Emailed to me from a dealer:

"In the current jittery market, there are still opportunities, especially in the form of safe, cash rich companies that have the potential for special dividends payout soon.

One such stock is Singapore Shipping Corp (SSC). It is is trading 8% below is NTA of $0.52 Out of which, more than $0.40 is in CASH (net of debt). So the current price is 83% backed by net cash.

During the current FY, SSC has sold some ships. There will very likely be a special dividend payout when they announce their final year result this coming week. It is estimated SSC would give a total dividend payout of 8-10cts as it has about S$175mln of net cash. Even after giving out 10cts of dividends ($43.6mln), it will still have more than S$131mln in cash to buy new ships and expand its business.

Last year, in May 05, it announced a dividend of 5cts and the share price jumped from $0.47 to $0.52 within a few days, before trending up further to $0.62.

As the announcement date approaches (this week), there should be a good run-up towards $0.55 level."