My SGX Watchlist — Building the Warchest

The Strategy

My US portfolio on IBKR is no longer getting fresh capital from me. It now funds itself, premiums collected from selling covered calls keep it self-sustaining. But I don't consider that portfolio "passive." Running a covered call strategy takes ongoing effort: analysing positions, picking strikes, managing assignment risk. It's active income dressed up as options theta.

What I'm now channelling my savings into is a genuinely passive income portfolio, built entirely from SGX-listed names. The capital is sitting in a warchest, waiting to be deployed. Below is what's on my radar.

One deliberate choice: I'm avoiding individual REITs. Most single REITs are yield vehicles with limited growth, you're paid well, but the unit price rarely goes anywhere over the long run. If I want REIT exposure, I'd rather buy a REIT ETF and get the diversification instead of betting on one manager's ability to grow DPU.

1. Haw Par Corporation (SGX: H02)

Haw Par isn't a dividend stock in the traditional sense, the yield is modest, sitting around 2.4%, well below its historical average of ~4.4%. FY2025's total dividend was $0.40/share (20 cents interim + 20 cents final), a step down from FY2024's $1.40, which included a one-off $1.00 special dividend. Payout ratio was a conservative 33% in 2025, versus 136% the year before when the special dividend pushed it over 100%.

The appeal isn't the yield, it's the balance sheet. Beyond its core Tiger Balm healthcare and leisure businesses, Haw Par holds a substantial long-term investment portfolio, including sizeable stakes in blue-chip Singapore names. Even if the core operating business eventually faded, that investment portfolio would likely keep compounding on its own. It's not the stock I'd pick for growth-plus-dividend, but it's the kind of conservatively-run, over-capitalised company I'd expect to still be standing in 50 years, a "sleep well at night" holding rather than an income engine.

2. HRnetGroup (SGX: CHZ)

HRnetGroup is Southeast Asia's largest home-grown recruitment group, running both flexible staffing (temp/contract placements) and professional recruitment across 18 Asian cities. The flexible staffing side is the more interesting long-term thesis: as the gig economy and part-time/flexible work arrangements become more entrenched, accelerated by the growth of logistics, delivery, and on-demand services, that segment acts as a recurring, defensive revenue base, while professional recruitment gives it operating leverage in good years.

1H2026 numbers were mixed on the surface: revenue was roughly flat at S$292 million, and net profit fell about 30% YoY to S$19.8 million. But operating profit before tax actually rose 10% to S$20.2 million, gross margin improved to 21.3%, and management still raised the interim dividend by 10% to 2.2 cents/share, a trailing yield of about 5.9–6%. The balance sheet is the real draw: roughly S$332–336 million in cash, T-bills, and other liquid assets (close to half the market cap), with zero debt.

Structurally, HRnetGroup runs a co-ownership model where senior "Business Leaders" hold equity in the city-units they run, the count has grown from 22 at IPO in 2017 to 47 by April 2026, which helps explain why it's stayed profitable through every downturn in its 33-year history. At under 9x FY26E ex-cash earnings (per Maybank Research), it's not expensive for a debt-free, cash-generative business.

3. Genting Singapore (SGX: G13)

Genting Singapore is one of only two integrated resort/casino operators licensed in Singapore, alongside Marina Bay Sands, a genuine duopoly. The stock has been under pressure: 1H2026 profit fell 34%, with adjusted EBITDA from the Singapore resort down 11% YoY to S$399.5 million, as RWS continues to lose gaming market share to MBS (RWS's share is estimated at only 25–30% and reportedly shrinking). That said, momentum improved in Q2, RWS EBITDA rose 12% YoY and 18% quarter-on-quarter to S$210.8 million.

The bull case rests on RWS 2.0, a S$6.8 billion transformation of the resort: Illumination's Minion Land and the expanded Singapore Oceanarium have already opened, with a new waterfront district, two luxury hotels (including a 183-suite Laurus hotel under Marriott's Luxury Collection), and an 88-metre light sculpture by Heatherwick Studio still to come, targeted for completion around 2030. About S$2 billion has been spent so far, funded out of a S$3.2 billion cash pile, so the capex isn't stretching the balance sheet. This is riding a genuine tourism recovery, Singapore drew 16.9 million visitors in 2025 (+2.3% YoY) and is tracking toward 17–18 million in 2026, with tourism receipts forecast at S$31–32.5 billion.

The main risk to the thesis, as you flagged, is competitive: a third or fourth casino license would break the current duopoly economics. I haven't found any current news suggesting Singapore is planning to issue additional gaming licenses, the two-IR model has been government policy since 2005, but it's worth keeping on the radar as a tail risk rather than an imminent threat.

4. Amova-StraitsTrading Asia ex Japan REIT Index ETF (SGX: CFA)

This is the ETF standing in for individual REIT exposure, formerly branded NikkoAM-StraitsTrading, now under Amova Asset Management. It tracks the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Asia ex Japan Net Total Return REIT Index, giving broad-based exposure to REITs across the region rather than a bet on any single trust or sector (retail, office, industrial, hospitality all included).

The portfolio is about 65% Singapore-listed REITs and 13.6% Hong Kong, with the rest spread across the region, so it's Asia-diversified in name but Singapore-concentrated in practice. It's also fairly top-heavy: the 10 largest holdings make up around 60% of the fund, so a few large-cap REITs still drive most of the return. AUM sits around S$710–726 million, and the unit price was trading around S$0.78–0.79 as of mid-2026.

Worth being clear-eyed about performance: total return over the past year was a decent 8.93% including distributions, but since inception the average annual return has only been about 2.21%. A unitholder who bought at the 2021 open of S$1.125 and held to end-2025 (S$0.832) would still be sitting on roughly a 5% loss even after counting distributions received. This is the trade-off for individual-REIT avoidance, diversification and lower single-name risk, in exchange for a return profile that's been mediocre over a multi-year horizon. Worth monitoring rather than treating as a guaranteed income compounder.

Conclusion

This is what I have done in terms of shortlisting and research, with my limited knowledge. This is not a buy/sell call but rather just my own thinking, and I'll keep refining it as I go.

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