Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights.
Singapore Technologies Engineering (SGX: S63)
Singapore Technologies Engineering, or STE, reported a robust set of earnings for the first half of 2025 (1H 2025).
Revenue rose 7.2% year on year to S$5.9 billion, while operating profit increased by 15.2% year on year to S$602.2 million.
Net profit climbed nearly 20% year on year to S$402.8 million.
STE also churned out a positive free cash flow of S$484.6 million for 1H 2025, though this was 7.3% lower than the previous year’s S$523 million.
The engineering giant saw healthy year-on-year revenue increases for its Commercial Aerospace (CA) and Defence & Public Security (DPS) segments.
Revenue for CA grew 5% year on year to S$2.35 billion while operating profit shot up 18% year on year to S$223 million, contributed by higher sales from engine MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) and nacelles.
DPS saw revenue rise 12% year on year to S$2.65 billion, with growth coming from all sub-segments.
STE snagged a total of S$9.1 billion in contract wins for 1H 2025, with DPS getting the bulk (S$4.2 billion) of these orders.
The blue-chip group’s order book as of 30 June 2025 stood at a multi-year high of S$31.2 billion, with S$5 billion expected to be delivered for the remainder of this year.
An interim dividend of S$0.04 was declared for the second quarter of 2025 (2Q 2025), taking the total dividend for 1H 2025 to S$0.08, unchanged from a year ago.
STE is engaging in continual portfolio rationalisation by divesting non-core assets such as LeeBoy and SPTel.
The group will receive net cash proceeds of around S$450 million and book a gain on disposal of approximately S$180 million.
ComfortDelGro Corporation (SGX: C52)
ComfortDelGro Corporation, or CDG, also released an encouraging set of earnings for 1H 2025.
Revenue climbed 14.4% year on year to S$2.4 billion, aided by contributions from the acquisitions of A2B and Addison Lee.
Operating profit improved by 22.8% year on year to S$172.5 million because of effective cost control in Singapore, coupled with UK London Public Transport contracts renewed at improved margins.
Net profit increased by 11.2% year on year to S$106 million, and the increase would have been higher if you exclude a S$6.1 million dividend income received from A2B in the previous year.
Capital expenditure for 1H 2025 was elevated, however, because of the purchase of 452 funded buses for the Metroline Manchester contract and another 174 electric vehicle (EV) buses in London.
CDG upped its interim dividend by 11.1% year on year to S$0.0391, in line with the good results.
For its outlook, CDG expects rail revenue to increase with steady growth in ridership.
Its London public bus contract renewals are also expected to be done at higher margins, and the group intends to participate in further UK bus tenders.
In Australia, operations commenced for the Metropolitan Zero Emission Bus franchise in Victoria, which helped to increase CDG’s market share to 30%.
For the point-to-point transportation segment, group CEO Cheng Siak Kian intends to integrate the businesses to achieve operational efficiencies and brand alignment.
The longer-term plan is to enable global technology harmonisation and grow its global B2B premium service offerings.
Sea Limited (NYSE: SE)
Sea Limited handed in a stellar financial report card for 1H 2025 as the e-commerce firm saw broad-based revenue growth across its three business divisions.
Revenue climbed 34% year on year to US$10.1 billion while operating profit leapt more than sixfold year on year to US$944.1 million.
Net profit soared more than 13-fold year on year to US$809 million.
Zooming into each of Sea Limited’s divisions, its e-commerce division led by Shopee saw healthy growth, with gross orders increasing by 28.6% year on year to 3.3 billion for 2Q 2025.
Gross merchandise value stood at US$29.8 billion for the quarter, up 28.2% year on year.
The division saw a sustained increase in active buyers and purchase frequency, and improved monetisation was driven by the growth in advertising revenue.
Sea Limited’s digital entertainment arm, Garena, also did well.
Bookings increased by 23.2% year on year to US$661.3 million for 2Q 2025.
Quarterly active users inched up 2.6% year on year to 664.8 million, but the more important metric, quarterly paying users, climbed 17.8% year on year to 61.8 million.
The company’s flagship game, Free Fire, sustained its massive global user database of more than 100 million daily average users.
Digital Financial Services division under Monee saw revenue shoot up 70% year on year to US$882.8 million.
The value of loans on Sea Limited’s platform has nearly doubled year on year to US$6.9 billion for 2Q 2025.
Credit quality is also improving, with the 90-day non-performing loans ratio steadily declining from 1.3% in 2Q 2024 to just 1% in the current quarter.
Looking to create a lifelong income stream? Check out our report, ‘7 Singapore Blue-Chip Stocks That Can Pay You for Life.’ We uncover a powerful lineup of dividend-paying stocks with the reliability and growth potential you need in today’s market. Don’t miss out on these dependable picks. Download your copy now and start building a secure financial future!
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Telegram for the latest investing news and analyses!
Disclosure: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
