Creditors are due to file proof by Friday of the obligations that Hyflux owes them, putting the company's S$2.7 billion unsecured debt load under an even brighter spotlight. The firm this month unveiled a proposal to impose 75 to 90 per cent haircuts on unsecured creditors, following a tumble triggered by an ill-timed expansion into energy in recent years. Singapore's debt market has inflicted deep losses on unsecured creditors since the oil-market slump in late 2013, as a myriad of companies followed shipbuilders and charterers into distress.

Best World reported late on Tuesday a 28.9 per cent rise in net profit for its fourth quarter from a year ago, on a surge in revenue and higher gross margins. The stronger results come amid what it cites as a transition from an export model to a franchise model in its China market. Net profit for three months ended Dec 31, 2018 stood at S$28.1 million, compared to a net profit of S$21.8 million. The results translate to earnings per share of 5.12 Singapore cents, against earnings per share of 3.96 Singapore cents.

Food court operator Koufu lifted its fourth-quarter net profit by 3.7 per cent on higher sales, the group said on Tuesday. Net profit for the three months ended Dec 31, 2018 stood at S$7.51 million, compared with a net profit of S$7.24 million posted the same period a year ago. The results translate to earnings per share of 1.35 Singapore cents, against earnings per share of 1.50 Singapore cents. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018 was up 5.3 per cent from a year ago to S$57.05 million.

UOL Group on Tuesday posted a 51 per cent drop in group net profit to S$433.7 million for the year ended Dec 31 from S$880.2 million in the preceding year, due mainly to a S$535.6 million gain recognised upon the consolidation of the United Industrial Corporation group (UIC) in FY2017. Excluding this one-off gain, net profit would have risen 26 per cent. Group revenue climbed 13 per cent to S$2.4 billion in FY2018 due mainly to the full-year consolidation of revenue of the expanded group.

Singtel has signed a master services agreement with China Mobile International Ltd to collaborate on accelerating enterprise adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) in the Asia-Pacific region. China Mobile International is a wholly owned subsidiary of state-owned telco giant China Mobile. Both companies will enable each other’s enterprise customers to seamlessly deploy their IoT devices installed in cars, consumer electronics and industrial equipment across China and Singapore, they said in a joint media statement on Tuesday.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR