APR 18 UPDATE: According to a good source, Kabouter operates out of San Francisco. It is a small operation with around, or a few more than, two fund managers. The owner is a smart and sharp guy named Craig Millikin.
Kabouter targets relatively unknown businesses with decent growth potential and cheap valuations in developed markets.
It would steer clear of companies that have heavy capex requirements to keep up their revenues.
Kabouter is interested in relatively small companies, which institutions have not bought into yet.
KABOUTER MANAGEMENT, LLC is a foreign fund that is virtually unheard of in Singapore.
That may soon change following its emergence this week as a substantial shareholder of Techcomp and Health Management International.
In a filing to the SGX on April 9, Techcomp said Kabouter owns 7,885,000 Techcomp shares, or 5.087% stake.
On April 8, HMI said in a filing to SGX that Kabouter now owns 24,361,000 shares, or a 5.063% stake.
Hardly any information can be found on the Internet about the fund, except that it is (probably) based in the United States. Watch this space, though. We are sending out feelers to our contacts to obtain more information about Kabouter.
Techcomp, one of the two Singapore-listed companies it has become a substantial shareholder of, reported a 33.5% jump in earnings per share for FY 07.
"Our business is resilient, and with the projects on hand, the order book on hand, we are confident we can maintain the growth," said Richard Lo, its president, at a briefing on Feb 26 for some 20 analysts and fund managers at Raffles City Convention Centre.
|
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
Change % (FY 07 vs FY 06 | |
|
Revenue (US$’000) |
44,617 |
54,842 |
65,819 |
20.0 |
|
Net profit (US$’000) |
3,687 |
4,350 |
6,011 |
38.2 |
|
Net profit margin |
8.3% |
7.9% |
9.1% |
N.A. |
|
EPS (US cents) |
2.73 |
3.22 |
4.30 |
33.5 |
For FY ’07, Techcomp (market capitalisation: $57 million) has recommended a first and final dividend of S$0.012, unchanged from the previous year.
That translates into a dividend yield of 3.2%, based on the stock’s recent trading price of S$0.37. Its PE ratio based on last year's earnings per share works out to be around 6X.
CIMB-GK has a target price of 82 cents for the stock. Read: Sale! Stock Discounts
(Read recent NextInsight article: TECHCOMP’S 38% profit jump - with more growth to come.)
Health Management International (HMI, market capitalisation $55.3 million based on stock price of 11.5 cents) is a regional healthcare and education services provider with a presence in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
HMI chairman Dr Gan See Khem said recently that HMI's Mahkota Medical Centre is the preferred hospital in Malacca with the highest number of medical tourists.
Malacca has maintained its position as one of the most popular medical tourism places in Malaysia.
Dr Gan also said HMI's soon-to-be opened Regency Specialist Hospital in Johor Baru is well-positioned to cater to the increasing demand for private healthcare services in Malaysia and the continuing influx of medical tourists in the region.
HMI reported a 29% fall in its earnings for the half-year ended Dec 31 ’07 to $2.5 million. Its turnover grew 2% to $22.1 million.
It declared an interim dividend of 0.25 cents, which was paid on Mar 31 and which translated into a 2.2% yield based on a stock price of 11.5 cents.