Comfort Delgro

[CityFarmer]

A sign to show the company is a price maker, rather a price taker?

As the biggest taxi operator in Singapore, they are definitely the price maker. The increase is quite significant, from 0.22c to 0.3c, that is a 36% surge!

I am sure other taxi operators will follow suit. To quote another example, my favorite culture milk brand Y recently increased it prices by about 7%. Its competitor, brand V did not and I am happy to make a switch. Few days ago when I want to stock up brand V, it prices has increased to be the same as brand Y. Unless I decided to stop taking culture milk, I have no other alternative. Consumer is the price taker.

But for CDG, I have benefited from its raising share price. I have hold this counter for years. It is going XD on 3 May, and with price now about $2, I am thinking of taking profit after XD. Anyone has the same feeling?

CDG has slightly more than 60% market share of taxi service in Singapore IIRC, but market leader does not always equal to price maker IMO. In this case, CDG has more than just maker leader to be a price maker.

(not vested)

[Musicwhiz]

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on May 21, 2013
COMFORTDELGRO
Transport giant grows Aussie bus business

TRANSPORT group ComfortDelGro Corp is acquiring Melbourne bus company Driver Group for about A$22 million (S$26.8 million), in a move that will further expand its footprint Down Under.

The proposed acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed in July. It is made through CDC Victoria, a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Cabcharge - a joint venture between ComfortDelGro and Cabcharge of Australia.

ComfortDelGro already operates bus services in both New South Wales and Victoria.

With the latest acquisition, CDC Victoria will have five metropolitan bus routes and a fleet of 42 vehicles. These buses will operate out of CDC Victoria's existing depots in Oakleigh.

Driver Group is an 82-year-old family-owned transport and tourism company based in Melbourne. It operates city bus routes under a long-term contract with the Victorian Government in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

In late 2008, ComfortDelGro acquired the Kefford Group, Victoria's fourth-largest bus operator which covers Melbourne's western suburbs.

Driver Group also operates school services, tourist shuttles and charter services. But these will not be part of the acquisition.

ComfortDelGro has been expanding its international presence steadily since its formation 10 years ago.

Just last month, it announced that it was acquiring part of FirstGroup plc's London bus business and assets for £57.5 million (S$109.5 million).

Nine months ago, it paid A$53 million for Deane's Bus Lines and Transborder Express, which operate services into Canberra.

The latest acquisition is not expected to have any material impact on ComfortDelGro's net tangible assets or earnings this year.

CHRISTOPHER TAN

[CityFarmer]

ComfortDelGro near 6-yr highs; lifts index

Transport operator ComfortDelGro Corporation rose more than 2% to a near six-year high, lifting Singapore’s benchmark stock index, after it announced plans to expand its bus operations in Australia.

The company’s shares rose as much as 2.4% to $2.14, the highest since July 2007, after it said its subsidiary CDC Victoria Pty Ltd plans to buy privately-held Driver Group Pty Ltd for A$22 million ($27.06 million), to expand its fleet in Australia.

http://www.theedgesingapore.com/the-dail...index.html

[TChew1969]

ComfortDelGro near 6-yr highs; lifts index

Transport operator ComfortDelGro Corporation rose more than 2% to a near six-year high, lifting Singapore’s benchmark stock index, after it announced plans to expand its bus operations in Australia.

The company’s shares rose as much as 2.4% to $2.14, the highest since July 2007, after it said its subsidiary CDC Victoria Pty Ltd plans to buy privately-held Driver Group Pty Ltd for A$22 million ($27.06 million), to expand its fleet in Australia.

http://www.theedgesingapore.com/the-dail...index.html

thanks for the info..

[egghead]

Anyone knows why CDG drops >10% this morning?

[AlphaQuant]

Anyone knows why CDG drops >10% this morning?

http://www.financeasia.com/News/344251,l...elgro.aspx

SLF sold 170mio of shares between 1.94-2.03, taking its stake from 12% to 3.9%

[egghead]

Ok, thanks. Shouldn't this be announced in SGX web site?

[AlphaQuant]

Ok, thanks. Shouldn't this be announced in SGX web site?

ya bit surprised this wasn't announced earlier but i guess the filing should come soon given SLF is a SSH. unless the report is wrong of cos!

[felixleong]

Long-term shareholder sells $262 million of stock in Comfortdelgro

The sale comes after strong share price gains for the Singapore-listed bus and taxi operator that have been supported by several small acquisitions.

inShare

A long-term shareholder in Comfortdelgro, the Singapore-listed bus and taxi operator, last night raised S$3329.8 million ($262 million) from a block trade.

The seller was the Singapore Labour Foundation, a state-owned entity that was set up in 1977 to help develop the trade union movement in Singapore and improve the welfare of union members.

It derives its funding from a combination of membership fees and returns on investment and has owned shares in Comfortdelgro since 2003.

The sale comes after a strong run in the share price since early November, which has intensified in the past month on the back of a couple of small acquisitions and good first quarter earnings.

The gains — it is up 37.1% since November 10 and 22.5% so far this year — have pushed the low-volatility stock above its long-term trading range between S$1.20 and S$1.65 and it is currently trading at six-year highs.

But, according to a source, there hasn’t been a single block trade in this stock since 2006, so this was a rare opportunity to buy it at a discount.

And it was offered at a pretty chunky discount of between 6.9% and 11% versus yesterday’s close of S$2.18. This did attract just over 50 investors, although some of them were supposedly only interested if they could get their hands on the stock at the full 11% discount — which is perhaps not too surprising since most of the shareholders do hold the stock for the relatively high dividend yield.

The seller offered to dispose of 170 million shares, which accounted for about two-thirds of its total holdings and close to 8.1% of the company, according to the latest annual report. The shares were offered at between S$1.94 and S$2.03 each, and in the end the price was fixed at the bottom for the maximum 11% discount.

The source says the deal was comfortably covered and attracted a good balance of long-only accounts and hedge funds. Some existing shareholders took the opportunity to top up their positions, but there were also some sizeable orders from investors that were new to the name. The deal was fully covered by investors based in Asia, but this was then complemented with a couple of good orders out of the US, the source says. European investors were less interested, however.

The sale will reduce the Singapore Labour Foundation’s holdings in the stock to about 3.9% from 12% previously. Its remaining shares will be locked up for 90 days.

Comfortdelgro is one of the world’s largest transport companies with operations in seven countries. Aside from the operation of buses and taxis, it is also involved in railway services, car leasing and rentals, automotive engineering services, driving centres, insurance broking services, outdoor advertising and car dealerships. Its global fleet consists of about 45,800 vehicles, according to its website.

In April it announced that it will buy part of FirstGroup’s London bus business and assets for £57.5 million ($87 million), which will increase the number of buses it operates in London to about 1,700, from 1,200 today.

And on Monday this week, it said it will buy a family-owned Australian bus company, Melbourne-based Driver Group, for approximately A$22 million ($21.6 million). Comfortdelgro already operates bus services in Australia, but has been looking for opportunities to grow. Nine months ago it also bought a long-haul bus operator. The latest acquisition will see it take over five metropolitan routes and a fleet of 42 buses.

Aside from Australia and the UK, the company also has businesses in Ireland, Vietnam, Malaysia, China and in its home market of Singapore. In the first quarter this year, 38.2% of its revenue was generated outside of Singapore.

Revenues grew by 1.8% in the first quarter to S$870.8 million, while net profit improved by 7.9% to S$57.7 million.

UBS was the sole bookrunner for the transaction, which came in a busy week in the equity capital markets. On Monday there were no fewer than six deals, including two convertible bonds and a $1.1 billion block trade that marked Goldman Sachs’s exit from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. That was followed by a $177 million block in Thai TV broadcaster BEC World and a small trade in Beijing Jingneng Clean Energy on Tuesday. And last night Comfortdelgro was accompanied by two more sell-downs below $100 million, in China Yongda Automobiles Services and Indonesia’s Media Nusantara Citra.

At the same time, investors and other market participants are keeping a close eye on the trading debuts of China Galaxy Securities and Sinopec Engineering this week. Being the two largest IPOs in Hong Kong so far this year – they raised $1.1 billion and $1.8 billion respectively – their performance in the secondary market will be highly important. If they do well, it is likely to support the investor appetite for other market newcomers.

And Galaxy Securities set a good benchmark when it started trading yesterday. After a delayed start due to a black rainstorm warning, the share price gained as much as 11.3% before easing back somewhat. It finished the day at HK$5.62, which was 6% above the IPO price of HK$5.30.

The debut was helped by the fact that its closest comparable, Haitong Securities, had gained 8% since the pricing of the IPO last week, making Galaxy Securities look relatively more attractive. About 30% of the shares sold in the IPO changed hands during the shortened session.

It will be followed today by Sinopec Engineering. It too looks set for a solid debut, based on indications in the grey market where it was trading about 8% higher late yesterday afternoon.

[CityFarmer]

Ok, thanks. Shouldn't this be announced in SGX web site?

ya bit surprised this wasn't announced earlier but i guess the filing should come soon given SLF is a SSH. unless the report is wrong of cos!

By rule, the announcement should be made within 2 business days.

Base on disposal date of 22 May, so the announcement will come by end of 27 May the latest. (24th May is PB)