2023 Year Recap Top-Performing Singapore Market Sector: Who is the Winner

The year 2023 has witnessed a lackluster performance in the Singapore market sector, as the vast majority of sectors received a negative gain this year. What are the specific performance of different market sectors? Which sector performs best and which worst? Let's dive into these sectors one by one.

Yearly Recap of Market Sectors in Singapore 2023

In 2023, Singapore's economy experienced a mix of global challenges and local strengths, pushing its economic growth slowed down to 1% from 3.6% in 2022. As of the close on December 20th, $FTSE Singapore Straits Time Index(.STI.SG)$, which reflects the trend of local blue-chip stocks, fell about 4%.

Specifically, only one out of all the sectors sees a positive performance in this year: Consumer Discretionary hits an increase of 0.17%. Materials and Health Care sectors suffered more obvious declines, falling 13.08% and 13.93% respectively.

11 Sectors in Singapore Market

1. Consumer Discretionary

Yearly Increase: +0.17%

Introduction: Consumer discretionary refers to goods and services that are non-essential. Different from essentials, consumer discretionary can be replaced with substitutes and can even be deleted. Common consumer discretionary include cars, household appliances, specialty items, luxury goods, and leisure. Generally speaking, demand for these goods is more prone to increase when the economy is booming. As of Jan 07, 2024, there are 73 companies in the Consumer Discretionary Sector listed in SGX, and the industry is down 3.8% over the past 12 months

Example: YKGI (YK9)

• Introduction

YKGI Ltd is engaged in the food and beverage business. It owns and operates a diverse portfolio of non-Halal and Halal brands including Yew Kee Duck Rice, XO Minced Meat Noodles, My Kampung Chicken Rice, PastaGo, and Victoria Bakery. The company’s principal business activities are food and beverage operations, food court management, and franchising and sub-franchising. The operations are based in Singapore. It operates one central kitchen and 45 Food Outlets, manages five food courts, and is the exclusive franchisee of all 31 CHICHA San Chen tea shops in Singapore.

• H1 FY2023 Earnings

• Revenue 29.64M (YoY +10.73%)

• EPS <0.01 (YoY -86.44%)

2. Industrials

Yearly Increase: -1.31%

Introduction: The Industries Sector contains companies producing capital goods for manufacturing, resource extraction, and construction. Among all the sub-sections of Industrials, two of the largest sections are Aerospace & Defense and Construction & Engineering.

Example: Keppel（BN4）

• Introduction

Singapore-based Keppel is a conglomerate with well diversified businesses. The key operating segments are energy and environment, urban development (including property development), connectivity (including telecommunication services and operation of data centers) and asset management. In 2022, asset management was the largest earnings contributor, representing about one-third of the group’s earnings.

• H1 FY2023 Earnings

• Revenue 3.72B (YoY +10.72%)

• EPS 2.01 (YoY +627.54%)

3. Utilities

Yearly Increase: -1.35%

Introduction: Utilities include large companies providing multiple services like electricity and natural gas, and companies with one specialization in one sort of service, such as water. Some utilities rely on clean and renewable energy sources like wind turbines and solar panels to produce electricity. As a capital-intensive sector that requires expensive infrastructure, this sector always carries large amounts of debt on its balance sheets, making it sensitive to interest rate fluctuations.

Example: China Everbright (U9E)

• Introduction

A-Sonic Aerospace Ltd is engaged in providing supply chain management services. The company provides domestic multi-modal transportation, warehousing, distribution, customs clearance, and airport ground services. Its business is divided into two segments namely Aviation which includes aircraft systems and components to airlines and aviation maintenance repair organizations, and Logistics that includes services like Airside Logistics and Transportation, Air Cargo Management and Logistics and Supply Chain Management Services. It generates a majority of its revenue from the Logistics Segment. Geographically, the company gets a majority of its share of the revenue from The People's Republic of China.

• H1 FY2023 Earnings

• Revenue 3.08B (YoY -11.41%)

• EPS 0.22 (YoY +21.56%)

4. Communication Services

Yearly Increase: -7.25%

Introduction: The communication services sector consists of companies that keep people connected. The segments contain social media companies, Internet search firms, video gam makers, telecom providers and streaming media.

Example: Singtel (Z74)

• Introduction

Singapore Telecommunications is Singapore's leading telecoms company. It owns extensive wired and wireless networks offering data and voice services to a broad customer base. Singtel's diverse investment portfolio spreads across the region. The firm wholly owns Optus in Australia and minority equity stakes in Airtel (29%) in India; Telkomsel (35%) in Indonesia; Globe Telecom (47%) in the Philippines; and Advanced Information Services (23%) and Intouch (21%) in Thailand. Singtel is majority-owned by the Singapore government.

• H1 FY2024 Earnings

• Revenue 7.03B (YoY -3.18%)

• EPS 0.13 (YoY +83.10%)

5. Real Estate

Yearly Increase: -8.64%

Introduction: Real estate refers to the land and permanent structures, such as a home, or improvements attached to the land. The main segments of the real estate sector are residential real estate, commercial real estate, and industrial real estate.

Example: CapitaLandInvest (9CI)

• Introduction

CapitaLand Investment, or CLI, is a Singapore-headquartered real estate investment management company with SGD 133 billion in total asset under management. The company has two core business segments: real estate investment and fee income-related business. The majority of its earnings are derived from its real estate investment business where it invests in a portfolio of office, retail, lodging, logistics, business parks, and data center assets for rental income. The firm also derives fee income from lodging management and management of underlying assets in investment vehicles such as an unlisted fund or REIT on behalf of its capital partners.

• H1 FY2023 Earnings

• Revenue 1.35B (YoY -0.66%)

• EPS 0.07 (YoY -18.07%)

6. Financials

Yearly Increase: -9.20%

Introduction: The financial sector includes all companies involved in finance, investing, and the movement or storage of money. The major segments include banks, credit card issuers, insurance companies, and REITs.

Example: DBS Group Holdings (D05)

• Introduction

DBS Group is a Singapore-based banking group offering a full range of services to consumers, small to midsize enterprises, and corporations and institutions. Its main presence is in Singapore and Greater China. The recent acquisition of Lakshmi Vilas Bank has strengthened DBS' operations in India, and the acquisition of Citibank’s Taiwan operation should bring additional growth in Greater China. DBS' wealth management division is one of the largest in Asia, with assets under management of SGD 320 billion as of June 2023.

• Q3 2023 Earnings

• Revenue 5.19B (YoY +15.61%)

• EPS 1.01 (YoY +15.72%)

7. Consumer Staples

Yearly Increase: -9.47%

Introduction: Consumer staples sector includes companies providing all the necessities of life. For instance, food and beverage companies, household product providers, and personal product providers. This sector is highly relevant to people's daily lives.

Example: Best World (CGN)

• Introduction

Best World International Ltd is an investment holding company and the distribution of nutritional supplement products, personal care products and healthcare equipment. The company's segment includes Direct selling; Franchise and others. It generates maximum revenue from the Direct selling segment. The Direct selling segment mainly comprises sales to customers through retail and online channels in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, United States, and United Arab Emirates.

• Q3 FY2023 Earnings

• Revenue 104.48M (YoY +4.15%)

• EPS 0.05

8. Information Technology

Yearly Increase: -10.51%

Introduction: The information technology sector includes companies developing or distributing technological items or services, as well as internet companies. Technological items mentioned here include computers, microprocessors, and operating systems.

Example: Creative (C76)

• Introduction

Creative Technology Ltd operates as a digital entertainment company. The business activity of the company includes designing, manufacturing, and distribution of digitized sound and video boards, computers and related multimedia, and personal digital entertainment products. It offers products such as Amplifiers, sound cards, sound blasters, gaming headsets, speakers, peripherals and other accessories. Geographically, the firm has its business presence across the region of Singapore, United States of America, Asia Pacific, and Europe of which Asia Pacific region accounts for the majority of revenue.

• Q3 FY2023 Annual Report

• Revenue 56.24M (YoY -8.30%)

• EPS -0.24 (YoY -50.00%)

9. Energy

Yearly Increase: -11.78%

Introduction: The energy sector contains companies participating in the oil, gas, and consumable fuels business. On one hand, this sector includes companies that find, drill, and extract the commodity. On the other hand, it also consists of companies that refine the material, provide and manufacture the equipment utilized in the refinement process.

Examples: Mermaid Maritime (DU4)

• Introduction

Mermaid Maritime PCL is a subsea and offshore drilling services company. It provides full turnkey services to oil and gas majors operating offshore such as subsea vessels, specialized diving equipment, remotely operated vehicles and drilling and accommodation rigs. Its segments are the Subsea Group and Holding. The Subsea group, which is the key revenue driver, provides services including inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM), infrastructure installation support, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Support, and cable and flexible pipe laying. The company has a presence across the world and Saudi Arabia is the highest income generator.

• Q3 FY2023 Earnings

• Revenue 85.60M （YoY +29.24%）

• EPS <0.01 (YoY +133.33%)

10. Materials

Yearly Increase: -13.08%

Introduction: Companies within the materials sector provide the raw material needed for other sectors to function. This includes the mining companies that provide gold, zinc, and copper, and forestry companies that provide wood. Companies that are not typically associated with materials but are in the sector include container and packaging companies such as the Intertape Polymer Group, a company that produces tape.

Examples: Avarga (U09)

• Introduction

Avarga Ltd is an investment holding company. It provides trading of paper products. It has four reportable operating segments The Paper Mill division manufactures and sells industrial-grade paper products, collect and trades in waste paper products, the Power division operates a 50 MW gas-fired generating plant in Ywama, Myanmar, the Wholesale distribution segment of building products in Canada, United States and overseas and Others which included investment and corporate segment focus on identifying new investment opportunities locally and overseas. It derives revenues from the Wholesale distribution segment. It operates geographically in Singapore, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, and others. The majority of the revenue comes from Canada.

• H1 FY2023 Earnings

• Revenue 864.68M （YoY -37.30%）

• EPS 0.02 (YoY -56.09%)

11. Health Care

Yearly Increase: -13.93%

Introduction: Health care consists of medical supply companies, pharmaceutical companies, and scientific-based operations or services that aim to improve the human body or mind. Familiar names include Johnson & Johnson, a medical device and pharmaceutical company that owns Tylenol, and Abiomed, which manufactures medical implant devices.

Examples: Medtecs Intl (546)

• Introduction

Medtecs International Corp Ltd is an investment holding company. The company along with its subsidiaries is a manufacturer of medical consumables and provides healthcare products and services. It operates in three segments The Manufacturing segment produces and sub-contracts medical consumables, including patients apparels, disposable surgical masks, boot covers and surgical gowns, adult diapers, underpads, crochet blankets, bed linens and medical bandages. The Hospital services segment provides laundry and leasing services. The Distribution segment is involved in the marketing of Medtecs-branded medical consumables to hospitals, pharmacies, and other end users. It generates the highest revenue from the Manufacturing segment.

• H1 FY2023 Earnings

• Revenue 26.54M （YoY -16.03%）

• EPS <0.01 (YoY -44.99%)

Source: SGX, Bloomberg, moomoo, sginvestors.io