Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Monday. STI rose 0.2%; iFast rose 7%; NIO and Keppel DC Reit rose 3%; Raffles Medical and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rose 2%; Singtel rose 1%.

Stocks in Focus

OCBC: OCBC subsidiary Great Eastern Holdings posted an 11 per cent decline in net profit to S$248.2 million for its second quarter ended Jun 30, from S$280.4 million in the previous corresponding period. For the six months ended June, its net profit inched up 1 per cent to S$593.7 million from S$587.1 million. H1 earnings per share rose 1 per cent to S$1.25 million, from S$1.24 million previously. Shares of Great Eastern have been suspended since Jul 2024. OCBC’s shares closed 0.52 per cent or S$0.090 lower at S$17.18 on Friday (Jul 25).

Singapore Airlines: Chairman Peter Seah was redesignated as a non-independent director at the company’s annual general meeting on Friday. First appointed to the board in 2015, he assumed the chairman role in 2017. An independent director of a listed company is redesignated if he or she has served for an aggregate period of over nine years. Additionally, SIA Group posted a record full-year net profit of S$2.8 billion for FY2025. This was chiefly due to the one-off non-cash accounting gain of S$1.1 billion from the merger between India’s Vistara, in which SIA held a 49 per cent stake, and Air India. The counter rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.02 to close on Friday at S$7.57.

Raffles Medical: The healthcare group on Monday posted a net profit of S$32.1 million for its first half ended Jun 30, up 4.8 per cent from S$30.6 million in the same period a year prior. Revenue increased 3.5 per cent year on year to S$378.4 million in H1 FY2025, from S$365.7 million in H1 FY2024. Earnings per share for the period were S$0.0173, up from S$0.0165 in the corresponding period a year before. No interim dividend was declared by the mainboard-listed group. The counter ended Friday 1.9 per cent or S$0.02 higher at S$1.05.

AEM Holdings: CEO Amy Leong resigned from the semiconductor testing equipment manufacturer effective Sunday. She had held her post for slightly over a year and will be replaced by group president and chief technology officer Samer Kabbani, who has been with AEM since 2020. AEM cited “board-led leadership realignment for growth” for her resignation in an SGX filing. Leong will continue as a senior adviser to AEM, the company said in a news release on Sunday. The counter rose S$0.03 or 1.8 per cent to close at S$1.72 on Friday.

SG Local News

KKR in Talks to Buy S’Pore-Based ST Telemedia GDC in Deal Valued at over $6.4B: Sources

KKR & Co is in talks to buy ST Telemedia Global Data Centres in a deal that could value the Asian digital infrastructure provider at more than US$5 billion (S$6.4 billion), according to people familiar with the matter.

The US investment firm and ST Telemedia could reach a deal in the coming weeks, the sources said. KKR is already a backer in the closely held data centre company, known as STT GDC, with a 14.1 per cent stake. At a valuation of more than US$5 billion, the deal could be among the largest for KKR in 2025, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Discussions are in an advanced stage but a deal could still be delayed or even fall apart, the sources said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. KKR and STT GDC declined to comment. 

Great Eastern Q2 Earnings Down 11% at S$248.2 Million

Insurer Great Eastern on Monday (Jul 28) posted an 11 per cent decline in net profit to S$248.2 million for its second quarter ended Jun 30, from S$280.4 million in the previous corresponding period.

The group attributed the decline to lower profit from its insurance business for the quarter.

For the six months ended June, net profit inched up 1 per cent to S$593.7 million from S$587.1 million in the year-ago period.

Raffles Medical H1 Profit Rises 4.8% to S$32.1 Million

Raffles Medical Group on Monday (Jul 28) posted net profit of S$32.1 million for its first half ended Jun 30, up 4.8 per cent from S$30.6 million in the same period a year prior.

This comes on the back of the healthcare group cementing partnerships with Shanghai’s Renji Hospital in March and Chongqing’s First Affiliated Hospital in June, to build a new model for medical cooperation between Singapore and China.

In the China market, revenue therefore increased marginally to 163.6 million yuan (S$29.3 million) in H1 FY2025 from 162.9 million yuan in H1 FY2024. The Raffles Hospital brand has gained wider recognition among patients in China, reinforcing its position as a trusted healthcare provider, said the company.

AEM CEO Amy Leong Resigns a Year After Appointment; Samer Kabbani Takes over with Immediate Effect

Semiconductor testing equipment manufacturer AEM Holdings has announced the resignation of its chief executive officer Amy Leong, which took effect on Sunday (Jul 27).

Leong, who held the post for slightly more than a year, will be replaced by Samer Kabbani, the group’s president and chief technology officer, from Monday.

In a regulatory filing on Sunday evening, AEM cited “board-led leadership realignment for growth” as the reason for Leong’s resignation. The filing indicated that there are no unresolved differences in opinion on material matters between Leong and the board of directors, including matters that would have a material impact on the group or its financial reporting.

Singtel’s NCS Seeks to Hire up to 200 Fresh Graduates This Year

NCS will remain committed to hiring between 150 and 200 fresh graduates this year, said chief executive officer Ng Kuo Pin. This is similar to previous hiring numbers.

The hires will come from different educational backgrounds, and not just solely those with artificial intelligence (AI) expertise, Ng added.

In an exclusive interview with The Business Times during the company’s flagship Impact Forum held on Jul 10, Ng reiterated that the hiring strategy is in line with NCS’ talent development pipeline, which aims to develop tech graduates with a ground-up approach.