Keong Hong buckles up as it rides construction roller-coaster

Singapore

LESS is more, so goes a design maxim that espouses simplicity in style. It might also well be the guiding motto of Keong Hong Holdings, that three years ago climbed the ranks to Singapore Exchange's mainboard from Catalist and has survived several boom and bust cycles over the past 30 years.

Keeping things simple is exactly how company founder and majority owner Ronald Leo Ting Ping has led the homegrown builder, which today has a market capitalisation of some S$100 million. Last year, it earned some S$22 million on the back of S$165 million in revenue.

Mr Leo says: "It's like running a restaurant. When you have a cook and wait staff that can serve only five tables, to sustain yourself, you have to make sure you serve five tables. If you do a lot more and expand too fast …