The Unnecessary Job

Starhill REIT closed at $0.70 today.I blogged about Starhill couple of weeks ago. Then, it was trading around $0.68. After my post, Starhill dropped further to a low of $0.635. I did not have sufficient capital to take a meaningful position in Starhill at the time of posting. And now that I have some additional liquidity , it appears that the boat might have sailed. But as the (slightly sexist) adage goes, guys regret the girls they didn't sleep with, but girls regret the guys they did. Which gender perspective will my failed purchase of Starhill ultimately adopt? I guess only time can tell. Perhaps it is sour grapes at work, but alarm bells were going off stridently in my head when i read Starhill's latest quarterly report . 1) I had estimated DPU for FY 17/18 to decline to 4.57 cents, the actual DPU was 4.55 cents. 2) Office space occupancy did recover as expected, with occupancy rising to 95.% from 90.7% in the preceding quarter. 3) Starhill's stake ...

I am an avid coffee drinker. Two cups a day is my minimum. On particularly strenuous days, e.g., when I am having a marathon 3 hour Fun Run session, I might even take three. Because I am your typical Singaporean Ah Pek, I drink the kopi siu dai type of coffee. I mean, Starbucks is good, occasionally. However, for my daily coffee fix, it needs to be that eluted mixture of coffee beans sinfully roasted with butter, and dosed with a splash of condensed milk.You could say, I am the reverse coffee snob. A cup of coffee costs around $1.30 - 2.00 now, depending on where you get it from. Ya Kun and Fun Toast are starting to get too pricey for me. Time was when you could get a nice hot cuppa for 1.00 - 1.20.  What is progress without crazy inflation right? Hence, you can imagine how glad I am to have now secured a lifetime supply of coffee.   No, i did not suddenly strike TOTO, or get a sponsorship from a coffee brand. Although I would welcome both with open arms. Trut...

Some REITs are by nature defensive. I like to call these reits the Zettai Bogyo REITs. Naruto fans would know what I am talking about. Offensively, these REITs may be nothing to crow about but defensively, they are analogous to Gaara's Shukaku. Healthcare REITs are one example. Commercial REITS with office/malls in their portfolio are constantly experiencing risk of non-renewal of leases, and/or the exit of an anchor tenant . Recall the impact of HP not renewing their technopark lease on Frasers Commercial Trust. Industrial REITS tend to have short 30 year leases and tenant fluidity is relatively higher due to business volatility. Recall how Soilbuild was dragged down by Technics Oil going belly up. On the other hand, it is difficult to imagine a hospital terminating their lease to save a few psf in rent. For this reason, healthcare REITs are highly defensive.  But the whole world knows this. As a result, for this safety buffer, investors have to overpay significan...