Ow even joked if there was cash flow difficulty , company would not have declared the final dividend, but if he didn't, those who were at the AGM would pinch him.

He reaffirmed no cash flow problem after several shareholders raised this question. Credit line was also readily available beside cash flow from business operations.

Whilst gearing is abit high, it is still manageable....but my point is, cashflow.

With the pending maturing of loans, the tight credit market, higher interest on the A$, the refinancing will be costlier. This is not helped by the slower and low margin sales of the Auckland properties.

With the relatively high gearing and low cash position, it will also be a challenge to raise funds to bid for the development/purchase of a Spore hotel to achieve the REIT objective.

So, I think this REIT project is not something that will be happenning anytime soon......unless, perhaps they develop the land on 100 Pasir Panjang Rd......then they can leverage the building cost against the land cost....but the question is, is that a good location for a hotel?

Well said. Reit should be out of the question for the time being.

The ongoing sales of the Auckland apartments will provide cash flow to SL. The office project in Perth will also contribute possitively to cash flow after 1 april 2010.

Selling some property will only make sense to reduce borrowing.

The hotel portfolio ? Perth office ? Believe CK Ow knows what is best action to take.

2010 2Q results announcement shows that the market situation for SLC has improved. However, the plan by Chmn Ow....to quote clinton86....to go asset light......read as REIT the hotels.... may have to wait a little.

To REIT the hotels, SLC need to have at least one hotel in Spore.

However, if you look at SLC balance sheet, it looks like their liquidity is pretty tight. CurrAsset of S$166m vs CurrLiab of S$280m. Net Cash is S$15m.

Current term loan due are as follows

Dec 2009 - A$96.5m, Jul 2010 - A$ 67.9m, Apr 2010 - NZ$46.6m. of which todate they have secured only A$133m of loans.

Property sale (S$17m) is not helping....the 6 mth profit  was a mere S$495k (albeit some of this was 'eaten' by A&P and sales expenses for ongoing projects).....sold 22 NZ apt and 1 Stamford Marque...approx 3% margin).....=> the NZ project is not profitable...may even be losing $$$.

So, with the tight liquidity situation, I can't see SLC securing a hotel in Spore anytime soon...unless Mr. Ow has other plans up his sleeve to go Asset Light.