SINGAPORE: As the year 2023 comes to a close, investors grapple with challenges such as surging interest rates and high inflation, leaving many sectors, including Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), facing headwinds.
Despite these challenges, some companies are making strategic moves to secure future growth. Here are three Singapore stocks to watch in Dec 2023, Yahoo Finance reports.
iFAST Corporation Limited (SGX: AIY)
iFAST, a financial technology (fintech) company, posted remarkable third-quarter earnings, with net profit quadrupling year on year to S$8.5 million. Their assets under administration reached a new high at S$19.12 billion by Sept 30, 2023. In a recent development, iFAST unveiled the iFAST Global Hub.ai in Malaysia as part of its three-year growth plan.
This hub, formerly iFAST Service Centre, aims to boost operating efficiency and scalability through artificial intelligence (AI). The AI initiatives include plans to automate customer service with in-house AI solutions by the end of 2025, providing support in 50 languages around the clock.
The iFAST Global Hub.ai aligns with iFAST’s ambition to become a global fintech powerhouse, with plans to hire 400 digital talents over the next five years and invest over RM 150 million in the hub.
City Developments Limited (SGX: C09)
City Developments Limited (CDL), a global real estate company, made headlines by acquiring 1NQ, a 261-unit freehold project in Manchester, UK, for £75.6 million. Located in the trendy Northern Quarter, cited by Time Out magazine as one of the coolest neighbourhoods on Earth in 2022, CDL plans to develop the site into two new-built apartment blocks.
The acquisition represents CDL’s fourth private rented sector (PRS) project since 2019, demonstrating resilience, recurring income, and strong growth potential of PRS assets, according to Sherman Kwek, CEO.
With the purchase, CDL expanded its global PRS portfolio by nearly 70%, reaching 4,489 operational and pipeline units across the UK, Japan, Australia, and the US.
Kingsmen Creatives Limited (SGX: 5MZ)
Kingsmen Creatives, operating in Exhibitions, Interiors, Research and Design, and Experiential Marketing, recently announced a strategic partnership between its US subsidiary, Kingsmen Xperience, and Max-Matching Entertainments to bring NERF Action Xperience family entertainment centres to China by 2025. Licensed by Hasbro, these entertainment centres, ranging from 1,500 to 4,500 square metres, will feature various fun zones, a food and beverage area, and a retail store.
Kingsmen’s previous attempt to bring NERF Action Xperience to China in 2019 faced a setback, but the current partnership signals renewed efforts. Kingsmen already established a NERF Action Xperience centre in Singapore’s Marina Square./TISG