SGX Market Strategist, Equity & Fixed Income, Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX)

Geoff Howie

SGX Market Strategist, Equity & Fixed Income

Asia’s leading multi-asset exchange

Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX)

Singapore Exchange is Asia’s leading and trusted market infrastructure, facilitating the exchange of capital and ideas to create value for people, businesses and economies. As a multi-asset exchange operating equity, fixed income and derivatives markets to the highest regulatory standards, SGX is a vertically integrated business that provides listing, trading, clearing, settlement, depository and data services.

With about 40% of listed companies and over 80% of listed bonds originating outside of Singapore as well as established linkages across the region and in Europe, SGX is Asia’s most international and connected exchange. Offering a full suite of derivatives products across Asian equity indices, commodities and currencies, SGX is the world’s most liquid international market for the benchmark equity indices of China, India, Japan and ASEAN.

As Asia’s pioneering central counterparty, SGX is globally recognised for its risk management and clearing capabilities, and was one of the first globally to adopt the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructure.

Headquartered in AAA-rated Singapore, SGX has over 800 employees including offices in Beijing, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, New York, Mumbai, San Francisco, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>StarHub's enterprise division generates $600–700 million annually, focusing on a managed digital infrastructure platform and cybersecurity services.</li><li>StarHub maintains a dividend of six cents per share, despite negative free cash flow due to a $190 million spectrum payment.</li><li>The Ensign transaction resulted in $121 million cash proceeds and a fair value gain of over $200 million.</li></ul>

StarHub's enterprise division generates $600–700 million annually, focusing on a managed digital infrastructure platform and cybersecurity services.StarHub maintains a dividend of six cents per share, despite negative free cash flow due to a $190 million spectrum payment.The Ensign transaction resulted in $121 million cash proceeds and a fair value gain of over $200 million.

kopi-C with Starhub CEO: Staying the dividend course through headwinds 

Smartkarma's AI Co-Pilot, Smartkarma

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Smartkarma's AI Co-Pilot

Smartkarma

Smartkarma unites the fragmented investment industry, connecting institutional investors, independent research providers, and corporates within a single network.

Research Reinvented

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  <li>StarHub is undergoing a significant strategic transformation under its 'DARE+' initiative, pivoting from a traditional telco to a digital services provider with a strong focus on growing its Enterprise business to offset pressures in the hyper-competitive Consumer segment.</li>
  <li>Recent financial performance has been challenged, with a notable 45.6% year-on-year decline in Profit After Tax in 2025, negative free cash flow, and increased leverage, raising concerns about the sustainability of its historically strong dividend.</li>
  <li>The company's outlook is balanced between the growth potential in its enterprise segment (cybersecurity, cloud services) and a multi-year cost optimization program, against the headwinds of intense price competition and execution risks associated with its strategic shift.</li>
</ul><p><em>This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.</em></p>


  StarHub is undergoing a significant strategic transformation under its 'DARE+' initiative, pivoting from a traditional telco to a digital services provider with a strong focus on growing its Enterprise business to offset pressures in the hyper-competitive Consumer segment.
  Recent financial performance has been challenged, with a notable 45.6% year-on-year decline in Profit After Tax in 2025, negative free cash flow, and increased leverage, raising concerns about the sustainability of its historically strong dividend.
  The company's outlook is balanced between the growth potential in its enterprise segment (cybersecurity, cloud services) and a multi-year cost optimization program, against the headwinds of intense price competition and execution risks associated with its strategic shift.
This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.

Smartkarma Research Team, Smartkarma

Smartkarma Research

Smartkarma Research Team

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<p>Smartkarma hosted the Starhub's management team and Insight Provider, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/profiles/alec-tseung/research" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alec Tseung</a>, in an exclusive Corporate Webinar on 17 September '25. They dove deep into how the company is navigating the evolving telco landscape in Singapore, and charting their path to future growth.</p>
<p>Catch the full discussion below: </p>
<div style="display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QJ6TZ4eELlk?si=B0B717eg-jK8CGO8" width="560" height="315" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
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<p>For our next Corporate Webinar, engageIR by Smartkarma is glad to welcome <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/starhub-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:119" rel="noopener">StarHub Ltd (STH SP)</a>’s CEO, Mr. Nikhil Eapen.</p>
<p>In the upcoming webinar, Nikhil will share a short company presentation after which he will engage in a fireside chat with Smartkarma Insight Provider, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/profiles/alec-tseung/research" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alec Tseung</a>. The Corporate Webinar will include a live Q&amp;A session.</p>
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<h3>The Corporate Webinar will be hosted on Wednesday, 17 September 2025, 17:00 SGT.</h3>
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<h2><a href="https://engageir.co/webinar-registration-form-sept2025-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Register for the Webinar Here</a></h2>
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<h3>About StarHub</h3>
<p>StarHub is a leading homegrown Singapore company that delivers world-class communications,<br>entertainment, and digital services. With their extensive fibre and wireless infrastructure and<br>global partnerships, they bring to people, homes and enterprises quality mobile and fixed<br>services, a broad suite of premium content, and a diverse range of communication solutions. They develop and deliver solutions incorporating artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data analytics, Internet of Things, and robotics for corporate and government clients.</p>
<p>StarHub is committed to conducting their business sustainably and responsibly. StarHub is named among TIME’s World’s Most Sustainable Companies 2025 and ranked as the world’s most<br>sustainable wireless telecommunication provider on the Corporate Knights Global 100 (2025).<br>StarHub also ranks 187 on the FORTUNE Southeast Asia 500 in 2025. Listed on the Singapore<br>Exchange mainboard, StarHub is a component stock of the SGX iEdge Singapore Low Carbon<br>Index, iEdge-OCBC Singapore Low Carbon Select 50 Capped Index; as well as the FTSE4Good<br>Index series.</p>
<p>For more information on StarHub, please visit <a href="https://ir.starhub.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://ir.starhub.com/</a></p>
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Smartkarma hosted the Starhub's management team and Insight Provider, Alec Tseung, in an exclusive Corporate Webinar on 17 September '25. They dove deep into how the company is navigating the evolving telco landscape in Singapore, and charting their path to future growth.
Catch the full discussion below: 


For our next Corporate Webinar, engageIR by Smartkarma is glad to welcome StarHub Ltd (STH SP)’s CEO, Mr. Nikhil Eapen.
In the upcoming webinar, Nikhil will share a short company presentation after which he will engage in a fireside chat with Smartkarma Insight Provider, Alec Tseung. The Corporate Webinar will include a live Q&amp;A session.








The Corporate Webinar will be hosted on Wednesday, 17 September 2025, 17:00 SGT.












Register for the Webinar Here












About StarHub
StarHub is a leading homegrown Singapore company that delivers world-class communications, entertainment, and digital services. With their extensive fibre and wireless infrastructure and global partnerships, they bring to people, homes and enterprises quality mobile and fixed services, a broad suite of premium content, and a diverse range of communication solutions. They develop and deliver solutions incorporating artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data analytics, Internet of Things, and robotics for corporate and government clients.
StarHub is committed to conducting their business sustainably and responsibly. StarHub is named among TIME’s World’s Most Sustainable Companies 2025 and ranked as the world’s most sustainable wireless telecommunication provider on the Corporate Knights Global 100 (2025). StarHub also ranks 187 on the FORTUNE Southeast Asia 500 in 2025. Listed on the Singapore Exchange mainboard, StarHub is a component stock of the SGX iEdge Singapore Low Carbon Index, iEdge-OCBC Singapore Low Carbon Select 50 Capped Index; as well as the FTSE4Good Index series.
For more information on StarHub, please visit https://ir.starhub.com/


Smartkarma Corporate Webinar | StarHub: Driving Growth in Singapore's Evolving Telco Landscape

Director and Founding Member, Corporate Monitor Limited

Tan Yee Peng

Director and Founding Member

Strengthening Corporate Performance

Corporate Monitor Limited

Corporate Monitor was established to encourage better performance of companies, particularly companies listed on the SGX, and hold their management and boards to account, for the benefit of their shareholders and stakeholders.

<ul><li>We commend StarHub for putting shareholder returns as a key priority; it is front and centre in its annual reports, and a significant portion of the CEO’s compensation is tied to returns targets.</li><li>This is certainly not common among SGX listed companies, many of which do not even have Return on Equity (“ROE”) targets.</li><li>In fact, less than 20% of SGX companies have 5-year average ROE of more than 10%, which is approximately the cost of equity for most companies.</li></ul>

We commend StarHub for putting shareholder returns as a key priority; it is front and centre in its annual reports, and a significant portion of the CEO’s compensation is tied to returns targets.This is certainly not common among SGX listed companies, many of which do not even have Return on Equity (“ROE”) targets.In fact, less than 20% of SGX companies have 5-year average ROE of more than 10%, which is approximately the cost of equity for most companies.

Starhub Ltd: An Analysis of the Returns to Shareholders and Governance

<ul><li>StarHub delivered a disappointing result for 2025, without any mitigating good news.</li><li>Corporate Monitor Ltd ("CML") initiated a report on StarHub in July 2025, as we sought to understand the drivers of StarHub's Return on Equity ("ROE"), which, at more than 20% consistently in the past (except in 2022), was a standout among SGX-listed companies. We concluded that there was downside to the ROE as its profit margin continued to decline, due primarily to the relentless competition in the consumer telecom business.</li><li>StarHub's enterprise businesses were growing at double digit rates, but operating margin was stuck at low single digits. </li></ul>

StarHub delivered a disappointing result for 2025, without any mitigating good news.Corporate Monitor Ltd ("CML") initiated a report on StarHub in July 2025, as we sought to understand the drivers of StarHub's Return on Equity ("ROE"), which, at more than 20% consistently in the past (except in 2022), was a standout among SGX-listed companies. We concluded that there was downside to the ROE as its profit margin continued to decline, due primarily to the relentless competition in the consumer telecom business.StarHub's enterprise businesses were growing at double digit rates, but operating margin was stuck at low single digits. 

StarHub Ltd – Borrow to Pay Dividends: A Slippery Road

Singapore

StarHub is a Singaporean multinational telecommunications conglomerate that provides mobile, broadband internet, pay TV, and enterprise solutions including cybersecurity, cloud services, data analytics, IoT, and robotics. Headquartered in Singapore, the company was founded on May 7, 1998.

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StarHub (STH SP)

kopi-C with Starhub CEO: Staying the dividend course through headwinds

StarHub's enterprise division generates $600–700 million annually, focusing on a managed digital infrastructure platform and cybersecurity...

Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX)

Primer: StarHub Ltd (STH SP) - Apr 2026

StarHub is undergoing a significant strategic transformation under its 'DARE+' initiative, pivoting from a traditional telco to a digital...

αSK

Smartkarma Corporate Webinar | StarHub: Driving Growth in Singapore's Evolving Telco Landscape

For our next Corporate Webinar, engageIR by Smartkarma is glad to welcome StarHub’s CEO, Mr. Nikhil Eapen. In the upcoming webinar, Nikhil will...

Smartkarma Research

Starhub Ltd: An Analysis of the Returns to Shareholders and Governance

We commend StarHub for putting shareholder returns as a key priority; it is front and centre in its annual reports, and a significant portion...

Corporate Monitor Limited

StarHub Ltd – Borrow to Pay Dividends: A Slippery Road

StarHub delivered a disappointing result for 2025, without any mitigating good news. Corporate Monitor Ltd ("CML") initiated a report on StarHub...

Corporate Monitor Limited

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