SGX: New Entrant To Specialised Consumer Service Sector

The Specialised Consumer Service subsector in Singapore is made up of seven stocks, of which four stocks are listed on the Mainboard and three stocks on Catalist. The four Mainboard stocks are Raffles Education, Overseas Education, Informatics Education and Cordlife.

Overseas Education is the newest entrant to the stocks categorised under the specialised consumer services subsector. The company is the investment holding company of Overseas Family School Limited, which runs Overseas Family School. The School is a foreign system school in Singapore offering the K-12 International Baccalaureate curriculum schooling children aged between 3 and 18 years. Overseas Education was listed on 7 February, and has gained 25% from the offer price of S$0.48 and declined 4.0% from the S$0.625 first day close. The current full market capitalisation of the company is S$245.9 million.

Raffles Education and Informatics Education are also educational and training institutions.

According to its investor relations page, Raffles Education is the largest private education group in Asia-Pacific. Since establishing its first college in Singapore in 1990, the Group has grown to operate 33 colleges in 30 cities across 13 countries in Asia Pacific. Its most recent initiative was the launching of the Raffles University Iskandar and Raffles American School in Iskandar, Malaysia in 2012.

Informatics Education is a franchisor for computer and commercial training centers and an examination facilitator. The principal activities of the Group comprise information technology training and education, business training and education, and IT products, services and other activities. The principal activities of the Company are those of investment holding, franchisor for computer and commercial training centres, and examination facilitators.

Cordlife Group is focused on providing Cord Blood Banking Services which include the collection, processing, testing, cryopreservation and storage of umbilical cord blood at birth. In March 2011, the company also launched the provision of umbilical cord tissue banking services in Hong Kong, which comprise the collection, processing, testing, cryopreservation and storage of the umbilical cord itself. The Group currently provides Cord Blood Banking Services in Singapore and Hong Kong.

The table below details the year to date price performances of the four Mainboard stocks that make up the sector.

Source: Bloomberg

Note: * from first day close

Of the three Catalist stocks, Neo Group (5UJ) was the most recently listed, in 2012. The other two stocks listed on Catalist that represent the Specialised Consumer Service subsector are Asia Pacific Strategic Investments (5RA) and TMC Education (586).