Sembcorp's second-half profit rises 15% to $412 million

Final dividend of 8 cents per share proposed, bringing the total for the year to 13 cents

- Sue-Ann Tan

Sembcorp Industries' gas and related services segment is expected to remain robust, while its renewables business is also expected to perform well in the days ahead, the group said as it released its full-year results on Feb 20.

Net profit in the second half of its 2023 financial year rose 15 per cent to $412 million, up from $358 million in the same period in 2022.

For the full year, net profit after exceptional items and loss from a discontinued operation climbed 11 per cent to $942 million, an increase from $848 million in 2022.

The group proposed a final dividend of eight cents per share. Together with an interim dividend of five cents paid in August 2023, this brings the group's total dividend for the year to 13 cents per share, versus 12 cents in 2022.

Sembcorp group chief financial officer Eugene Cheng called it a "watershed year" for Sembcorp Industries during a briefing over the results, as before exceptional items, this is the highest net profit that the group has achieved in its operating history.

Sembcorp chief executive Wong Kim Yin said the confidence level of the executives in the group's future earnings potential is much stronger than the year before.

"It manifests in the fact that we are prepared to come up and say our ordinary dividend shall be 13 cents going forward," he said.