Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Credit Bureau Asia's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership

• Chiang Koo owns 64% of the company

• Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Credit Bureau Asia Limited (SGX:TCU), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 71% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

So it follows, every decision made by insiders of Credit Bureau Asia regarding the company's future would be crucial to them.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Credit Bureau Asia, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Credit Bureau Asia

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Credit Bureau Asia?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

We can see that Credit Bureau Asia does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Credit Bureau Asia, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Credit Bureau Asia. With a 64% stake, CEO Chiang Koo is the largest shareholder. With such a huge stake, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. It's usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider with such skin in the game. With 6.2% and 4.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Wah Liang Lim and abrdn plc are the second and third largest shareholders. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Wah Liang Lim is also Senior Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Credit Bureau Asia

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Credit Bureau Asia Limited. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. Given it has a market cap of S$220m, that means they have S$157m worth of shares. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 23% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Credit Bureau Asia , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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