iFast chief Lim Chung Chun ups shareholding

[SINGAPORE] Over the five trading sessions from Aug 22 to 28, institutions were net buyers of Singapore stocks, with net institutional inflow of S$33 million, partially reversing the S$53 million in net institutional outflow for the preceding week.

Institutional flows

Over the five trading sessions, the stocks that had the highest net institutional inflow included Singtel, Jardine Matheson, Hongkong Land, UOL Group, Keppel, Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit), CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, LHT, CapitaLand Investment and Frasers Centrepoint Trust.

Meanwhile, DBS, OCBC, ST Engineering, ComfortDelGro, Sembcorp Industries, Great Eastern, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, Thai Beverage, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Golden Agri-Resources led the net institutional outflow.

Share buybacks

The five sessions saw 19 primary-listed companies make buybacks with a total consideration of S$54.7 million. UOB led the consideration tally, buying back 500,000 of its shares at an average price of S$35.30 apiece.

Q & M Dental Group booked the highest buyback consideration for the stocks outside of the Straits Times Index, while group chief executive officer Ng Chin Siau also led the director acquisition consideration for the week.

Director transactions

More than 110 director interests and substantial shareholdings were filed over the five trading sessions. Across more than 40 primary-listed stocks, directors or CEOs reported 17 acquisitions and 12 disposals, while substantial shareholders recorded 11 acquisitions and seven disposals.

This included director or CEO filings for Audience Analytics, iFast, Japan Foods, Metro, Nera Telecommunications, Q & M Dental, Sinostar PEC, Stamford Land and SunMoon Food.

Q & M Dental Group

Between Aug 25 and 27, Quan Min Holdings acquired 6,542,700 shares of Q & M Dental at an average price of S$0.493 a share. This increased the total interest of non-independent executive director and group CEO Ng Chin Siau to 55.35 per cent from 54.62 per cent.

iFast

On Aug 21, iFast chairman and group CEO Lim Chung Chun acquired 60,000 shares at an average price of S$8.29 a share. With a consideration of S$497,100, this increased his total interest in the global digital banking and wealth management platform to 19.78 per cent, from 19.76 per cent. His previous acquisitions on the open market were in May 2023.

Lim co-founded the company and launched Fundsupermart.com in Singapore in 2000, followed by iFast Financial in 2001. He subsequently led the group’s expansion into Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and the UK, building a fintech ecosystem across these five markets.

For the six months ended Jun 30, 2025, iFast reported S$50.4 million in profit before tax, a 32.7 per cent surge from that in the year-ago period.

Its UK-based iFast Global Bank (iGB) delivered a S$1.7 million profit in the half year, reversing a S$3.8 million loss in H1 FY2024, after becoming profitable in Q4 FY2024.

The group acquired the fully licensed UK bank in March 2022, and immediately focused on building its digital transaction banking business and integrating it across the ecosystem.

Supported by continued customer acquisition and deposit-taking, iGB customer deposits grew 177.9 per cent in 2024 to £593.5 million (around S$1 billion) and rose further to £828.7 million as at Jun 30, 2025.

In addition to higher net interest revenue, iGB’s net revenue was boosted by stronger non-interest commission and fee income, which grew 81.7 per cent year on year in H1 FY2025.

The unit incorporates three core business lines: digital personal banking (DPB), digital transaction banking (DTB) and the EzRemit platform.

EzRemit is the remittance business of iGB, and provides remittance services to business-to-business partners. It was extended and integrated within the iGB app for DPB clients in 2024.

EzRemit offers a fully integrated cross-border payments solution for money transfers and foreign exchange across more than 20 currencies, a robust query management system, and dynamic payout routing.

The group noted in April in that iGB faces no regulatory or internal caps on deposit growth and, as a fully digital bank, can scale without reliance on physical branches. It added that leveraging the group’s fintech ecosystem, iGB aims to deploy innovative solutions and automation to reduce costs, enhance customer stickiness, and expand globally beyond the UK market.

At the same time, iFast said that iGB risk controls will focus on capital, liquidity and market risks, ensuring deposits are invested within set mismatch limits for currency, tenor and pricing to achieve required returns.

The group expects overall revenues and profitability in H2 FY2025 to improve significantly over those in H1, driven by continued growth in the core wealth management business, iGB, as well as progress in the ePension division’s eMPF onboarding.

As at the end of Q2 FY2025, iFast maintained a strong balance sheet with S$821.8 million in cash and cash equivalents, supported by a healthy 24.6 per cent return on equity. Directors declared a second interim dividend of S$0.02 per share that went ex-dividend on Aug 6, and they expect full-year dividends of at least S$0.08 per share.

September marks 25 years for iFast. Its mission to build a global business model is underpinned by the ecosystem it has been developing since its incorporation in 2000.

Metro

Between Aug 20 and 27, non-executive and non-independent director Ong Sek Hian continued to acquire shares, increasing his total interest to 35.7 per cent from 35.59 per cent. The 952,600 shares were acquired at an average price of S$0.446 apiece.

This followed his acquisition of 1,560,300 shares at an average price of S$0.422 a share between Aug 13 and 19.

Intraco

On Aug 22, Intraco executive chairman and director Mak Lye Mun acquired 273,200 shares at an average price of S$0.344 apiece. The married deal increased his direct interest to 3.46 per cent from 3.2 per cent. He has gradually increased his interest from 0.71 per cent as at the end of 2023.

Mak has more than 30 years of experience in the banking industry. He was appointed executive chairman of Intraco in July 2022, and was previously independent non-executive chairman from April 2021. His executive role includes leading the group’s business and operations.

For its H1 FY2025, the group recorded a profit after tax of S$900,000, compared to S$400,000 in the year before. This was attributed mainly to an income tax credit of S$400,000 that was a reversal of overprovision of deferred tax liabilities in the prior year.

Intraco trades and distributes plastic resin and liquors, as well as offers trade finance, supply chain solutions, mobile radio infrastructure management and digital asset advisory. The group said that demand for trade and supply chain finance has risen in Singapore and the region.

In H1 FY2025, the group assisted its customers to arrange in aggregate around US$88 million for funding their respective businesses. Intraco is in talks with a strategic partner and licensed fund manager to launch a private trade fund focused on trade and supply chain finance.

The group’s tokenisation of corporate commercial papers is also attracting growing interest from corporate issuers.

Stamford Land

Between Aug 21 and 25, Stamford Land executive chairman Ow Chio Kiat increased his total interest to 46.24 per cent from 46.23 per cent. He acquired 160,000 shares at an average price of S$0.42 apiece.

Audience Analytics

On Aug 26, chairman and managing director William Ng acquired 181,100 shares at an average price of S$0.273 a share. This increased his total interest in the Catalist-listed stock to 83.66 per cent from 83.58 per cent.

The group engages primarily in business impact assessments and recognition awards, trade and consumer exhibitions, as well as digital and print media with networking events and conferences.

On Aug 13, the group said that while revenue declined in H1 FY2025, the period is historically weaker than the second half of the year. It anticipates a stronger performance in H2, with several larger events scheduled that are expected to support its revenue for the remainder of the year.

Sinostar PEC

Between Aug 22 and 25, Sinostar PEC executive chairman and CEO Li Xiang Ping acquired 100,000 shares at S$0.155 apiece. This marginally increased his deemed interest in the China-based producer and supplier of downstream petrochemical products to 69.62 per cent, from 69.61 per cent previously.

Since the end of 2019, he has been raising his deemed interest from 57.8 per cent, notably through a rights issue earlier this year.

The writer is the market strategist at Singapore Exchange (SGX). To read SGX’s market research reports, visit sgx.com/research.