These 5 SGX listcos made it to Forbes Asia's ‘Best Under A Billion' list

Business Times

21 hours ago

[SINGAPORE] Forbes Asia announced its 2025 'Best Under A Billion' list on Tuesday (Aug 5), which comprises 200 top-performing small and mid-cap firms in the Asia-Pacific region this year.
The companies on this list have recorded annual sales exceeding US$10 million, but not more than US$1 billion.
A composite scoring system was used to select these companies. These were measures such as debt, sales and earnings-per-share growth over both the most recent fiscal one and three-year periods. It also factored in the strongest one and five-year average return on equity.
Of these 200 companies, five from Singapore made the cut in 2025:
1. Singapore Exchange (SGX)
As at Tuesday, SGX had the largest market capitalisation among the five listcos that made the Forbes Asia list, of S$17.3 billion, ShareInvestor data indicated.
Its total securities market turnover value rose 23 per cent year on year in June to S$26 billion. In addition, the volume of derivatives was also up 17 per cent at 26.1 million contracts in the same month, resulting in its FY2025 traded volume reaching 315.8 million contracts.
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The local bourse had four new listings this year – of automotive solutions provider Vin's Holdings, Info-Tech Systems, NTT DC Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), and Lum Chang Holdings, in addition to a secondary listing by China Medical System.
Various analysts have said the Singapore market is a 'safe haven' amid geopolitical tensions caused by conflict in the Middle East and tariff uncertainty. Its full-year results for FY2025 are expected to be released before trading hours on Aug 8.
2. iFast
The Singapore-based wealth management platform made its Forbes Asia list debut this year, with a market capitalisation of about S$2.8 billion.
In July, it was one of five counters listed on SGX that led net institutional inflows, with a total returns rate of 37.3 per cent for the month.
The group posted a 34.7 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit for the first half ended June of S$41.1 million, from S$30 million. Revenue for the same period was up 19.7 per cent at S$194.9 million, from S$162.8 million in H1 FY2024. Earnings per share for H1 rose to S$0.1368 from S$0.1028 in the same year-ago period.
The fintech company was boosted by the improving performance of its UK digital bank iFast Global Bank in the second quarter, which it acquired in March 2022. It was granted a trust business licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) earlier on May 2.
3. Centurion
Founded in 1984, Centurion has purpose-built worker accomodation (PBWA) assets in Singapore and Malaysia, and purpose-built student accomodation (PBSA) assets in Australia, the UK and the US. The group also has build-to-rent assets in China. It had a market capitalisation of S$1.5 billion.
Centurion on Jul 14 announced its proposed listing of a new Reit – Centurion Accommodation Reit – on the mainboard of SGX. Its initial public offering would include 14 assets at launch, made of five PBWA properties in Singapore, eight PBSA properties in the UK and one PBSA property in Australia, with an initial portfolio value of more than S$1.8 billion .
The Singapore-headquartered group was recognised as a 'small-cap jewel' by RHB Group Research in its May 16 report, and reported a 13 per cent increase in revenue to S$69 million for the first quarter ended Mar 31, from S$61.1 million in the same year-ago period.
Its results for H1 FY2025 ended Jun 30 are scheduled for release on Aug 7 after trading hours.
4. Credit Bureau Asia (CBA)
Listed on the SGX on Dec 3, 2020, the credit and risk information solutions player had a market capitalisation of around S$322.2 million.
The investment holding company operates two core segments – first, the financial institution (FI) data business, which offers consumer or business credit reporting, scoring, analytics and monitoring; and second, the non‑FI data business, which provides commercial credit reports, risk management tools, receivables services and insights.
For the full-year ended Dec 31, 2024, CBA posted a revenue of S$59.7 million, up 10 per cent year on year, with profit after tax and minority interests rising 14 per cent to S$11.2 million. Its net profit before tax stood at S$30.5 million. The board's recommendation brought the final dividend payout to S$0.04 per share, an 8.1 per cent increase from FY2023.
In April 2025, its subsidiary Credit Bureau (Singapore) received a consumer credit bureau licence from MAS, enabling full consumer credit reporting operations in Singapore.
5. Grand Banks Yachts
The luxury yacht builder had a market capitalisation of S$97 million, and manufactures yachts under the brands of Grand Banks, Eastbay and Palm Beach.
Grand Banks Yachts operates out of its manufacturing yard at Pasir Gudang, Johor, in Malaysia and provides customer support out of its service yard at Stuart, Florida, in the US. These yachts range between 42 and 85 feet.
The yacht manufacturer was established in 1956, and initially named American Marine Ltd, Hong Kong. It subsequently opened a factory in Singapore in 1969, and was incorporated in the city-state in 1976 amid a management change.
The small-cap's recent third-quarter net profit dipped by 42.4 per cent to S$2.3 million , from around S$4 million in the corresponding quarter a year prior. This was on the back of its sale of more lower-margin trade-in boats, in addition to higher costs from product enhancements, as noted in a May 19 bourse filing.
Revenue for Q3 did grow by 37.8 per cent to S$40.1 million, from S$29.1 million in the same year-ago period.