The outstanding performance was the result of higher CPO production and a surge in
CPO market prices of close to 100%. CPO production rose due to recovering weather
conditions following the effect of El Nino in the first half of 2007.
Sales volume for the quarter increased by 48% as a result of improved production and
delayed sales brought over from end-2007 (caused by bad coastal weather).
At the bottomline, there was a US$307 million net gain from changes in fair value of the
Group’s biological assets (after tax and minority interests). Excluding this gain and
exceptional items, the net profit for the quarter still grew by a robust 177% to US$136
million.
Mr Franky Widjaja, Group CEO, said that the Group has had an excellent start to the
year. “We are seeing a continuation of a Golden Era for Golden Agri and are reaping
the benefits of our large hectarage of oil palm plantation and our continual efforts to
improve yields and optimise resources. Our fresh fruit bunch yield and CPO extraction
rate are among the highest in the industry.”

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
During the quarter, GAR increased its planted area to 364,000 hectares. On more than
244,000 hectares, or two thirds, of the planted area, the trees are between seven and 18
years of age, the prime producing years for oil palms. This large mature planted area
puts GAR in a strong position to capitalise on the historically high CPO prices.
GAR has maintained its production efficiency, raising palm products production by 31%
to 538,000 tons. The fresh fruit bunch yield has been recovered after the drought in late
2006 and early 2007, increasing by about 20% to 5.8 tons per hectare for the quarter.
The CPO extraction rate was stable at 23.43%.

AusGroup wins A$12m Aussie offshore contract

ENERGY and resources specialist AusGroup has secured a new contract worth A$12 million (S$15.2 million) from an unnamed international offshore construction services client.

AusGroup will supply supervision and labour to the client for the offshore installation of a production platform topside, jacket and offshore pipeline on the construction work on the Montara offshore oilfield development project off the north-west coast of Australia.

Work is expected to start next month and scheduled for completion by October.

The latest deal brings AusGroup's contracts secured in less than two weeks to about A$38 million, taking its total order book to more than A$190 million.

'These new orders represent a new market sector for AusGroup,' said AusGroup managing director John Sheridan.

'It is a good start and we look forward to continue the growth.'

AusGroup is primarily based in Australia, where it is a supplier of total engineering solutions in the oil, gas and resource-mining sectors.

The new contract will provide it with exposure to the offshore construction services sector in Australia. AusGroup believes its ability to recruit specialist offshore personnel, as well as manage associated safety and industrial relations issues, puts it in good stead to secure additional offshore construction services-related contracts.

Just last week, the group announced a new contract from a 'blue-chip' client worth about A$26 million.

That contract - for which work is to begin in May and finish in December - came from a global mining resources firm and is for the fabrication, supply and installation of structural and mechanical piping and electrical systems for a new iron ore facility in Western Australia.

AusGroup also has in the pipeline plans to increase the output of its subsidiary Cactus Engineering, a manufacturer of subsea equipment, with the recent purchase of a new facility in Tuas.

For the half-year ended Dec 31, 2007, AusGroup's net profit hit A$12.1 million, an increase of 47 per cent. Revenue rose 60.4 per cent to A$202.2 million.

S'pore to have highest concentration of millionaires by 2017.

This article was published in today's Straits Times:

Singapore will leapfrog Hong Kong to have the highest concentration of millionaires in the world in 10 years, a new Barclays Wealth report says.

A total of 40.7 per cent of all households (Note: This is the key word here, not INDIVIDUALS) in the Republic, or 436,000 households, are set to boast net wealth in excess of US$1 million (S$1.36 million) by 2017.

This means two out of every five households in Singapore are projected to be millionaires by then. The report looks at the combined wealth of household numbers.

The data used measures aggregate wealth, financial wealth such as currency, deposits, loans and insurance, as well as non-financial wealth such as property and land. Liabilities are subtracted from the total.

Last year, Singapore ranked second with 23.3 per cent, behind Hong Kong's 26.4 per cent. In 2017, Hong kong is expected to register 39.4 per cent, ahead of Switzerland, which maintains its current third ranking.

Barclays Wealth, the leading wealth manager in Britain, said Singapore's efforts to move away from manufacturing into higher value-added activities like technology and financial services had helped its rise.

Mr Didier von Daeniken, Asia-Pacific chief executive of Barclays Wealth, said at a press conference yesterday that the opening of previously protected sectors, such as financial services, and various free trade agreements had also helped Singapore's cause.

He added that Singapore's future millionaires would likely come from a growing number of rich entrepreneurs.

The report, by Barclays Wealth, and the Economist Intelligence Unit, said wealth held by high net worth Singapore households, defined as those with more than US$1 million, could hit US$1.6 trillion.

Mr von Daeniken said this presented great growth opportunities for private banks. "Asia now represents 25 per cent of high net worth individual wealth globally, 60% of the world's population, but only about 10 per cent of the income of the major private banks."

May Portfolio

These are my current stocks holdings as of 7 May 08.

1. Marco Polo Marine
2. AusGroup
3. Cosco Corp

These are my current Unit Trust holdings as of 7 April 08.

1. Allianz GIPF RCM Global High Payout Fund
2. Schroder Singapore Trust Class A
3. Aberdeen Pacific Equity Fund


Key Portfolio Changes:

I sold off my shares for Capitaland and Capitamall as I feel that this year round the market is not so well perform on property.

Just bought shares for AusGroup and Cosco.

Cosco
has achieved significant progress in growing its Ship Repair, Ship Building & Marine Engineering capacities and capabilities. The completion of its acquisition of a 51% stake in the largest shipyard in China.

AusGroup
SINGAPORE – 19 March 2008 – AusGroup Limited (“AGL” or “AusGroup” or “the
Group”), an energy and resources specialist is pleased to announce that it has secured
a new contract amounting to approximately A$26 million.
AusGroup secured the new contract from a global mining & resources firm to fabricate,
supply and install structural, mechanical, piping and electrical systems for a new iron ore
facility in Western Australia. The work is scheduled to commence in May 2008 and will
be completed by Nov 2008.

I did not receive any dividends for April 08.

STI Market Update

STI should grind higher towards the next near-term resistance at 3310, followed possibly by 3428 to 3470 subsequently. Short-term, buy near 3150; sell near 3310. Upside bias to the next resistance level at 3310 before a pullback to test the rising trend line and 15-day moving average support at 3150 to 3200.

The McClellan Oscillator should trend higher towards the overbought level near 50 as the STI heads for 3310 and ease back, in line with STI behaviour. If the STI rises above 3310 subsequently, the next level is 3428 to 3470.

DBS Research sees the USD strengthening from 1.36 currently to 1.39 during 2Q to 3Q. This is positive for shipping trusts Rickmers Maritime, Pacific Shipping Trust and First Ship Lease given their USD-based cashflows and attractive yield. DBS Research has Buy recommendations for Rickmers Maritime (S$1.07; TP: S$1.80; FY08 yield: 11.3%) and Pacific Shipping Trust (US$0.45; TP: US$0.52; FY08 yield: 10.5%). No rating for First Ship Lease (S$1.06; FY08 yield: 13.9%, based on consensus). From a technical prospective, we like Rickmers Maritime and see a trading objective of $1.24. Buy at $1.05 support or slightly above.

The Master Plan, to be exhibited in its draft form in late May this year as part of a review every 5 years, is the statutory land use plan aimed to assist in guiding the physical development of Singapore in the medium-term over the next 10 to 15 years.

We have identified the Property sector as a key and obvious beneficiary.

Stronger planning initiatives and an improved sense of fundamentals will bring foreign investment into Singapore, directly benefiting developers over time.

Our top picks in the sector are City Dev (BUY, TP S$12.81), CapitaLand (BUY, TP S$7.50), Fraser and Neave (BUY, TP S$5.85) and Allgreen (BUY, S$1.66). Among the S-Reits, we favour CMT (BUY, TP S$3.93) and Suntec REIT (BUY, TP S$1.98) for their exposure to the resilient retail sector.

We also continue to like CCT (BUY, TP S$2.93) for its strong organic growth with positive rental reversions likely up to 2010; and CDL HT (BUY, TP S$2.90) for its exposure to the booming hotel sector.

Apart from the Property sector, also standing to benefit from this strategic outline are the Hotel, Aerospace, Healthcare, Transport and Construction sectors. Within the construction sector, we prefer the building material suppliers like Hong Leong Asia (BUY, S$4.30) and Pan-United Corp (BUY, TP S$1.16). For the healthcare and transport sectors, likely long-term beneficiaries would include Raffles Medical (BUY, TP S$1.74), Parkway Life REIT (BUY, TP S$1.50), SMRT (BUY, TP S$2.00) and ComfortDelgro (BUY, TP S$2.15).

The Best 6 Years Old Girl In The World

Can you believe it. She got such a talent voice. Not only that, she is just 6 years old.
Don't believe, do watch the video.

Coporate Results Update

Indofood Agri Resources announced a 586% rise in quarterly profit, mostly driven by additional revenue from its recent acquisition of subsidiaries. This is in line with the broad rise in commodity prices this year.

For the medical healthcare sector, Raffles Medical announced a 48% rise in quarterly profit.

For the transport sector, SMRT announced a -5.5% fall in quarterly profit despite a 14.3% rise in revenue, largely due to higher operating expenses, especially higher oil prices.

for the retail sector, Jardine C&C, one of the region's largest automotive retailers, announced a 64% rise in quarterly profit, which is surprising given that rising inflation and poor economic outlook is supposed to reduce consumer spending.

For the property sector, Capitaland announced a -59% fall in quarterly profit. But upon closer examination, its revenue and gross profit actually registered -1% and 9% respectively, and that the fall was mostly attributed to the exceptional fair value gains of its investment properties last year.

Cosco Corp, one of the leading S-shares in terms of growth potential and market cap, announced a 110% rise in quarterly profit.

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is often considered the world's greatest investor. Using his own investment strategies and principles, he has managed to become one of the world's richest with an estimated personal networth of at least US$10 billion. His investment career began in 1957 when he started his first investment partnership with a group of investors in his hometown, Omaha, Nebraska in the United States. He bought stocks of various companies with the goal to beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average by an average of 10 per cent a year. When the partnership dissolved in 1969, Buffett's investments had soared at a compound rate of 29.5 per cent, compared to just 7.4 per cent for the Dow.

When the dissolution of the partnership, Buffett concentrated on investing through his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, which he took control of in 1965. In the next 20 years, the company underwent a series of business restructuring and it re-deployed its capital. Berkshire also entered into an array of other business, including insurance. At the same time, guided by his own set of investment principles, strategies and business acumen, Buffett went around the country investing in companies that had solid fundamentals, including The Coca-Cola Company and The Gillette Company. He continued to add more money-spinning companies to his portfolio over the years.

You may well ask, "What contributed to his success? What made him buy a particular company?" The essence of his success is that he only invested in business that had good earnings and excellent management.

PTC earnings updated

Last month I been pretty busy with my work and burning midnight oil to watch the live shares performance for Nasdaq and Nyse. Did not spare enough time to make sure to click all my PTC sites. Anyway I had just purchase referrals for all my PTC sites to help me do the clickings. I can just sit back and watch my money grow.

For those who are interested, you may wish to click on my PTC sites to join them NOW.