Chart of the Day: Singapore's food retailers buck APAC decline with 2018 average total returns of 10%

The stocks have averaged ROE of 19% in the past year.

The souring macro-environment failed to dent the bullish performance of Singapore's leading food retailers as Dairy Farm, Sheng Siong, BreadTalk and Old Chang Kee hit average total returns of 10% in 2018, data from SGX show. 

In fact, the companies' positive stock performance stands in contrast to the average and median decline of their food retailing peers across Asia Pacific in 2018 with Dairy Farm leading the pack with a 20.5% gain to BreadTalk recording a 1.6% decline. 

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Combined, the four stocks have averaged Return on Equity of 19% over the past 12 months with ROEs ranging from a strong 26.6% for Sheng Siong Group to 7.4% for BreadTalk Group. Dairy Farm's ROE stands at 25.7% whilst Old Chang Kee is at 17.7%. 

"All four stocks maintain ROEs that are above the average and median ROEs of the Food Retailers and Wholesalers listed across Asia Pacific," SGX noted, adding that five year average ROEs also near 19%. 

The four stocks also ate up $121.1m in institutional net inflows in 2018, with Sheng Siong Group receiving $96.3m of institutional net inflows, followed by Dairy Farm which saw $33.2m in net inflows. Smaller flows were observed in BreadTalk Group, which saw $8.6m in outflow and Old Chang Kee which saw $0.3m in inflow. Overall, institutions were net sellers of Singapore equities with $1.5b in outflow in 2018.