Here are the best times to book flights in Singapore.

Global travel search engine Skyscanner has revealed in their latest study the best times to book flights in Singapore for this year.

According to the study, the best time to book flights to 10 of Singapore’s most loved destinations including Bangkok, Bali and Hong Kong is between 21–25 weeks in advance. Travellers leveraging on this booking window can benefit from average savings of 21–22%.

The study noted that contrary to popular belief, travellers do not always need to book months in advance to avoid hefty price increases, as there are a few sweet-spot weeks closer to departure. Singapore-outbound travellers booking and planning their air tickets less than two months in advance can still enjoy just 10% price hikes.

For travellers looking to visit Bali and Hong Kong, booking should be done four weeks in advance to dodge high price increases, while those interested in Phuket and Jakarta have a lead time of three weeks. Travellers looking for last minute getaways can consider visiting Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, where they can still book two weeks in advance, before prices increase by more than 10%. 

“By saving on flights, travellers are free to spend more at their destination of choice – be that on hotels, car rental, or restaurants and sightseeing. But what we also want to highlight this year is really the ‘sweet spot’ deals, where Singaporean’s can book flights just a few weeks in advance and still enjoy great deals – without having to plan months ahead,” Skyscanner marketing manager Pamela Knaggs said. 

Check the infographic from Skyscanner below:

Some hirers prefer not to upgrade to newer models.

One ComfortDelGro's key focuses for this year is to retain existing taxi hirers, and keep taxi fleet idle rate low.

OCBC Investment Research highlighted that the transport group has been pushing out several forms of revenue and risk sharing scheme to hirers to retain them.

This comes with the group's statement saying they will review and may intentionally slow down taxi fleet renewal programme.

"The reason is because given the current competitive landscape, CDG’s existing hirers prefer not to upgrade to a newer model where rental costs will be higher," OCBC noted.

It furthered, "And by stretching the older model taxi fleet to the maximum regulatory lifespan of eight years, they are able to retain existing hirers by not increasing the rates as a result of fleet renewal." 

CFE outlines recommendations on developing ways to create new spaces.

The Committee on the Future Economy is seeing the need for Singapore to develop a vibrant and connected city of opportunity for it to boost its economic growth by 2-3% this year.

As laid out by CFE, the Government should continually invest in new international connections, like that of the development of Changi Airport’s Terminal 5 and the next-generation seaport in Tuas. The committee noted that these developments will further strengthen Singapore’s position as a global air and maritime hub.

More so, the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) will connect the city-state to the capital of Malaysia, allowing both countries to benefit from the connectivity.

"In the future economy, Singapore must also be digitally connected, for that would allow us to transcend our boundaries. We must maintain our position as one of the world’s most digitally connected cities. This will be supported by the strengthening of Singapore’s communications infrastructure, e.g. by trialling technologies such as the Heterogeneous Network (HetNet)," CFE stated.

Meanwhile, it was also suggested to increase the space Singapore can use even with its limited land. CFE recommended the development of new ways to create new space, such as by developing an underground masterplan to expand underground infrastructure.

"We can also use our existing space better, for example by creating an urban logistics system that will reduce congestion," CFE said.

Another recommendation is to create dense clusters of mutually-reinforcing economic activities – such as in Punggol and JID – by siting companies of varying sizes with synergistic activities together to encourage partnerships.

"At the same time, we can do more to make existing iconic districts more vibrant. Orchard Road, for instance, should be upgraded into a lively shopping and lifestyle destination with a signature street experience. We are building a second Central Business District (CBD) in the Jurong Lake District, with a mix of commercial as well as residential areas. We should strive to be a leading city for the development and appreciation of design and the arts," CFE mentioned.  

They could post a 44% surge in combined provisions.

According to a report in Bloomberg, the woes of Singaporean energy-services provider Ezra Holdings Ltd. are a stark reminder to the city’s biggest banks of the threat souring oil and gas loans pose to their earnings.

A write-down flagged by Ezra recently has refocused attention on the debt-repayment problems marine-services firms are facing, fueling concerns that lenders may have to set aside more money to cover loan losses. Fourth-quarter results due this week from DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and its two biggest rivals may include a 44 percent surge in combined provisions for the period from a year earlier, according to RHB Capital Bhd.

“At the end of the day, it’s the issue of provisioning that will weigh down on profitability,” said Leng Seng Choon, an RHB analyst in Singapore.

Read the full story here.

It could switch the acquisition mode on.

There is no doubt that new telco TPG is starting from a position of weakness as it competes against players like Singtel, StarHub and M1 that have years of operating history in Singapore. According to DBS Vickers Securities, acquisitions could cure some of its initial headaches.

"Though TPG is unlikely to acquire an existing wireless service provider, as any such attempt is likely to be blocked by the regulator, Info-communications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), TPG could potentially acquire an already operational fixed operation in Singapore," DBS noted, pointing out that this would give TPG a head start in deploying its support infrastructure along with an ability to bundle mobile and fixed broadband.

At present, the market has three fixed-only operators catering to both retail and corporate customers including MyRepublic, ViewQuest, and SuperInternet.

Singapore hotels find success in being average.

According to a report from Reuters, Singapore's hotels, which were once known for their opulence, are now entering a new era. Mid-tier hotels are set to account for the highest proportion of new supply at 34%, research from brokerage DBS shows.

More so, the report noted that millennials flying in for business in Singapore's growing Fintech space are more interested in good wifi and how much fun they can have in the hotel's common areas than elegant furnishings.

Read the full report from Reuters by clicking on this link.

On the back of lesser expenses due to weakened currencies.

Singapore transport group ComfortDelGro registered a 5% uptick in its net profit 2016 to $317.1m from $301.9m from the previous year. This came as its revenue slid 1.3% to $4.06b an actual revenue increase of $72.4m was eroded by a negative foreign currency translation effect of $124.4m.

The net profit was supported by the 1.7% decline in operating costs to $3.6b, as an actual increase of $48.4m was more than compensated by the favourable currency effect of $111.9m.

"As a result, operating profit for the year ended 31 December 2016 increased by 2.6% to $462.2m. It would have increased by 5.3% if not for the unfavourable currency translation effect," the group noted.

Here's the operations review stated in the group's SGX announcement:

Public Transport Services
At Group level, full-year revenue from the public transport services business fell by 1.1% to $2.31 billion as the actual revenue increase of $75.4 million was eroded by an unfavourable currency translation of $100.8 million from the weaker Sterling Pound and Australian Dollar.

Taxi
At Group level, full-year revenue for the taxi business increased by 1.1% to $1.34 billion, with actual revenue growth of $35.2 million partially eroded by a negative foreign currency translation effect of $21.2 million due to the weaker Sterling Pound, Renminbi, Australian Dollar and Vietnamese Dong.

Inspection and Testing Services
Revenue from the Group’s inspection and testing services business decreased by 3.4% to $107.1 million.
 

No thanks to the losses in the US eCommerce business.

Despite a 16.8% uptick in its revenue for the past quarter to $369.4m, postal service provider Singapore Post still suffered a weak net profit of $31.4m, 28.5% lower than the previous period.

The group said the declines were due to the operating losses in the US eCommerce business, costs related to the new Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub, and a fall in domestic mail volumes.

Covering group CEO Mervyn Lim said SingPost is building out its capabilities, broadening and deepening its eCommerce logistics network to secure its future.

"There are challenges along the journey and it is going to take a number of years for our investments to contribute,” Lim noted.

Due to the poor performance of TradeGlobal, the Board of SingPost is of the view that there is a risk of significant impairment to TradeGlobal’s carrying value. The Board will also be conducting a review of all the investments of SingPost. Impairments, if any, will be assessed based on the results of the full financial year ending 31 March 2017 and future plans for the businesses.

Here are some of the highlights of the group's announcement:

In the Postal segment, Domestic mail revenue declined in line with lower letter mail volumes, in particular with financial institutions pushing e-statements. This was offset by growth in International mail revenue which was driven by higher cross-border eCommerce related deliveries, especially with higher volumes from the Alibaba Group. Consequently, Postal revenue rose slightly in the third quarter and nine months respectively.

Logistics revenue rose by 5.6% and 5.2% for third quarter and nine monthsrespectively, driven by higher contribution from Couriers Please and Quantium Solutions from increased eCommerce-related activities.

eCommerce revenue rose with the inclusion of new US subsidiaries, TradeGlobal from 14 November 2015 and Jagged Peak from 8 March 2016.

Rental and property-related income decreased 1.4% and 7.1% in the third quarter and nine months respectively. This was due to lower retail rental revenue with the redevelopment of Singapore Post Centre (“SPC”) retail mall, which is due for completion by mid-2017.

Miscellaneous other income was a loss of S$1.8 million and a gain of S$7.3 million in the third quarter and nine months respectively, compared to gains of S$3.0 million and S$46.2 million in the comparative periods. The drop in Q3 was due to trade-related translation differences whilst the decline in 9M was due to one-off gains from the disposals of Novation Solutions and DataPost HK in Q1 last year and DataPost in Q2 last year.

The telco has been ramping up its cyber security.

Telco giant Singtel is making all the right moves as it invests and builds up its cyber security and ICT capabilities. OCBC Investment Research said this is evident from its strong enterprise revenue growth.

OCBC noted that while its acquistion of the cyber security firm Trustwave is expected to turn profitable only in a few years, it has a potential to be a significant growth driver of Singtel’s enterprise business over the medium-to-longer-term.

The brokerage firm also commended Singtel for the said initiatives, given that Singapore’s Committee on the Future Economy has identified building strong digital capabilities as one of the seven key economic strategies.

"With CFE recommending to develop the digital economy in Singapore on a national level, we expect Singtel to benefit from it over the longer term," OCBC said.
 

These were laid out by the Committee on the Future Economy.

The Committee on the Future Economy unveiled key recommendations that can bolster Singapore's annual growth to as much as 3%. This came after more than a year of consulting over 9,000 stakeholders.

The CFE has identified seven mutually-reinforcing strategies to achieve this vision.

"In the future economy, our people should have deep skills and be inspired to learn throughout their lives; our businesses should be innovative and nimble; our city connected and vibrant, continually renewing itself; and our Government coordinated, inclusive, and responsive," CFE said  

Below are CFE's seven recommendations:

Morgan Stanley, UBS, and DBS are chosen as the advisers on the share sale.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., the city-state’s largest phone company, said it has hired three banks as it prepares for an initial public offering to divest more than 75 percent of its wholly-owned fiber broadband network unit NetLink Trust.

Morgan Stanley, UBS Group AG and DBS Group Holdings Ltd. are the advisers on the share sale, Singtel Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong said at a briefing on Thursday. The company said it’s too early for details on the size or pricing of the proposed offering.

Singtel intends to meet the April 2018 deadline set by the regulator to reduce its stake in NetLink Trust to less than 25 percent, the company said. It may use the proceeds from the share sale for capital management and investments, and could return any excess capital to shareholders, Chua said.

Read full story here.

Amidst 13.9% decrease in resale volume.

According to SRX Property, there was a 0.3% decrease in HDB resale prices in January 2017 compared to that of December 2016. The resale prices of HDB 3 Rooms, HDB 4 Rooms decreased by 0.6% and 0.5% respectively, while HDB 5 Rooms and HDB Executive increased by 0.4% and 0.9% respectively.

Year-on-year, prices have decreased by 0.1% from January 2016. Prices have declined 11.2% since the peak in April 2013. In January 2017, HDB resale prices in mature estates decreased by 0.7%, while non-mature estates remained the same.

Meanwhile, SRX Property said there were 1,174 HDB resale flats sold in January 2017, a 13.9% decrease from 1,364 transacted units in December 2016. Year-on-year, resale volume decreased by 8.9% compared to 1,289 units resold in January 2016.

Blame the one-time US syndication gain last year.

Leading modern logistics facilities provider Global Logistic Properties reported a slight dip in its earnings for the past quarter ending in December, down 4.8% to US$256.1m ($363m).

The dip in its profits is due to a one-time syndication gain last year related to its first US portfolio and higher non-cash accounting foreign exchange losses.

GLP CEO Ming Z. Mei noted that demand for GLP's logistics facilities remains robust globally, with new and renewal leases up 42% YoY.

"New developments are proceeding at a healthy pace, in line with our projections, as we continue to maintain sound investment discipline while growing our portfolio. Our fund management platform continues to deliver strong performance and is a key area of growth going forward,” Mei noted.

Thanks to its strong performance in Singapore, Australia and India.

Singtel delivered a resilient Q3, with a strong core business and higher contributions from regional mobile associates leading to a 2% spike in net profit to $973m.

In the core business, ICT revenues grew, bolstered by contract wins by NCS and demand for cyber security services. Higher consumer home services revenue in Singapore and growth in postpaid mobile customer numbers in Australia helped mitigate continued voice to data substitution and roaming revenue declines.

The group said that amongst the associates, strong performance from Telkomsel offset the impact of very intense competition in India, driving associates’ pre-tax contributions up 2% to $660m. However, operating revenue was down 2%, with the impact of mandated cuts to mobile termination rates in Australia. 

Singtel group CEO Chua Sock Koong said the telco managed to hold good ground against the backdrop of a slowing Singapore economy.

"Our ICT business, particularly cyber security, has held us in good stead. This quarter, we focused on building out our global network of security operation centres while increasing resources in sales and delivery to meet the growing demand for cyber security services," she said.

Its Singapore consumer business showed improvement this quarter, with consumer revenues up 4% as home services revenue grew 7%.

"Our consumer business also did well, due primarily to ongoing cost management, the sub-license of Premier League content rights in Singapore and significant growth in branded postpaid mobile customers migrating to higher-tier plans in Australia," Chua noted.

Here's more from the group:

On the associates front, Telkomsel delivered a strong performance with pre-tax profits up 31% on the back of robust growth across data and digital businesses. However, Airtel’s pre-tax profits fell 27%, with the combined effects of intensifying competition from a new operator in India, higher spectrum amortisation and financing costs, further exacerbated by demonetisation. In Thailand, AIS continued its revenue growth momentum, leveraging its nationwide 4G network that now covers 98% of the population. However, AIS' earnings were affected by higher amortisation charges as well as higher costs incurred through the leasing of 2100Mhz spectrum and equipment from TOT. In the Philippines, Globe’s earnings increased on stable revenues and tight cost management. 

Due to continued investment costs in new markets.

Fraser and Neave Limited recorded a revenue of $495m for the past quarter ending in December, up slightly by 0.2% from $493.8m.

This increase was mainly attributed to the contribution from the vending business which was acquired in July 2016, as well as revenue growth in Dairies Thailand and New Markets of Myanmar and Vietnam.

However, the revenue was slightly badgered by and 8% increase in operating expenses associated with the rise in distribution cost. Coupled with continued brand investment costs in new markets of Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, and negative foreign exchange effects, F&N’s net profit recorded a 15.3% downfall to $40.5m.

Dairies Thailand continued to be the group's best performing operation. Despite the flat volume and moderate revenue increase due to a slow-down in consumer spending, Dairies Thailand earnings jumped 16% mainly due to favourable input costs and weaker Singapore Dollar.

For beverages, top-line grew 5%, which was supported by the newly acquired vending business and growth in Beverages Singapore and New Markets, negative translation effects, rising input costs and continued marketing and administrative overheads to support brand building and distribution expansion activities affected earnings. However, beverages earnings fell 20% to $8.7m.

Here's more from the group:

Soft Drinks Malaysia 1Q2017 revenue fell 1 per cent (+1 per cent in constant currency) due to the weaker Ringgit, poor consumer sentiment and competitive pricing pressure. As a result of increasing raw material costs, in particular sugar, and higher trade and consumer promotion spending, Soft Drinks Malaysia 1Q2017 PBIT declined 27 per cent. On the other hand, the Group’s New Markets of Myanmar and Vietnam delivered strong top-line growth in 1Q2017. In particular, Myanmar experienced revenue growth as a result of distribution expansion and successful brand building initiatives, mainly for 100PLUS. Its canned milk, TEAPOT, which was formally introduced in Myanmar last year, also contributed to revenue growth, supported by the widening of distribution channels. Similarly, Vietnam achieved revenue growth in 1Q2017 due to effective festive-led promotions and success in growing distribution reach.

On 1 December 2016, the Group exercised a call option to acquire the remaining 30 per cent stake in Yoke Food Industries Sdn Bhd (“YFI”) for RM23.4 million (S$7.5 million). Together with the 70 per cent stake acquired in April 2014, this acquisition effectively increased the Group’s shareholding interest in YFI to 100 per cent. YFI carries on the business of manufacturing, marketing, distributing and exporting
of beverages, primarily in Indochina, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. This acquisition complements the Group’s existing F&B business by offering an increased opportunity for the distribution and marketing of its brands in Southeast Asia, as well as establishes greater scale and a wider portfolio of brands.

On 21 December 2016, the Group completed its acquisition of additional shares representing approximately 5.4 per cent interest in Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (“Vinamilk”) through a competitive bid process, reaffirming its confidence in the management and business prospects of Vinamilk. In addition to a series of open market purchases in January 2017, to date, the Group has successfully raised its shareholding in Vinamilk to 17.5 per cent. 

Local bourse sentiment will remain cautious today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 5.11 points or 0.17% lower to 3066.53 on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date performance to +6.38%.

The top active stocks today were DBS, which declined 0.32%, Singtel, which declined 0.78%, OCBC Bank, which gained 0.31%, Global Logistic, which gained 0.36% and UOB, with a 0.05% advance.

According to OCBC, this came as the Nasdaq Composite Index eked out gains to finish at a record for a second day in a row on Wednesday, but weak financial stocks dragged the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower in a session where the major indexes mostly hugged the flatline.

Meanwhile, seven out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher. The best performer was Utilities (0.91%) and worst performer was Financials (-0.75%).

"The mixed showing on Wall Street overnight is likely to keep local sentiment fairly cautious today," OCBC noted.

Here's more from the firm:

We keep the initial hurdle at 3075, ahead of 3100; on the downside, we maintain the immediate support at 3040, ahead of its subsequent base at 3000.

Overall volume tumbled 3.6% with 3.5b units traded, and total value dipped 9.4% to S$1.2b, while average value/unit fell 6.1% to S$0.33. 

Auto loans make up only around 3% of total consumer lending.

Consumer loan growth slid to 0.2% YoY in December, reversing its 0.7% growth in the preceding month. According to Maybank Kim Eng, this is its worst reading since September 2009.

The only bright spot is the car loan segment, which grew 0.2% as MAS eased rules on motor vehicle financing in May 2016. This is its first YoY growth since November 2012 when MAS reintroduced restrictions on vehicle financing in 2013.

However, Maybank noted that car loans are unable to support the overall slack in consumer lending as the segment currently forms only around 3% of the total loans.