Good morning moomooers! Here are things you need to know about today's Singapore:

• Singapore stocks rose in early trade on Thursday; STI up 0.91%
  

• ESR-Reit DPU up 14.8% to 0.8 S cent for Q1

• Singapore's Altara joins US$12.6m Series A round of US software startup

• Stocks to watch: ESR-Reit, Keppel Reit Sembmarine, Penguin, Procurri, Olam

-Moomoo News SG

Market Trend

Singapore stocks rose in early trade on Thursday, $FTSE Singapore Straits Time Index(.STI.SG)$ rose 0.91 per cent or 28.60 points to 3,183.66 as at 9.10 am.

Breaking News

Singapore's Altara joins US$12.6m Series A round of US software startup

Altara Ventures, a Singapore-based venture firm helmed by Koh Boon Hwee and investment veterans, joined the US$12.6 million Series A fundraise for US software startup FreeAgent.

The round was led by Pelion Venture Partners and also joined by existing investor BlueRun Ventures.

Founded in 2016, FreeAgent offers a cloud platform that helps businesses manage customer-facing work. It views itself as a "serious platform alternative to Salesforce", according to co-founder and chief executive Dave Stephens, who previously founded Nasdaq-listed Coupa Software.

ESR-Reit DPU up 14.8% to 0.8 S cent for Q1

$ESR-REIT(J91U.SG)$ on Thursday posted a core distribution per unit (DPU) of 0.8 Singapore cent for the three months ended March 31, up 14.8 per cent from 0.697 cent the year before.

Gross revenue was up 4.4 per cent to S$60.3 million for the first quarter, from S$57.8 million the year prior. This was mainly due to the absence of provision for Covid-19 rental rebates to tenants and lower property expenses, the manager said in a bourse filing on Thursday.

For the same reason, net property income grew 7.6 per cent on the year to S$44.1 million for the quarter, from S$41 million.

Stocks to watch

$Mapletree Log Tr(M44U.SG)$: The trust posted a distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.161 Singapore cents for the three months ended March 31, 2021, up 5.5 per cent from the year-ago period. MLT units closed at S$1.96 on Wednesday, down 1 per cent or S$0.02, before the results announcement.

$ESR-REIT(J91U.SG)$: The real estate investment trust (Reit) on Thursday posted a core distribution per unit (DPU) of 0.8 Singapore cent for the first quarter, up 14.8 per cent from 0.697 cent the year before. Distributable income was up 17.1 per cent to S$28.7 million mainly due to higher net property income and lower borrowing costs. ESR-Reit units closed at 40.5 Singapore cents on Wednesday, up 0.5 cent or 1.3 per cent.

$Keppel Reit(K71U.SG)$: The Reit on Wednesday reported a 22 per cent rise in distributable income to S$51.6 million for the first quarter of 2021, up from S$42.3 million in the year-ago period. Units of Keppel Reit closed flat at S$1.21 on Wednesday, prior to the announcement.

$UMS(558.SG)$, $JEP(1J4.SG)$: Mainboard-listed precision engineering firm UMS Holdings on Wednesday acquired another 13.1 per cent of shares in Catalist-listed JEP Holdings. UMS acquired 54.2 million shares for S$10.8 million, or S$0.20 per share, from JEP executive director Zee Hoong Huay. The deal raises UMS's stake in JEP to 53.8 per cent, or 222.6 million shares. UMS shares closed flat at S$1.36 on Wednesday, while JEP ended 10 per cent or S$0.02 higher at S$0.22.

$Sembcorp Marine(S51.SG)$:The marine and offshore engineering group and high-speed craft builder Penguin International are working with Shell to trial the maiden use of hydrogen fuel cells for ships in Singapore. Sembcorp Marine shares closed flat at 20.5 Singapore cents on Wednesday, prior to the announcement.

$Penguin Intl(BTM.SG)$: The offer for the shipbuilder's shares closed on Wednesday with total acceptances of 63.2 per cent. The offeror and its concert parties will own 80.05 per cent of Penguin. Shares of Penguin International closed unchanged at S$0.65 on Wednesday, before the announcement.

$Procurri(BVQ.SG)$: The mainboard-listed tech company has received a letter from shareholder ICH Gemini Asia Growth Fund indicating that ICH Gemini intends to vote against Novo Tellus' partial offer to purchase Procurri's shares at 36.5 Singapore cents apiece. ICH Gemini holds approximately 3.9 per cent of Procurri's shares. Procurri closed at 35.5 cents on Wednesday before the announcement, down 1.4 per cent or half a cent.

$OLAM INTL(OLMIF.US)$: The agrifood giant has entered into a joint venture with Mondelez International to develop a sustainable commercial cocoa farm in Indonesia through the subscription of a 50 per cent interest in AztecAgri for US$10.8 million. Olam also plans to issue S$50 million subordinated perpetual securities at 100.013 per cent of the aggregate principal amount plus accrued interest, the company announced on Wednesday after market close. Shares of Olam ended 1.7 per cent or S$0.03 lower at S$1.72 on Wednesday, before the announcement.