Cash Quota & Notes on Colex Annual Report / past records

1) Cash Quota

I have previously written about increasing my cash quota. (read here)

I have not been very successful (have bought some Colex shares instead). However, I have recently sold some Super Group shares to raise some cash (only 1/10 of my current Super Group holdings). My net wealth in cash stands at a pathetic 6.2%.

I haven’t sold any shares since 2011.This is the first time I sold any (no doubt it is only a small amount). I don’t like to sell my complete holding of the shares of companies unless their fundamentals deteriorates drastically (or selling any shares for that matter). Having said that, I do not think Super Group’s fundamentals have deteriorated.

I have sold some shares of Super Group as I felt that the current valuation is a bit high. The current P/E ratio is 24.25 (if you compare the historical P/E of Super Group – it is at historical high). I am also surprised by the intensity of the recent upward swing in price of Super Group stocks. No doubt the recent earnings are better than expected but it is only just one quarter (I don’t expect miracle – sudden surge in future earnings).

Will look forward to the next quarterly earnings of Super Group, to see if they can live up to the expectations. If public is disappointed with the low rise of the earnings, and the stock price drops sharply, it might be a good time to buy more shares (provided PEG and Intrinsic values are favourable). I still believe in the overall growth story of Super Group. After all a high P/E can only be justified by high earnings (bringing the P/E back down hopefully). Nevertheless, it is a good time to increase the war chest.

 

2) Colex

I have previously noted some items I found in the recent Colex 2014 Annual Report (read here).

• Item 3 (Pg 54): Revenue increased from $52,631,049 (2013) to $58,707,152 (2014). More than $4 million.
• Item 19 (Pg 65): Profit before taxation increased from $3,134,472 (2013) to $4,813,693 (2014). Increase of $1,679,221.

The above would not make sense if the past records show decreasing revenue and profit. Let’s take a look at the past records.

Looking at the previous records it seems that Colex has had increasing revenue and profit, with the profits increasing at a faster rate than the revenue.

• Item 9 (Pg 58): Cash at banks decrease from $7,426,892 (2013) to $5,644,001 (2014). Fixed Deposits increased from $0 (2013) to $1,000,125 (2014).
• Item 13 (Pg 60): Deferred Income Tax Liabilities (To be settled within one year), decreased from $247,244 (2013) to $190,871 (2014). Balance at the end decreased from $880,323 (2013) to $817,643 (2014).
• Item 14 (Pg 62): Trade and other Payables increased from $4,725,061 (2013) to $5,928,973 (2014) – more than 1 million!

Deferred Income Tax Liabilities: A liability recorded on the balance sheet that results from income already earned and recognized for accounting, but not tax, purposes.

Trade and other Payables: The amount that customers owe for their purchasers to sellers or suppliers. Can also be referred to as accounts payable.

Cash seems to be on a gentle downward trend.

A slight upward trend for Deferred Income Tax Liabilities, probably due to increase income over the years. A upward trend for Trade and other Payables would also mean increasing income.

 

• Item 15 (Pg 62): Other income increased from $928,762 (2013) to $1,264,913 (2014) – mainly due to Special Employment Credit Scheme – close to $491,426 .
• Item 16 (Pg 63): Staff cost increased a lot, from $21,088,317 (2013) to $24,575,530 (2014) – more than $3 million!

Did a check on Special Employment Credit Scheme (read here). We should be seeing an increase contribution from the SEC scheme in 2015:

At Budget 2014, the SEC for 2015 was enhanced for one year to help employers cope with cost increases associated with the increase in CPF contribution rates. With this enhancement, employers who hire Singaporeans aged above 50 (between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015) will receive an SEC of up to 8.5% of an employee’s monthly wages.

As announced at Budget 2015, the SEC will be raised further by up to 3% of an employee’s monthly wages for one year to encourage employers to voluntarily re-employ Singaporeans aged 65 and above. Employers who hire such Singaporean workers between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015 will receive an SEC of up to 11.5% of an employee’s monthly wages.​​​

However, these incomes from the scheme may not be recurring. But it is good to know that in 2015, we would probably see the contribution from SEC increasing by 3.5% to approx. $508,625.91.

Staff cost has been slowly creeping upwards.

In gist, it is good to know that the profit margins acceleration is faster than that of the revenue’s (as well as that of the staff’s cost). The only hiccup is the decreasing amount of cash and short term investments (and also the recent drop in cash in the bank).