Amidst recent trade war, tariffs doom & gloom, recession fears, there are bright sparks here and there!😁

Credit: Pictures and articles from Business Times (22 Apr 2025)

Amidst the roller coaster ride of trade war, tariffs, liberation day, 90 days pause etc. saw these 2 Biz times articles today, Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) and Parkway Life REIT, 2 of the stalwarts in my portfolio:

(1) Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT):

Today's news on the oversubscription of the preferential offering/rights issue by retail investors like you and me, coupled with the recent private placement (FCT’s private placement raises S$220 million to finance Northpoint City deal, repay debt - The Business Times) indicates both the retail investors and institutional players are bullish of FCT's $1.17+B acquisition of the Northpoint City South Wing.

While there may be some indigestion concerns on the size of the acquisition and maybe the mid-term knee jerk impact of the RTS completion in 2026/27, I think generally investors are still confident of the superb locations of FCT's malls at transport nodes (MRT, Bus Interchange, Residential central), the management's execution/track records so far and the resilience of suburban malls (even during lockdowns in Covid).

In fact, I would hazard a guess that the recent uncertainty in the global stage may have investors hunker down within strong REITs like FCT that are defensive and resilient and giving out almost 5.9% yield (based on the rights issue price of $2.05).

Disclaimer: I am a unitholder of FCT and have applied for excess rights in the preferential offering. Hope to be allotted more excess rights, haha so that I can net a higher yield (due to cost price being lower than $2.05) from FCT. Also look forward to Management's magic to grow unitholders' distribution (with the Northpoint acquisition being projected to be 2% accretive) after the acquisition!

(2) Parkway Life REIT:

Ah, one of my star performers - I would classify Parkway Life REIT as one of Singapore's rare 'Dividend Aristocrats' (Dividend Aristocrats Definition & List - Investing.com) which are defined as stocks that have increased dividends annually for the past 25 years. Okay, okay, I know Parkway Life REIT hasn't been around for 25 years, but since its IPO in 2007, its dividends have been growing for the past 17 years (even during the 2008/09 financial crisis and the 2020 Covid pandemic)!

Once again, Parkway Life REIT did not disappoint again, with a year-on-year increasing DPU for Q1!

And I foresee that with their recent acquisition of 11 nursing homes in France (Parkway Life Reit acquires 11 nursing homes in France for 111.2 million euros - The Business Times) and their frequent tactical buys of Japan's nursing home now and then, their DPU is expected to keep on increasing! Furthermore, healthcare and nursing homes are known to be defensive sector and should remain resilient in the face of trade war and tariffs uncertainties, recession etc.

Disclaimer: Although at current price, Parkway's dividend yield of 3.5+% may seem meh, but buying at the right price and considering its track records of growing dividends, it should yield investors an increasing yield over the years. Full Disclosure and case in point, Parkway Life REIT was 1 of my earlier purchases, and thanks to its annual dividend growth, I'm now achieving a 6.8+% yield (on cost) from Parkway since buying in 2015? You get the point☺️

Last but not least, another happy news to share - My blog has been added to TheFinance.sg !

Screenshots from my recent inclusion into Home - TheFinance.sg

Definitely feeling a sense of achievement to be included into 1 of the main finance blogs website! Which I have reading my favourite financial blogs for the past many years!😍

And to add to the joy, so glad to know that Derek enjoyed reading my blog posts and he also shared that my background, sharing and experiences resonated with him and hopefully the readers too. Hope to contribute to the finance community and to reach out to more people with my usual simple, basic, layman lingo to raise financial awareness 😊

To financial literacy;

Mr MH

NOTE: The above article is just the author expressing his layman views. It is NOT financial advice, and NOT a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or REITs. Pls do your own due diligence and/or consult a qualified financial advisor before making any moves or taking any actions.