Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to a night of celebration.
Brokers sell stocks, that we all know; that’s what they do. But, in recent months, with interest rates staying higher for longer, I have been receiving WhatsApp messages from brokers trying to get me to subscribe to T-bills through them.
This is a sign of the rather listless state of the market, as investors’ appetite for risks shrunk. At the risk of sounding like a doomsday prophet — high inflation, geopolitical tension and low global growth have reduced our collective risk appetite. They prefer a fixed return of 3+%, instead of the potential capital gain and dividend payout they can enjoy investing in a solid counter.
However, tonight, we celebrate and honour the winners of the Billion Dollar Club, and the Centurion Club — the leading performers of our stock market, and their respective sectors. One thing I can say for sure, the winners tonight are companies that have given better returns than T-bills.
To recap, the Billion Dollar Club honours companies listed on the Singapore Exchange S68 , with a market cap of $1 billion and above. We go by various industry sectors, and rate them according to three key criteria: returns to shareholders, growth in profit after tax, and return on equity (ROE) over the three preceding years. The Centurion Club, meanwhile, cheers on those with a market value of at least $100 million towards the $1 billion mark. In the past years, we have had Centurion Club winners getting “promoted” to the BDC. Such is the excitement of picking a winner. However, the opposite has happened before as well.
You might have heard this many times before, but we need to face up to a bigger issue than just maximising profits. To do our part, we have included a sustainability component into the BDC scoring. And we are going to honour companies that have shown that their focus on ESG is not just because it is the flavour of the month, but a pertinent concern.
See also: The Edge Singapore unveils winners of 2023 Billion Dollar Club
Since The Edge Singapore started in 2002, we have been diligently covering and analysing listed companies here in Singapore. Our team is always on the ground, checking out the latest trends, pondering which are the sectors and companies that can do well, so that our readers can make better informed decisions. Over the years, we have seen the rise — and fall — and rise again of entire industry sectors. Never a dull day in the newsroom.
Our team had in-depth interviews with small IPO-aspirants trying to convince investors they deserve their money. They have been given access to leading corporate honchos, where these top CEOs share in detail how they lead these multi-billion giants. These giant companies don’t happen overnight. Decades of hard work, skill and, perhaps, some luck are needed.
After a brief hiatus, the number of IPOs on the SGX is picking up as we head to the year-end. Among the significant developments is SGX’s first spac [special purpose acquisition company], VTAC, which is planning a business combination with a live-streaming company 17-LIVE, with a target valuation of $1 billion. I trust such companies will bring additional variety and flavour to our local bourse. More importantly, we have a steady pipeline of interesting new companies constantly coming on the market, giving the investing public more choices.
See also: Celebrating the top listed companies in Singapore
Unfortunately, a lot of news flow in the past few years had covered privatisations and delistings, followed inevitably by minority shareholders grumbling they have been low-balled. Some recently delisted companies possessed significant underlying worth and were efficiently managed. Unfortunately, they did not receive the due recognition from the market despite years of improving performance in the market. It takes two hands to clap, but it will take many more hands to come together to give a well-deserving applause.
It is unfortunate that geopolitics is casting a dark pall that is making investing an especially tricky activity. But markets are cyclical, and we can all look forward to a more buoyant market eventually.
Of course, not all companies are deserving of the support of investors. I trust the ones that do, outnumber those who don’t. If the various stakeholders of our market ecosystem can work together more closely, there’s a better chance that the investing public, whom we all ultimately serve, will be for the better. We hope our humble effort in organising this annual BDC awards is our way of doing so.
And of course, a big thank you to our sponsors.
Mercedes — The Best or Nothing — forget about the record COE prices for the time being. And CIMB Bank Singapore — you can’t find a stronger supporter of local enterprises with a regional growth ambition across Asean. Our knowledge partners: EY — for partnering with us for many years. Besides the BDC, we have been an official media partner of EY’s annual Entrepreneurship of the Year for years. Those who track these awards will recognise how many past EY winners have gone on to become SGX-listed companies. Sustainalytics, a unit of Morningstar — without this dedicated team at Sustainalytics collecting and poring through the data, we won’t be able to include the ESG component into the scores.
And last but not least, our exchange, SGX — for all the years of close working ties between our teams, and for playing the central and leading role of our markets ecosystem.
I wish you all a pleasant evening.
Bernard Tong is CEO of EdgeProp Singapore and The Edge Singapore
