Stocks to watch: Great Eastern, Seatrium, SingLand, Raffles Medical, Hong Leong Finance

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Monday (Feb 26): Great Eastern : The insurance arm of OCBC reported on Monday a 13 per cent fall in H2 profit of S$337.4 million on the year. Earnings per share for the period stood at S$0.71, down 13 per cent from S$0.82 in the year-ago period. The board proposed a final dividend of S$0.40, which will be payable on May 17 upon shareholders’ approval at the annual general meeting. The counter closed Friday down 0.3 per cent or S$0.05 to S$18.24. Seatrium : The group on Monday reported a wider second-half net loss of S$1.7 billion compared to a net loss of S$118.3 million in the same period last year. It also proposed a 20-to-1 share consolidation exercise. Separately, the group announced it reached in-principle settlement agreements with Brazilian authorities to pay 670.7 million reais (S$182.4 million), with a further provision of S$82.4 million for indemnity to Keppel Corporation, in relation to Operation Car Wash. Shares of Seatrium ended Friday down S$0.007 or 7 per cent at S$0.093.

Singapore Land Group (SingLand): The real estate company reported a 7 per cent rise in net profit to S$102.4 million in the six months ended Dec 31, 2023, from S$95.3 million in the same period a year earlier. On Friday, the company said that this was mainly due to fair-value gain on subsidiaries’ investment properties of S$14.5 million in the half year, compared with a S$6.6 million fair-value loss recorded in H2 FY2022. SingLand shares closed up 0.6 per cent or S$0.01 to S$1.82, before the announcement.

Raffles Medical Group : The medical services provider on Monday posted a 63.8 per cent drop in net profit to S$30.3 million for the second half ended Dec 31, 2023, from S$83.7 million in the previous corresponding period. The weaker performance came as Covid-19-related activities were discontinued in FY2023, the group said in a press statement. Shares of mainboard-listed Raffles Medical closed 1 per cent or S$0.01 higher at S$1.05 on Friday.