Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Friday. STI rose 0.3%; Civmec rose 2%; NIO and Seatrium rose 0.9%; Genting Singapore rose 0.7%; DBS rose 0.6%; SingPost fell 1.1%.

Stocks in Focus

Olam: The food and agri-business conglomerate announced on Thursday that it will shut down Jiva Ag, a digital farmer services platform developed by the group’s venture arm, Nupo Ventures. This will affect a total of 606 employees – eight are from Singapore. Of those remaining, 531 are from Indonesia, 66 from India and one is from Australia. Shares of Olam closed Thursday unchanged at S$1.02.

GuocoLand: The property developer on Thursday reported a 48 per cent decline in net profit to S$32.4 million for its half year ended Jun 30, from S$62.4 million in the same period a year before. This comes despite a 20.3 per cent rise in revenue to S$906.3 million for its H2 period, from S$753.3 million. The mainboard-listed company said this was due to losses in China offsetting growth in Singapore. Shares of GuocoLand closed Thursday flat at S$1.88, before the announcement.

Civmec: The integrated heavy engineering, construction and maintenance service provider on Thursday posted a 50.7 per cent drop in net profit to A$16 million (S$13.4 million) for its six months ended Jun 30, from A$32.5 million in the same year-ago period. The mainboard-listed group said its performance was due to reduced activity levels following the completion of several major contracts. It recorded a 43.1 per cent fall in revenue to A$307.7 million for the second half of its financial year as well, from A$541.1 million in H2 FY2024. A final dividend of A$0.035 per share was declared for the period, unchanged from the year prior. Shares of Civmec closed Thursday at S$0.945, up S$0.005 or 0.5 per cent, before the news.

mm2 Asia: The owner of Cathay Cineplexes widened its net loss in the second half of its fiscal year ended Mar 31 by over 10 times to S$101.3 million from S$8.7 million in the corresponding period a year before. This was largely driven by a fewer number of completed projects in the concert and event and cinema business versus the previous financial year, the group said in a Thursday bourse filing. Revenue however rose 21 per cent for the six months to S$79.7 million from S$65.9 million in the same year-ago period. Shares of mm2 Asia closed Thursday at S$0.005, up S$0.001 or 25 per cent, before the announcement.

Aims Apac Reit: The industrial and logistics Reit is proposing to acquire an industrial property at 2 Aljunied Avenue 1 for around S$56.65 million. Comprising two buildings, the property has a total land area of 7,481.7 square metres (sq m), a total net lettable area of 16,082.4 sq m and a gross floor area of 18,662.13 sq m. Russell Ng, chief executive of the manager, said on Friday that its acquisition is a 「strategic addition」 to the Reit’s portfolio, offering 「immediate distribution per unit accretion for unitholders」. Units of Aims Apac Reit closed flat at S$1.35 on Thursday. 

Shangri-La Asia: The hotel group posted a net profit of US$57.9 million for the first half ended Jun 30, 2025, down 38.7 per cent from US$94.5 million in the year-ago period. Revenue climbed marginally by 0.7 per cent to US$1.06 billion, from US$1.05 billion previously. The counter ended Thursday 2.6 per cent or HK$0.13 lower at HK$4.86.

SG Local News

Singapore to Impose Harsher Penalties on Drug-Laced Vapes from September

Singapore will take a harder stance against drug-laced vapes from September as it changes the classification of anaesthetic agent etomidate from a poison to a drug, the government announced on Thursday.

Users of vapes laced with the substance will face a fine and mandatory rehabilitation of up to six months instead of just a fine, while importers of etomidate face up to 15 strokes of the cane and a maximum of 20 years in jail, up from a maximum of two years' jail.

Vaping has been banned in Singapore since 2018 but authorities have not clamped down hard on the devices until recently, citing the emergence of drug-laced vapes.

Temasek Shakes up Leadership as It Prepares for Renewal

Temasek Holdings will divide its operations into three entities, in one of the biggest overhauls in its 51-year history, as it prepares for a new generation of leaders.

The company on Thursday (Aug 28) said it will set up three entities – Temasek Global Investments (TGI), Temasek Singapore (TSG) and Temasek Partnership Solutions (TPS) – to manage its portfolio segments.

「What we want to do is to make sure that we test the next generation and prepare them to take leadership of the company, and for them to chart the course for 2040... You can call this our own 4G,」 Dilhan Pillay, executive director and chief executive officer of Temasek, said at a media briefing.