Max’s Group [MAXS 4.64] [link] elects new independent director to fill vacancy after Jose Paterno resigned to “focus on urgent business concerns and commitments”. There’s no information that his departure is related in any way to his role as President/CEO of Philippine Seven [SEVN 65.30], but we’ll have to see if these concerns and commitments have any ripple effects on other companies. MAXS’s board elected Chris Tanco to fill the vacancy. Mr. Tanco is the ex-COO of 7-Eleven Inc.
Balai Ni Fruitas [BALAI 0.69 4.55%] [link] stability fund dies a double death by both lasting for the duration of the one-month mandate period, and also exhausting its fund on the last day. It’s tempting to say that BALAI’s bouncing price has a lot to do with the stabilization fund, but the truth is that (aside from some of the early days) the fund has rarely been a significant portion of any day’s transactions. The stock is near-even, but hasn’t been in positive territory since July 11th. Can the stock get above its IPO price of P0.70, and break through its early high of P0.72/share, or will it get dragged down beneath the waves of the market once the artificial demand of the stabilization fund is out of the equation? We’re about to find out, but this one still feels heavy.
Colliers Philippines (COLPH) [link] thinks that office rent rates will drop by 7% in 2022, which is slower than the 12% that rates dropped by in 2021, and that we won’t see improvement in this space until 2023. COLPH also thinks that the rate of new commercial inventory creation will remain at “pre-POGO” levels (450,000 and 550,000 sqm) through 2023-2026. Basically, new office space is being developed at 2016 levels, which is a far cry from the white-hot rates that we saw during those crazy POGO years. While COLPH thinks that POGOs are “back”, they also note that foreign arrivals from China are still down. So it remains to be seen just how “back” those POGOs really are. Looks like the commercial REITs are going to continue feeling the burn of this market for a few quarters to come.
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