In Singapore, there are close to 750 listed companies that retails investors can invest in. For the average investor, this makes it hard to choose the right stocks to buy or even decide which ones to start researching on. One good place to start is your everyday life – where there are several brands you come into contact with without knowing they are listed companies that you can invest in.
In this list, we highlight the 10 largest listed companies that Singaporeans will definitely come into contact with on a daily basis because they pretty much own everything in our country.
# 10 Sembcorp Industries Ltd
With a market capitalisation of nearly $5.7 billion, Sembcorp Industries has three main businesses in utilities, marine and urban development. Each has global presence as well as Singapore-related services.
Within its utilities business, Sembcorp Industries provides energy-related services including generating power to the grid and retailing electricity that is essential for our daily lives. It also has water and wastewater treatment capabilities, treating part of Singapore’s waste water as well as producing the country’s NEWater. Sembcorp Industries also provide on-site logistics and solid waste management solutions in Singapore and abroad. In terms of waste collection and management, it serves over 600,000 households in Singapore and over 5,000 industrial and commercial customers, government agencies and healthcare facilities.
In its marine business, it is a dominant player owning Sembcorp Marine, which is also listed on the Singapore Exchange. This business mainly works with other businesses offering a full spectrum of offshore and marine engineering solutions.
Within its urban development business, it has a long track record as a successful land and property developer. In Singapore, it has developed several condominiums and industrial sites. However, the main bulk of its work in this business comes from overseas markets.
# 9 City Development Limited (CDL)
CDL is a global real estate company with a market capitalisation of over $9.7 billion. It has diverse portfolio of residential, office, industrial, retail and hospitality properties as well as offer facilities management and fund management.
In Singapore, it develops and sells luxury condominiums, such as Gramercy Park, the residences at W Singapore Sentosa Cove and One Shenton, and executive condominiums, including the Criterion and the Brownstone.
It is also one of Singapore largest commercial landlords with office, retail and industrial properties in the country. These include Manulife Centre, the Arcade and Manulife Centre (office); Republic Plaza and City Square mall (retail); and City Industrial Building and Citilink Warehouse Complex (industrial).
The company’s subsidiary, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and owns 130 hotels, six of which are in Singapore, including Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore, M Hotel, Orchard Hotel, as well as two other hotels separately, St Regis Singapore and W Singapore – Sentosa Cove.
Singapore makes up a small proportion of CDL’s overall portfolio, but we’re very familiar with many of the property brands it owns and has developed.
# 8 ComfortDelGro Corporation Ltd
We all know ComfortDelGro as the company that operates the blue taxis in Singapore. In fact, the company is so much more than that. It not only also operates the yellow City Cab taxis in Singapore, but is one of the largest land transport companies in the world with a market capitalisation of over $5.9 billion.
The company has a global footprint in the businesses of bus, taxi, rail, car rental and leasing, automotive engineering services, inspection and testing services, driving centre, insurance broking services and outdoor advertising.
In Singapore, it owns, in addition to Comfort and City Cabs, 75% of public bus and rail operator, SBS Transit Ltd, as well as ComfortDelGro Bus, the largest private land transport company. It also own vehicle maintenance and repair workshop in Singapore, ComfortDelGro Engineering, and has over 67% stake in Vicom Ltd, which runs seven vehicle inspection centres in Singapore.
Those who want to learn to drive will also come into contact with the company’s driving centre. It also owns one of the largest car rental and leasing fleets in Singapore under its company.
ComfortDelGro also has an outdoor advertising business, Moove Media, which is famous for its “cardboard cow” advertisements and an insurance broking arm.
Read Also: Value Investing – Are Cheap Stocks Always Great Companies To Invest In?
# 7 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH)
At a market capitalisation of $5.5 billion, it is no surprise that SPH is synonymous with media consumption in Singapore. From the newspapers and magazines, such as Straits Times, Business Times and UWeekly, we read to the radio channels, including Kiss 92 and UFM 100.3 we tune in to, and the digital portals such as AsiaOne and HardWareZone we go to for information and news, SPH infiltrates our daily lives in almost every imaginable way.
What’s more the company also owns properties in the form of its listed SPH REIT, which owns Paragon and Clementi Mall. Separately, it also own Seletar Mall and also developed luxury condominium, Sky@Eleven.
It also owns outdoor events management businesses, Sphere Exhibits, which organised events such as Beerfest Asia, BuildTechAsia and Asian Masters – an event on gourmet food, and SPHMBO, which has a network of outdoor billboards and indoor screens in shopping centres and banks islandwide, that we see every day. These include those at Rendezvous Hotel, Tanglin Mall, Marina Bay Link mall, Ocean Financial Centre, One Raffle Quay and other popular sites in the business district.
SPH also owns online investor relations solutions firm, ShareInvestor, which aids people in finding information online about the companies they have invested in.
# 6 Keppel Corp Limited
Keppel Corp has a market capitalisation of $11.9 billion, note that its share price has come down almost 45% in the last five years.
Many of us would have heard of Keppel Shipyard, but this is only one aspect of its offshore and marine business, in which it is a global leader.
Within Singapore, Keppel is a leading property company. In terms of infrastructure, it has a good track record providing energy to the grid via its Jurong Island cogeneration plant. It also built and operates the Ulu Pandan NEWater plant treating sewage and producing water for the country. As recent as 2017, it won a new contract to build a desalination plant in Marina East. Keppel also built and runs the world’s most compact Waste-to-Energy plant at Tuas.
Aside from its expertise in handling vital infrastructure projects that Singaporeans use on a daily basis but may not realise, it also develops more visible properties that people would recognise. These are the properties in the Keppel Bay area, including Reflections at Keppel Bay, Corals at Keppel Bay, Caribbean at Keppel Bay, Marina at Keppel Bay, Keppel Bay bridge and has two more site in the area.
Keppel also owns and has made many investments in the oil & gas and property industries. This includes its REITs, Keppel REIT, which owns Bugis Junction, Marina Bay Financial Centre, One Raffles Quay and Ocean Financial Centre, and Keppel Data Centre REIT which has three Data Centre storage facilities in Singapore. In addition, it also owns a stake in local telecommunications company, M1.
Singapore’s Biggest Companies As Investments
Without requiring much intuition or research, you would know how strong the biggest companies in the country are. You can see the physical assets they own, the businesses they run and the services they provide.
We know that Singaporeans will continue to rely on these companies for their assets, businesses and services for a long time more. This is what makes these companies the easiest and more interesting ways to get started on your investment journey in Singapore.
We’re not saying they will make the best investments, what we’re saying is that they offer a good way to get started because they run the businesses we are most familiar with.
If you thought these companies were large, look out for our next edition for number 1 to 5 soon!
Read Also: Investing In Companies That You See Around You
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