Sembcorp Industries shares fell sharply in intraday trading on Thursday, declining 3.15% as investors reacted to the company's latest earnings release. The plunge came after the Temasek-backed utility reported a 25% year-on-year decline in underlying net profit for the first half of 2026.

The company posted an underlying net profit of S$369 million for the six months ended June 30, compared with S$491 million a year earlier. The decline was driven by weakness across all business segments, with the gas and related services unit seeing a 14% drop in earnings due to weaker Singapore gas spreads and the loss of a UK customer. The renewables segment was particularly hard hit, with profit nearly halving as China's shift to market-based power pricing and electricity curtailment weighed on performance.

Despite the profit decline, Sembcorp raised its interim dividend to 11 Singapore cents per share from 9 cents a year ago and offered an optimistic outlook for the second half, expecting stronger performance supported by its recent Alinta acquisition and higher land sales. However, the guidance failed to stem the selling pressure as the market focused on the near-term earnings headwinds.