3 in 5 Singapore listed firms post poorer results in latest quarter

Singapore

MORE misses than hits - that's the score for the fiscal earnings of Singapore-listed firms in their latest quarterly results.

Of the 418 companies which had released their results as at Aug 19, 2019, about 60 per cent did worse than the corresponding quarter last year, prompting brokerages to cut their earnings forecasts and to expect further reductions in FY2020 should the US-China trade war drag on.

A tally by The Business Times showed that of the 418 companies whose latest quarter ended within the April-to-June period, one in three chalked up losses. Together, they reported a combined net profit of S$10.8 billion, 7.4 per cent lower than the year-ago quarter.

This was primarily dragged down by the earnings slide in the communication services, consumer staples, and materials sectors - segmented according to the Global Industry C…