First Sponsor reports 59.2% jump in H1 earnings to S$19 million, interim dividend of S$0.011 a share
The earnings growth was mainly driven by a higher share of profits from associates and joint ventures. However, revenue for H1 2025 fell 11 per cent to S$153.9 million from S$172.9 million in H1 2024.
The drop in revenue was mainly the result of a fall in revenue from the sale of development properties, property financing and hotel operations. This was offset by an increase in rental income from investment properties.
The company's Chinese projects continued to be dogged by subdued presales amid a prolonged weakness in property market sentiment.
Neo Teck Pheng, the developer's chief executive, said: 'The group continues to adopt a long-term perspective on the sales cycle, and has generally refrained from any significant price cut.'
The board has approved an interim dividend of S$0.011 a share for FY2025, the same amount as in FY2024.
Neo said: 'Backed by a strong balance sheet and substantial unutilised committed credit facilities, the group is in a sound financial position to not only navigate through the geopolitical and economic challenges and uncertainties, but to also capitalise on any favourable business opportunities that may arise.'
The company's shares closed unchanged at S$1.05 on Monday.
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Straits Times
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Business Times
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Fresh listings in H1 2025 have also underperformed compared to the year before, a Deloitte report noted. Local exchanges have remained more attractive than HKEX for new listings, with fundraising flexibility and policy incentives laying the foundations for domestic players to access funds. 'Major Asean members have their own currencies and domestic stock markets to fund business growth,' a Bloomberg Intelligence report noted in July. 'The bias remains for South-east Asian companies to list on their local exchanges in 'homecomings',' said Pictet's Withaar, pointing out that government-linked investment companies and sovereign wealth funds in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore often support large listings in the region. Such government involvement is expected to persist in South-east Asia's capital markets. 'Companies increasingly favour local exchanges over international ones due to regulatory support and growing domestic investor interest,' Stephen Bates, partner and head of deal advisory at KPMG in Singapore, told BT last month. As a result, little of Hong Kong's listing activity in the last few years has come from South-east Asia, Withaar noted. 'These are markets for Chinese and Hong Kong investors, who can understand Chinese businesses much more than (those) in Thailand, Vietnam or Malaysia.' Cross-listings Notably, HKEX may still find additional reach in dual-primary or secondary-listed companies which already trade on Asean exchanges. The bourse may already have signalled a strategic shift, which HKEX chief executive Bonnie Chan hinted at in a June interview: 'I am now beginning to realise that our sweet spot may not be private companies.' 'We're now more focused on companies which are actually already listed on another market, but might have outgrown their domestic market,' she added. Since 2022, international issuers have been included in HKEX's Stock Connect programme, which allows mainland Chinese investors to trade and settle shares listed on Hong Kong boards. Access to these investors may be why companies such as Malaysia-listed Capital A, the parent company of low-cost carrier AirAsia, is now seeking a secondary listing on the Hong Kong bourse. ' I am now beginning to realise that our sweet spot may not be private companies. We're now more focused on companies which are actually already listed on another market, but might have outgrown their domestic market. 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Liquidity concerns, the company's board said, had limited its opportunities to conduct secondary equity fundraising on HKEX. Pictet's Withaar also warned that dealmaking in Hong Kong still suffers from deep cyclicality, where listing booms come and go. 'Just 18 months ago, there were miniscule levels of activity in the Hong Kong capital markets,' he said. 'This is unlike the US, which has a very deep and liquid market. There is always a steady stream of capital markets transactions.' When it comes to overseas listings, Wall Street exchanges Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange remain the gold standard for foreign companies due to better liquidity and valuations, he added. Compared to the three South-east Asian listings on HKEX, six regional companies have already gone public on Nasdaq in 2025, all of which are headquartered in Singapore.
