Catalist is the transformed SESDAQ (Stock Exchange of Singapore Dealing and Automated Quotation system), SGX’s then second board. It is part of SGX’s long-term strategy to attract both small, fast-growing firms to list in Singapore. As of today, there are a total of 134 stocks data found in the Singapore Catalist Stock Exchange.

Some of these companies information can be found in Singapore Catalist Stock Exchange Listing hosted in Singapore DIRepublic. Quite useful Singapore investment directory. Hope that Main Board information will also be available there.

Markets around the globe have suffered huge falls this week. Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s said early on Saturday it had downgraded the US from its top AAA rating to AA+. This means American government debt is no longer one of the world’s safest investments!

While the move has been anticipated by markets since last week’s deal in Washington agreed a cut of only $2.5trillion in the deficit, it’s unclear how markets will react when they open on Monday. The loss of the top-notch rating may cause panic on the markets with traders fearing the world’s biggest economy may be heading back to recession.

In an interview, Warren Buffett told the FOX Business Network that the US is still in triple A rating.

In fact, the US debt default is unlikely. The US owes no money in currency other than the US dollar. The US government can print any amount of currency notes at will to repay its obligations at any one time.

According to Buffett, “I don’t get it. It doesn’t make sense. In Obama, the U.S. is still Triple-A rated and if there were a Quadruple-A I’d give the U.S. that.”

By the way, the US’s debt is still rated AAA by Moody’s and Fitch, the two other largest agencies.

To success in investment, we need to have the ability to measure the value of something and more importantly pay a lot less.

A lot of investment books may teach us how to compute the value of a company based on the sum of all of the earnings we expect to collect from that business over its lifetime. However, this is only based on guesses – something we expect on the business of the company. However, nobody really know the future of anything, not to mentione 10 years, 20 years or 30 years from now. Small changes in the calculation of future earnings will result in big different estimation of the value of a company. As such, valuation of a company only based on current earning and future expected earnings may not be accurate and meaningful!

As an investor looking for value, we may need more methods in valuing a company.

The market is down for quite some time now. Recently most of the talk of the day with my friends are about the down trend of the current market.

A lot of people are panic and do not dare to buy. Everyone worried about the situation at the moment.

As in Singapore market, bargain are everywhere. A lot of counters are selling less than their NTA. Having said that, it does not guarantee a good return for short term buying. Although value investors enjoy declining markets so that they can accumulate more stocks which fit their valuation criteria. It is always difficult to invest more during this difficult period as most of our existing equity may go down with the trend too.

Nobody can predict the future. No one can escape every market correction. However, during this period of correction time, it may be a good opportunity for us to accumulate more great companies at unbelievable prices.

Anyway, please remember to only invest within your capacity!

On 30/Nov/2010, Chuan Hup Holdings Limited announced that the Company has entered into sale and purchase agreement resulted in the complete divestment of the Company’s shareholding interest in Scomi Marine Bhd.

The aggregate sum of the consideration approximately S$38,341,0601.With this transaction, assuming that the Proposed Divestment had been completed on 30 June 2010, based on the audited consolidated financial statements of the Group for the financial year ended 30 June 2010, the effect on the NTA per Share as at 30 June 2010 would be 36.35 cents.

It is good to make profit – it will be much much better if the profit is higher and higher. Especially in the bull market, you will see your stock go up and up every single day. However, at certain point, we will need to sell our position to make the real profit.

I always make the wrong timing in selling my position so far – especially in this bull market. Most of the stocks I sold went up quite a lot after I sold them. This is not any good experience, although I have make some profit from it.

However, recently I realized that I may need to think the other way. I should be happy with the profit I make and should leave some profit for the people who bought the stocks from me. It will not be good feeling if the other party make a big loss after purchasing my stocks. At the end of the day, no party make any loss in the transaction!

This will be part of my investment philosophy from now on.

This is not so actively traded stock in SGX. It has not declared any dividend for these 2 years.

Chuan Hup Holdings Limited (“CHH”) was founded in 1970 operates as an investment holding company with investments in the following sectors:

1) Marine

• CH Offshore Limited (listed on the Main Board of SGX-ST) 23.71%
• Scomi Marine Berhad (“Scomi Marine”)(listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities) 23.19%

2) Manufacturing

• PCI Limited (“PCI”)(listed on the Main Board of SGX-ST) 34.72%

3) Property

• Ventrade Australia Pty Ltd (“Ventrade Australia”)
• Security Land Corporation (“SLC”)
• Finbar Group Limited (“Finbar”) (listed on the Australian Securities Exchange) 17.83%

4) Other Investments
This is represented by treasury activities and other investments as follows:

• engineering, marketing and servicing transit concrete mixers
• biotechnology sector
• vessel management activities
• structured bank deposits and other treasury products

As of this writing, the current 0.255 cents unit price is quite attractive from fundamental analysis.

In 2002, United States President Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) into law to “re-establish investor confidence in the integrity of corporate disclosures and financial reporting”. It is named after sponsors U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and U.S. Representative Michael G. Oxley (R-OH).

The Act covers a whole range of governance issues, many covering the types of trade that are allowed within a company, with an emphasis upon keeping everything above board. For example, the Act forbids personal loans to officers and directors.
The act was brought on by a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom. A variety of complex factors created the conditions and culture in which these series of large corporate frauds occurred between 2000–2002. These scandals, which cost investors billions of dollars when the share prices of affected companies collapsed, shook public confidence in the nation’s securities markets.

Prior to SOX, auditing firms were self-regulated. They also performed significant non-audit or consulting work for the companies they audited. Many of these consulting agreements were far more lucrative than the auditing engagement. This presented at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. For example, challenging the company’s accounting approach might damage a client relationship, conceivably placing a significant consulting arrangement at risk, damaging the auditing firm’s bottom line.

The SOX requires that the lead partner of the auditing firm rotate off of the audit every five years. The firm does not need to be changed, although that is one way to accomplish this. In addition, the auditing firm cannot provide non-audit services to the company at the time of the audit. The audit firm must also report to the audit committee “critical accounting policies and practices.

Each company’s external auditors must also audit and report on the internal control reports of management and any other areas that may affect internal controls. The company’s principal executive officer and principal financial officer must personally certify that the financial reports are true and that everything has been disclosed. Many of the Act’s provisions apply to all companies, US and foreign. However, some provisions apply only to companies that have equity securities listed on an exchange or NASDAQ.

By the way, the legislation is not only affecting the financial side of a public listed company, it also affects the IT departments whose job includes storing a company’s electronic records. The SOX states that all business records, including electronic records and electronic messages, must be saved for “not less than five years.” The consequences for non-compliance are fines, imprisonment, or both. IT departments are increasingly faced with the challenge of creating and maintaining a corporate records archive in a cost-effective fashion that satisfies the requirements put forth by the legislation.

The effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 reach further than just the publicly listed companies. If you do business with public companies, you may have already been asked to become compliant. Debate continues over the perceived benefits and costs of SOX. Supporters contend the legislation was necessary and has played a useful role in restoring public confidence in the nation’s capital markets by, among other things, strengthening corporate accounting controls. The details of the SOX address many of the tactics companies have used to “cook the books” over the years. Opponents of the bill claim it has reduced America’s international competitive edge against foreign financial service providers, saying SOX has introduced an overly complex regulatory environment into U.S. financial markets.

There is not much trading for this stock in the SGX. Most of the time, it only attracted interest from traders / investors when company declared dividend.

Transpac Industrial Holdings Limited is a Singapore-based company. The principal activity of the Company is to invest, for capital appreciation, in securities of across many industries, including financial services, consumer and industrial products, software, real estate, and health care in Asia. It has investments primarily in China, Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The group’s subsidiaries are engaged in investment holding; manufacture, sale and distribution of food products; distribution business, manufacture and sale of fermented bean curd, and manufacture and sale of seasoning products. The Company’s subsidiaries include Foodstar Holdings Pte Ltd and Little Rock Group Limited.

In June 2010, Heinz Enters enter into agreement to acquire Foodstar from Transpac Industrial Holdings.

Many dream to own their own home!

Property has been a popular route to wealth for many. Buying their own home is often the first investment many people make; purchasing another property may well be the second even before shares and other assets.

But why choose to invest in property rather than the other growth asset like stock? While the Stock Market offers high returns, many investors have found it to be a volatile and dangerous place. This is especially true for the non-professional investor as there are many hidden external factors that can effect a financial investment. Some of the reasons in property investment are:

• capital growth
• rental income
• hedge against inflation
• greater degree of control

Sensible investments in property have many attractions. Property can be less volatile than shares though not always and it tends to be regarded as a safe haven when other assets are declining in value.

Property investment has the potential to generate capital growth (an increase in the value of your asset) as well as rental income. Putting our money in the bank or investing in fixed interest does not give us any capital growth. Even though properties increase in value over time, however, it is important to ensure that we buy property in the right location to maximize the capital growth. In the early stages, rental incomes often do not exceed outgoings on a property – particularly the costs of servicing the loan. But as the property increases in value, rents tend to rise faster than costs and the property generates net income.

Inflation is common everywhere. The rate of inflation varies according to the strength of the economy. One of the benefits of holding property is that property values increase at a greater rate than inflation.

Start early. Buying a small apartment to rent out can be a good way to build a big enough nest egg so we can eventually buy our own place, in an area where we want to live.

Still others are diversifying into non-residential property via property trusts like REIT.

However, as with any investment, there are no guarantees. Property prices go down, as well as up, and sometimes tenants are hard to find especially good ones who pay on time and take care of your investment.

Investors need to have a keen awareness of the interest rate environment how higher rates might affect their expected net return and the market for their property should they wish to sell. They also need to make sure the return or yield from their property stands up against the return they might have achieved had they invested in shares, for example.

To invest in property, we can invest in managed funds with a property focus, listed property trusts. This will provide exposure to a broader range of property including commercial, industrial and retail as well as residential often with a smaller investment required.

No investment is risk free. Many people have become wealthy through property investment, but it is also possible to lose money. Buying the right type of property in the right location will help us to achieve our goal.