Extracted from DBS

United Overseas Land (Buy S$3.92); TP: S$4.82 (Prev S$ 4.79)

UOL reported 3Q06 results that were in line with our expectations. Revenue rose by 17.8% y-o-y from S$127.2m to S$149.9m. Net profit declined 5.2% to S$31.5m. Excluding the miscellaneous gain of S$11.2m on options relating to the Exchangeable Notes that was recognised in 3Q05, net profit would have increased by an estimated 43.3% y-o-y. The outlook for the Singapore property market remains positive and given UOL’s exposure in residential, office, retail and hospitality sectors, we expect it to be a key beneficiary. We have adjusted our target price to S$4.82 (at parity to RNAV) from S$4.79 as we have raised our assumed average selling price for the project, The Regency, from S$820 psf to S$900 psf. Maintain Buy.

Extracted from DBS Vicker.

United Overseas Land

Broad-based player in property market

Story: UOL’s business portfolio consists of hotels, office, retail and residential developments, offering a proxy to the rising property market. It has interests mainly in Singapore, followed by Australia, China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

Point: We expect UOL to benefit from the upbeat trend of the hotel industry and strong demand for office and retail space. With the growth of the residential property in Singapore, UOL has been actively increasing its landbank.

Relevance: We upgraded our rating to Buy, with a raised target price of S$3.74 based on 15% premium to our RNAV per share of S$3.25. Revenue driven mainly by hotel business. The bulk of UOL’s revenuestream comes from its hotel business (51.4% of FY05 revenue). Its subsidiary, Hotel Plaza Limited (77.71% stake) has gained a firm foothold in the hospitality industry, through hotels it owns in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

Residential development projects. UOL experienced revenue growth of 154.0% in its property development projects in 1H06 due to the progressive recognition of revenue from Newton Suites, Twin Regency and Regency Suites. These 3 residential projects are fully sold while another 2 projects that were launched, Southbank and One Amber are around 76% and 49% sold, respectively. Moving forward, UOL has 4
projects in the pipeline, of which 3 are expected to be launched in FY06 while the Duchess Court site is still in the planning phase. Recently, with the acquisition of the freehold site at Nassim Road for $380m cash, UOL added approximately 343,189 sq ft of GFA to its high-end segment landbank. With the Duchess Court and Nassim Road sites, UOL can now tap on the high-end segment, which has driven the growth of the residential property market in Singapore. Benefiting from rising office and retail markets. With tightening office space supply in CBD and increasing demand for quality space outside the CBD area, we expect UOL to benefit from its buildings such as Novena Square, Faber House, Odeon Towers and United Square. Buoyant leasing demand for retail space in Singapore will also help UOL’s revenue growth.

Potential from the acquisition of Hotel Negara. UOL has completed the purchase of Hotel Negara (100% stake) at an average price of S$6.45 per share. There is potential for the redevelopment of the site into a residential development, and this could add another $28.1m to our RNAV (4 cents per share).

Upgrade from Hold to Buy with target price of S$3.74. In view of the improving hotel industry, growing residential property market and strong leasing demand for office and retail space, we upgrade our rating to Buy, with target price of S$3.74 based on 15% premium to our RNAV per share of S$3.25.

BT, Published June 28, 2006

UOL Group is now Wee's property vehicle: CLSA

CLSA expects UOL to divest its stake in UIC or privatise Hotel Plaza

WATCHERS of UOB chairman Wee Cho Yaw's property market moves could expect further action following UOB's divestment of Hotel Negara to the UOL Group last week, CLSA says in a report. CLSA foresees two potential moves, the first involving a divestment of UOL's 12.3 per cent stake in UIC and the second a privatisation of Hotel Plaza, of which UOL already owns 78 per cent, it says.

The UOL Group 'without a doubt, is now the property vehicle of choice for Wee Cho Yaw. In recent years, chairman Wee has been accumulating shares in UOL and now holds a deemed interest of 26.4 per cent, excluding the current 11.7 per cent stake held by the UOB Group,' CLSA notes. Adding the fact that UOB had in late May divested its entire 55 per cent controlling stake in hotel and property group Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) to foreign consortium Lippo Property Investment, 'this means that UOL is clearly chairman Wee's property vehicle of choice, by default, since OUE was the only other major property asset he has', it says.

As for UIC, both Mr Wee and major shareholder John Gokongwei have been upping their stakes and 'a divestment of this UIC stake to the highest bidder might be in the offing'.

Hotel Plaza, on the other hand, is a 'very illiquid cash-rich hospitality company' that complements UOL's plans to grow in the hospitality segment, as evidenced by its increased stakes in three hotels around Marina Bay and the redevelopment of the UOL Building into a small office, home office (Soho) service apartment. UOL has been accumulating Hotel Plaza shares in the open market and with management saying that the share price is right for repurchasing, there is a 'real possibility' that UOL will privatise the group, CLSA said.

Meanwhile, other analysts said the Hotel Negara sale - though positive for both buyer and seller - has minor impact on UOB's earnings and they look towards other activities such as regional diversification and capital management for improved shareholder value. The Daiwa Institute of Research, which revised its earnings per share forecast for 2006 by 1.4 per cent to $1.66, said it has not changed expectations for UOB to declare a 40-cent special dividend, which would mean a distribution of some $490 million. It also expects a $500 million share buyback using the divestment proceeds and reiterated its 'hold' call on UOB, with a six-month $15.60 price target.

The key to higher earnings for UOB lies in better revenue and profit performance from its recent acquisitions, said Citigroup.

STOCK ALERT Singapore UOL down; bigger stake in Marina Center mildly positive
5:31 AM ET May 19, 2006

SINGAPORE, May 19, 2006 (XFN-ASIA via COMTEX) -- UOL Group Ltd was lower, tracking the decline in most property counters, although the acquisition of an additional stake in Marina Center Holdings Pte Ltd is regarded as mildly positive, dealers said.

UOL was down 0.06 sgd or 1.96 pct to 3.00 on volume of 958,000 shares.

"UOL's share price (is down) because everybody, the big caps and small caps are under pressure," OCBC analyst Winston Liew said.

CapitaLand was down 0.02 sgd at 4.50 and City Developments was 0.35 sgd lower at 9.75.

UOL announced that it bought another 30 mln shares in MCH for 62.52 mln sgd.

MCH owns the Marina Square retail mall here and controls a 50 pct interest in three five-star hotels -- the Marina Mandarin Singapore, The Oriental Singapore and the Pan Pacific Singapore.

"UOL will benefit from greater rental income and increased retail exposure from Marina, but because it's only 20 pct, it's not that big a number in terms of contribution," OCBC analyst Winston Liew said.

"The attributable pretax profit (UOL) is about 10 mln sgd, which is not that much," he said.

OCBC has a 'buy' rating on UOL, with a target price of 3.61 sgd.

Group revenue in the first quarter of 2006 increased by S$28.7 million or 28% to S$132.3 million as compared to those in the corresponding period of 2005. The increase in revenue came largely from property developments with the progressive recognition of revenues from the sale of units in Twin Regency in Kim Tian Road and Newton Suites in Newton Road. Revenue from hotel operations was also higher with the inclusion of revenue from the Sofitel Plaza Xiamen Hotel which opened in July 2005. Revenue from property investments however declined marginally, largely affected by the closure of the UOL Building for redevelopment works and extension works to the shopping mall at Novena Square.

Miscellaneous gains were lower in the first quarter of 2006 in the absence of deferred income and gain on option relating to the Exchangeable Notes. The decline in finance income was due to lower foreign exchange gain and reduced interest income. Finance expenses decreased by S$3.1 million in the absence of amortisation of bond discount relating to the Exchangeable Notes.

The share of results of associated companies was higher reflecting their better performance.

The Group's pre-tax profit in the first quarter of 2006 was $31.1 million, an increase of 17% over the pre-tax profit of $26.7 million in the corresponding period of 2005.
A commentary at the date of this announcement of the competitive conditions of the industry in which the group operates and any known factors or events that may affect the group in the next reporting period and the next 12 months

Underpinned by strong economic growth, the outlook for the Singapore property market remains good. Occupancy and rental rates for office and retail space should continue to improve while demand for residential properties is expected to remain
healthy.

Group net attributable profit after tax in the first quarter of 2006 increased by S$5.0 million or 31% to S$21.3 million as compared to the profit of S$16.3 million in the corresponding period of 2005.

Comment: NTA increase from $2.98 to $3.06

Extracted from CIMB

13 March 2006

United Overseas Land (UOL SP / UTOS.SI, OUTPERFORM - Maintained, $2.63,
Target: $3.16)

Quick takes Gets exposure to Marina properties by Tricia Song

UOL will take a 33.3% stake in a JVCo which will own OUE's commercial properties near the proposed Marina Integrated Resort ? Overseas Union House and Change Alley Aerial Plaza. This is positive for UOL as it will now be able to participate in any upside in the redevelopment of these two properties. We maintain our forecasts and RNAV for now pending more details of the redevelopment. Other catalysts for UOL's outperformance include: asset reflation from quality rental properties portfolio, accretive residential landbank and hotels via its 77% stake in Hotel Plaza and 25%
stake in Marina Mandarin, and potential value-unlocking of its financial assets of over S$800m or S$1.00 per share. Maintain target price of S$3.16, based on parity to its RNAV.

Extracted from Dow Jone

United Overseas Land (U14.SG)
Full Year ended Dec. 31:
Figures in Singapore dollars.
Earnings are unaudited, and based on local accounting standards.

Revenue= S$505,482,000 (2005) *S$461,203,000 (2004)
Pretax Profit= S$149,835,000(2005) 485,626,000(2004)
Net Profit= S$100,070,000(2005) 381,618,000(2004)
Earnings Per Share
Fully Diluted= 12.62 cents (2005) 50.64 cents(2004)
Existing Capita= 12.62 cents (2005) 50.65 cents(2004)
Dividend (total)= *7.5 cents (2005) *46.1 cents(2004)

*Revenue for 2004 was restated. 2004 pretax profit may also reflect profit from projects that came on line during 2004
*2004 dividend includes two interim dividends and one final dividend while in 2005 there was only one full and final dividend

-- Edited by tfwee at 07:56, 2006-02-20

Extracts fm Lim and Tan Report dated 15-Dec-05, 

• Wee Cho Yaw’s stake has risen to just over 20% (161 mln shares) of UOL’s issued capital, following the conversion of $30 mln UOL zero-coupon exchangeable bonds issued by UOB against UOL shares. (This represents just over 11% of the total $276.25 mln worth of bonds exchangeable into 121.7 mln shares, which works out to $2.27 per UOL share.)
  
• In March ’05, UOB had proposed a 2-part partial divestment of the 45% stake in UOL:
  
  
  
  • Distribution of 153.8 mln shares or 19.4% of UOL, to its shareholders on the basis of 100 UOL shares for every 1000 UOB shares; and
    
  • Issuance of $276.25 mln exchangeable bonds.
  
  
• Assuming full conversion of the bonds into shares, UOB’s stake in UOL will fall to 10%, which will be in compliance with the MAS requirement.
  
• It is not known whether Mr Wee and his family still hold any of the 0-coupon bonds.

COMMENTS

1. Mr Wee has, by so doing, continued to strengthen his grip over UOL.
   
2. Imagine if he had, for argument’s sake, launched a bid for UOB’s stake in UOL at $2.27 in order to gain control of UOL,and someone else comes along and offers a higher price. UOB’s board would have little choice but to accept the higher offer.
   
3. We maintain 2006 will likely see interesting and possibly exciting developments within the Wee Cho Yaw group of companies (excluding Haw Par), eg
   
   
   
   • consolidation of UOL and UIC/Sing Land;
     
   • securitization of Marina Square (makeover nearing full completion), Novena Sq, United Sq, and office properties; 
     
   • major refurbishment of Orchard Mandarin, especially to enhance returns from all those precious space on the ground floor.
   
   
4. The above takes into account the July ’06 and the end ’07 deadlines for divestment by UOB of noncore assets, and the utilization of S44 tax credits respectively, which are key dates to remember right though 2006. (We believe S44 plans must be in place by 2006 for full implementation in 2007.)
   
5. We maintain BUY on UOB, UOL.

Extracts fm CIMB Report dated 15-Dec-05, 

• Overhang will be over soon. Previously, we were Neutral on the stock as we had expected exchangeable bonds issued by UOB (121m or 15.4% of UOL shares exchangeable at an implied price of S$2.27 per share) to cap UOL’s share-price performance. Indeed, UOL shares have underperformed the SESPROP by 17% YTD. The stock is trading at a 27% discount to its RNAV, while peers are trading at 15% discounts on average. With the bonds expiring soon on 12 Jan 06, we expect investors to refocus on its fundamentals. 
  
  
• Upgrade forecasts and RNAV. We have raised our RNAV for UOL to S$3.26 from S$3.18, on the back of better selling prices for its current projects and its latest acquisitions. Our earnings forecasts for FY05-07 have been raised by 1-10%. UOL has been acquiring residential land bank in the past year. We expect residential projects to contribute pretax profits of S$160m over the next 3-4 years. UOL also has two Orchard Road properties near the two Somerset sites, whose values could be re-rated. Further value unlocking of its investment securities could yield more than S$700m or 90cts per share. 
  
  
• Upgrade target price and rating to Outperform. We repeg our target price at a 10% discount to its RNAV (from 20%), as we believe it should trade closer to its RNAV. With 23% upside, we upgrade the stock to Outperform from Neutral.

Saturday November 5, 9:28 AM
SINGAPORE PRESS: JG Summit's Bid For UIC `Unfair'

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Philippine conglomerate JG Summit Holdings' (JGS.PH) S$1.09 a share offer for Singapore's United Industrial Corp. (UIC) "is not fair from a financial point of view," according to UIC's independent financial adviser Merrill Lynch, the Business Times reports.

Citing a letter sent by UIC's independent directors to shareholders, Business Times said Merrill Lynch noted that JG Summit's offer is 22% below the Singapore property company's revalued net tangible asset per share of S$1.40. This compares unfavorably with property company acquisitions in Singapore where the discount to NTA averaged 7%.

Merrill also pointed out that shareholders could get a better price for their shares on the open market, where UIC last changed hands at S$1.17 each.

The independent financial adviser added it's been told by UIC's board that no competing offer for UIC had emerged as of Oct. 27.

JG Summit made its S$1 billion offer for UIC last month after the Philippine company's stake crossed the 30% level, triggering a mandatory general offer under Singapore regulations.

UIC's prized possession is its 72% stake in Singapore Land Ltd. (S30.SG), a major landlord in Singapore's central business district.

Extracted from SGX UOL Announcement

The Board of Directors of United Overseas Land Limited (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, UOL Development (Novena) Pte. Ltd. (“UDN”), has been awarded the tender for the acquisition of the following properties, details of which are as follows :
(1) Properties : Nos. 29, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47 and 49 Minbu Road and Lot 330C of TS 29 Minbu Road, Singapore
(2) Tenure : Freehold
(3) Aggregate Consideration : S$61,000,000
(4) Total Land Area : approximately 60,820 square feet
(5) Purpose : development of the Properties into an exclusive residential condominium

The acquisition of the Properties by UDN will be financed by internal funds and bank
borrowings, and is not expected to have a material impact on the Group’s net tangible assets or earnings per share for the financial year ending 31 December 2005.

None of the directors and substantial shareholders of the Company has any interest in the transaction.

Extracts fm Lim and Tan Report dated 26-Oct-05, 

• UOL’s bottom-line in Q3 was boosted by $11.24 mln gain on valuation of option pertaining to the $506 mln zero coupon exchangeable notes issued against the 33 mln UOB shares, as part of the UOB divestment program ($15.9 mln for the first 9 months). Net profit rose by $8.29 mln in Q3 to $33.32 mln. (Hotel Plaza’s net profit rose a moderate 14% to $8.24 mln.)
  
• Other factors that affected Q3 performance are:
  
  
  
  • Closure of Marina Mandarin Hotel for a major refurbishment from mid May to early September;
    
  • Demolition of UOL Building at Somerset Road to make way for serviced apartments;
    
  • Pre-opening expenses for Sofitel Plaza Xiamen Hotel.
    
  • Lower dividend income following the disposal of 32.8 mln UOB shares last December.
  
  
• UOL’s book NTA is $2.86.

COMMENTS

1. Interest in UOL will continue to be underpinned by

• the remaining 33 mln UOB shares, which we believe are still intended to be sold, and profit likely to be distributed to shareholders;
  
• plans for its 12.38% stake in UIC, following Gokongwei’s $1.09 takeover offer and after market purchase of 6 mln shares or 0.44% on Oct 6th. We maintain that a merger between UOL and UIC is more likely than UOL launching a counter-bid, especially once the makeover of Marina Square is fully completed, likely earlyto-mid ’06.

2. We maintain BUY as the stock remains book NTA.

-- Edited by KK at 19:31, 2005-10-26

UOL 3rd Quarter Result
3Q2005 Report

Extracted from UOL 3Q Report.

Group revenue in the third quarter of 2005 increased by $15.3 million or 14.9% to $118.1 million as compared to $102.8 million in the corresponding quarter of 2004. The increase in revenue came largely from property development, which included progressive recognition of revenues from the sale of units in the Twin Regency in Kim Tian Road and the Newton Suites in Newton Road. There was also higher revenue for the hotel operations and trading activities. Revenue from property investments was lower as the UOL Building along Somerset Road, Singapore, was closed for redevelopment works. The UOB Building in Xiamen, China, which closed in September 2004 for conversion works, has re-opened in late July 2005 as the Sofitel Plaza Xiamen Hotel.

Dividend income declined following the sale of 32.8 million ordinary shares in United Overseas Bank Limited ("UOB") in November 2004. Included in Other Operating Income for third quarter of 2005 was a gain of $11.2 million on valuation of option pertaining to the $506.22 million zero coupon Exchangeable Notes ("Notes"). Other operating expenses have increased due mainly to depreciation charges and preopening expenses incurred for the Sofitel Plaza Xiamen Hotel. Finance income has benefited from higher interest income on fixed deposits.

The results of the associated companies were affected by the closure of the 25% owned Marina Mandarin Hotel for major refurbishment works from mid May 2005 to early September 2005.

The Group achieved pre-tax profit of $45.7 million for the third quarter of 2005, an increase of $8.2 million or 21.9% as compared to the pre-tax profit of $37.5 million in the third quarter of 2004. Group net after tax profit for the third quarter of 2005 was $38.2 million or 29.6% higher than the profit of $29.5 million in the corresponding quarter of 2004.


Looking Forward

The Singapore economy continues to grow and outlook in the property market and hotel industry remains good. In the region, economic prospects are positive.

The Group's offices and retail malls in Singapore are enjoying good occupancies and improved rentals. Taking advantage of the better sentiment, the Group recently launched the sale of its 104-unit residential cum SOHO Regency Suites at Kim Tian Road with encouraging take-up rate.

Other than the hotel in Yangon, the Group's hotel operations are likely to benefit from better average room rates and/or higher occupancies.

As none of the Notes was exchanged into UOB shares upon maturity on 22 September 2005, the Group had retained for its own account the 33 million UOB shares and additional dividend income of $9.4 million. The Group intends to hold on to the 33 million UOB shares as investment and will continue to seek opportunities to maximise returns from this investment. A commentary at the date of this announcement of the competitive conditions of the industry in which the group operates and any known factors or events that may affect the group in the next reporting period and the next 12 months



Comment: The NTA of UOL share is now at $2.88 (Current Share Price: 2.31). Profit is increasing

Extracts fm Lim and Tan Report dated 24-Oct-05,

• Gokongwei disclosed in the offer document, plans to set up one or more reits should he succeed with his takeover offer for UIC at $1.09 per share, ie gaining more than 50% of the company.
  
• UIC shares hit a high of $1.28 on Oct 11th, 4 days after Gokongwei made his offer, which was after he bought 50,000 UIC shares on Oct 5th at $1.09 each, which raised his stake to 30.0008%. The offer is to buy out the remaining 964.226 mln shares.
  
• UOL last bought 6.09 mln UIC shares on Oct 6th (when the stock traded between $1.13-1.17), thereby lifting UOL’s stake to 12.38%, from 11.94% previously. Including UOB’s and Haw Par’s interests, Mr Wee is estimated to own between 25-26% of UIC.

COMMENTS

1. We believe Gokongwei’s plans will put pressure on Chairman Wee Cho Yaw to unlock shareholders value at UIC and Singapore Land, which is 72.42% owned by UIC. A commitment by the latter to “review” the situation would suffice, we believe.
   
2. It is a fact that UIC / Sing Land have significantly under-performed the property sector for a long period of time. Sing Land used to be THE premier property company in Singapore, indeed, bearing the name of the country. 
   
3. It is also a fact that while properties held by UIC, Sing Land and UOL are “reit-able”, and the makeover of Marina Square is largely completed, it may be around mid ’06 when it is fully ready for securitization.
   
4. Meanwhile, we maintain there is a low probability of a counter bid from Mr Wee, and noted that it has been just over 2 weeks since Mr Wee bought UIC shares, although we expect him to build up his stake to just under 30%.