SG Morning Highlights | SGX posts 30.1% rise in H1 profit to S$284.6 million

Advancers / Decliners is 63 to 81, with 84.51 million securities worth S$118.74 million changing hands.

Scam victims in Singapore lost a total of S$660.7 million in 2022, up from S$632 million in 2021.

The figures released by the police on Wednesday (Feb 8) mean that almost S$1.3 billion was lost to scams in the past two years.

And contrary to popular belief, it was not mostly the elderly who fell prey to scams. More than 53 per cent of scam victims were between 20 and 39 years old.

Singapore's government revenue would likely have fallen short for the FY2026 to FY2030 period and beyond, if not for tax changes announced in last year's Budget, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

This is because government spending is rising, the ministry explained in an occasional paper released on Wednesday (Feb 8).

It projected that spending would rise to about 19 per cent to 20 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in FY2026-2030, driven by healthcare and infrastructure.

Singaporeans, now or in generations to come, will not have to worry about having an affordable home to call their own, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Giving this assurance in a Facebook post on Tuesday, PM Lee said the government is working hard to ramp up the supply of flats, cool the resale market and keep Housing Board flats affordable and accessible to a wide range of Singaporeans.

"We are working hard at the problem, and are confident we will solve it," he said.

Willowville has a 60 per cent stake in a project company that holds the rights to develop a site in District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Oasis Asia Real Estate Investment, the purchaser, will make the payment to Keppel Land Vietnam Properties, a wholly-owned subsidiary, in two tranches, Keppel said in an exchange filing.

On Thursday (Feb 9), the bourse operator said the year-on-year increase in net profit came on the back of a 9.6 per cent growth in revenue to S$571.4 million, driven mainly by an increase in derivatives trading and clearing revenue, and treasury income.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the half year grew 9.2 per cent to S$334.1 million from S$306 million.

Sales of residential projects in Australia and Singapore remained healthy despite rate hikes and inflation, the company announced in a business update.

In Singapore, it sold 50 units in Q1, with unrecognised revenue amounting to S$1 billion, Frasers Property said, noting that sales of launched projects continued to strengthen despite property curbs introduced in December 2021 and September last year.

This comes despite a 2.7 per cent dip in net property income (NPI) to US$97.9 million for the period, its latest financial statements showed.

For the second half of FY2022, distributable income fell 10.8 per cent to US$35.8 million, while NPI dropped 13.3 per cent to US$47.1 million.

Revenue for Q1 fell 4.5 per cent to S$341.2 million, the company said in a business update on Wednesday (Feb 8).

As at Dec 31, its sales order book stood at about S$1.4 billion, with duration of projects ranging up to 5 years, subject to further changes.

One reason it cited for the net loss is a decrease in revenue from Straco’s China attractions from FY2021 to FY2022. Additional measures, such as lockdowns imposed by Chinese municipal authorities in line with the zero-Covid policy, impacted visitor numbers, Straco said.

The group also recorded material exchange losses due to the weakened yuan against the Singapore dollar in FY2022. In FY2021, the group recorded exchange gains.