Hotel Grand Central

[touzi]

The Tan family behind Hotel Grand is a bunch of disciplined old bloaks. If you go look at the operating cashflow, they are in fact paying out from there. The accounting profits was affected by an impairment charge on the closure of Orchard Road flagship in excess of S$10m so i suspect they are paying close to 100% of net profits before impairment. Ultra conservative businessmen.

Where did you find the impairment charge of $10m? On the FY12 Income Statement, the Impairment for Orchard Rd Hotel Building is $58,241,000 ! Thanks.

Btw, I notice the Tans paid themselves modestly. Only the chairman was paid between $250k-$500k in FY11, the rest of the board and key executives are all paid below $250K.

[greengiraffe]

The Tan family behind Hotel Grand is a bunch of disciplined old bloaks. If you go look at the operating cashflow, they are in fact paying out from there. The accounting profits was affected by an impairment charge on the closure of Orchard Road flagship in excess of S$10m so i suspect they are paying close to 100% of net profits before impairment. Ultra conservative businessmen.

Where did you find the impairment charge of $10m? On the FY12 Income Statement, the Impairment for Orchard Rd Hotel Building is $58,241,000 ! Thanks.

Btw, I notice the Tans paid themselves modestly. Only the chairman was paid between $250k-$500k in FY11, the rest of the board and key executives are all paid below $250K.

Note No 3 under P&L - 13+m. I seldom look at comprehensive income as they are usually non cash adjustment that goes directly to equities typically against previously accumulated reserves - ie no P&L impact.

The Tan family reward themselves via generous discount on script reinvestments scheme - 5% discount while saving them the trouble of increasing stake in an illiquid co via on mkt purchases.

GG

[greengiraffe]

INVESTOR PROPERTY INTEREST HIGH
283 words
15 May 2013
The Press (Christchurch)
THEPRE
English
© 2013 Fairfax New Zealand Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Southeast Asian property investors are showing the highest levels of interest in New Zealand commercial property in a decade, a real estate boss says.

CBRE Wellington managing director Ryan Johnson was commenting after meetings with Southeast Asian investors, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise staff, banks and major lending institutions in Singapore.

"The interest is high and across many levels of property, from $20 million in value up to $200m - mainly office assets, but also hotels and retail," Johnson said.

"This interest is coming from a range of investor groups, including high net worth individuals, property funds and institutions."

New Zealand had gained prominence across the region, particularly now that China had become New Zealand's biggest trading partner, he said.

CBRE senior capital markets director Warren Hutt noted that the interest also reflected attractive New Zealand property fundamentals.

"Singaporean investors are interested in the yield spread and clean tax structures in New Zealand."

The investment fundamentals were also right, considering the sheer weight of capital available in Southeast Asia and the 2.5 per cent to 4 per cent yields in Singapore, Hutt said.

Investors also liked the English-speaking, safer operational environment in New Zealand. The close correlation between the New Zealand and Singaporean dollars also meant hedging risks were low.

The first quarter of this year had seen the highest level of regional interest in New Zealand in a decade.

Last year, CBRE worked with an Asian investment fund operated by Credit Suisse which paid $75m for a half interest in one of Wellington's biggest government buildings, the Vogel Centre.

Johnson said Singaporean investors, for reasons of scale, were mainly interested in Auckland and Wellington property.


Fairfax New Zealand Limited

Document THEPRE0020130514e95f0003t

[Stockerman]

Both Aussie and Kiwi dollars are trending down with respect to Singapore dollar. Will this have a major impact on revenue and net profit since those 2 regions contribute the bulk of revenues...

Australian economy has been largely spared during the GFC. When was the last time it had a major property crush or correction? land prices seem to be coming down in Australia in recent years?

How many of HGC's hotels in New Zealand are prone to earthquakes? Are these covered by insurance ?

[Caelitus]

Their Wellington hotels should be covered by earthquake insurance as para 10 of their 1st QTR results state that the Group will face high earthquake insurance premiums.

Though they have 2 hotels in Orchard under construction, there will be pressures on the room rates from industry-wide over supply, and higher labour costs when the hotels are opened for business.

I await their scrip dividend scheme.

Vested.

[Stockerman]

Having sufficient coverage is one thing... If a major earthquake were to strike in NZ, how many of their existing hotels were be DOWN at one go? (worst case scenario)

In Japan, everyone is waiting for the BIG ONE to come...

Their Wellington hotels should be covered by earthquake insurance as para 10 of their 1st QTR results state that the Group will face high earthquake insurance premiums.

Though they have 2 hotels in Orchard under construction, there will be pressures on the room rates from industry-wide over supply, and higher labour costs when the hotels are opened for business.

I await their scrip dividend scheme.

Vested.

[greengiraffe]

Mother nature helped demolished old building. Insurance claim fully settled and cash sitting in the bank.

Freehold land sitting there waiting for time to heal wounds and reconstruction to start in good time - dunno when.

No Worries
GG

[yawnyawn]

From AmFraser report

Hotel Grand Central (S$1.045)
Proposed purchase of Lot S3 of 300 Flinders Street Building, Melbourne
Hotel Grand Central through its wholly owned subsidiary, Grand Central (Richmond) Pty Ltd has entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire Lot S3 of the 300 Flinders Street building for A$48.497mil.

From SGX Announcement

300 Flinders Street is a commerical office building comprising basement, ground level and a further nineteen upper levels embracing three units of subdivision, namely Lot S2 (a car park owned by third parties), Lot S3 and Lot C1 being the common property which is owned in equal parts by Lots S2 and S3.

The property is being purchased with a seven year lease back to the vendor operating as Victoria University. The vendor, who will occupy 100% of the property as tenant shall pay rent at 8.3% of the purchase price of A$4,032,000 per annum plus outgoings in the first year. The tenant shall pay fixed rent increases of 3.5% per annum commencing from the second year to the seventh year of the lease term.

Looks like a good deal to me..8.3% yield with annual increase of 3.5% from 2nd year onwards.

[opmi]

Singaporean listed companies seems to be buying up Melbourne CDB.

[greengiraffe]

http://www.nextinsight.net/index.php/sto...-opposites

Written by Sumer
Sunday, 04 May 2014 06:37
agm_logoBonvests Holdings
Time & date: 2 pm, 29 Apr 2014.
Venue: Sheraton Towers.

Hotel Grand Central
Time & date: 11.30 am, 30 Apr 2014.
Venue: Hotel Grand Chancellor, No. 3 Belilios Road.


The following observations of the 2 AGMs were recently posted on NextInsight's forum by Sumer, who is regarded as the resident property guru of the forum.


I ATTENDED Bonvests' and Hotel Grand Central's AGMs to gauge for myself how the major owners/managementt are like. Here are my views:

1. I am not excited with the Bonvests team. Answers given by the board were short, with mostly "noted" as the answer to shareholders' queries and suggestions.

Management indicated no interest in redeveloping Liat Towers nor giving an indicative value in its annual report on the value of Sheraton Towers. Hence, I am not keen to follow up on the counter.

Nevertheless, the undervaluation of its assets remain. Perhaps patience may still pay off for those who own the stock, but I will pass on this one.

2. Hotel Grand Central's (HGC) board is a direct opposite, a rather happy lot sharing information with shareholders generously.

The 2 Orchard Road hotels should achieve Temporary Occupation Permits (TOP) next year. With 752 rooms in total, any post-TOP valuation of these assets will add to its NTA.

I reckon a 50-ct surplus could be in order. It would even be better if management is open to the possibility of selling the leasehold hotel while keeping the freehold one, as that will mean a cash inflow that could be distributed out as dividends.

Nevertheless, as this is a hotel stock, a substantial discount to its NAV is a trade mark of its breed.

Management's likability will probably keep me interested in this counter, despite its lack of immediate catalysts.

I think the 2 main speakers were 2 of the 3 Tan brothers: Tan Eng Teong, Teck Lin and Eng How. A woman who spoke, I believe, could be Tan Hwa Lian or Hellen Tan, or Michelle Tan (all are daughters of either one of the 3 brothers).

I believe Anthony Poh, the group accountant, also spoke.

I thought I could Google their pictures later, but apparently it's hard to find them, so I am not too sure who exactly were the ones who spoke. Suffice, perhaps to say, that I had a good impression of all of those who spoke.

I notice Hotel Grand Central has many loyal long-time retail shareholders too, and they appear happy with management, a sign perhaps that they have been well looked after over the years.

For eg, I note that the company has dished out consistently good dividends. Even though earnings were below 3ct per share last year, HGC dished out 5ct dividend, allowing many to take scrip dividend and increase their stake in the company while HGC saves on cash payouts.

Compare HGC with some listed companies which consistently give the excuse that they "need money for expansion" for not paying better dividends.

Note: I am vested in HGC, but not a lot as it's, after all, a hotel stock, and catalysts are few.