Building materials supplier Pan-United Corp has been regularly buying back its own shares on the open market. The most recent acquisition was on June 21 when the company acquired 50,000 shares at 39.6 cents each. This brings the total bought back under the current mandate to 1.17 million shares, equivalent to 0.1% of the share base.
Just a day earlier, the company had bought back 122,000 shares, also at 39.6 cents.
Earlier on June 1, 5 and 14, Pan-United had bought back 75,000 shares, 115,000 shares and 20,000 shares respectively. On all three days, the acquisition price was 39.5 cents each. On June 15, Pan-United also acquired 15,000 shares at 39.2 cents each.
On Feb 9, Pan-United reported earnings of $23.4 million in FY2022 ended December 2022, up 25% from $18.7 million in FY2021. Revenue in the same period was up 20% y-o-y to $703.3 million, led by higher selling prices. As at Dec 31, 2022, the company’s net asset value stood at 30.3 cents, down slightly from 29.3 cents recorded on Dec 31, 2021.
Citing estimates by the Building and Construction Authority, Pan-United notes that demand of ready-mix concrete (RMC) will reach between 11.5 million and 12.5 million cubic metres this year, compared to the 11.6 million cubic metres required last year.
“The industry is expected to continue to face challenges from higher operating costs such as energy and manpower costs,” states Pan-United in its earnings commentary.
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Pan-United, as one of the leading RMC suppliers, is also actively positioning itself for the sustainability journey.
On Feb 21, the company announced that PSA’s Tuas Port, which is under construction in phases, will be using 360,000 cubic metres of carbon dioxide (CO2) mineralised concrete supplied by Pan-United over 30 months. The port will be built in stages, with full completion tentatively slated for the 2040s.
“We are delighted at PSA’s commitment to the use of our CO2 mineralised concrete for its Tuas Port Phase One project,” says Pan-United CEO May Ng.
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“It will contribute to PSA’s efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. We will continue to champion sustainability in Singapore and globally, and work alongside fellow industry leaders in our journey to reach new frontiers in decarbonising Singapore’s built environment,” she adds.
OCBC tightens control over insurer
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) has increased its stake in Great Eastern Holdings G07 , its closely-held insurance subsidiary.
Via a married deal on June 19, the bank acquired 2,345,800 shares at $16.99 each, equivalent to 0.496% of the total.
Based on Great Eastern’s list of top 20 shareholders, there are only a handful of shareholders who can muster that many shares to sell.
The sellers are believed to be the offspring of a late Malaysian shareholder who do not reside in Singapore or Malaysia.
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OCBC made the first big move to tighten its control over Great Eastern back in 2004 when it was then holding a 48.9% stake. For each Great Eastern share, OCBC O39 offered 0.976 new shares in exchange. The share prices of both companies were trading at around $12 then.
In June 2006, while holding 83.1% of Great Eastern, OCBC made another attempt with an improved offer of $16 per share. However, not all minority shareholders of Great Eastern were swayed by the offer as OCBC was only able to raise its stake to around 87%.
With the latest transaction on June 19, OCBC now holds 88.404% of Great Eastern, up from 87.908% previously, and a tad closer to the minimum free float requirement of at least 10%.
