What Is The Ownership Structure Like For Singapura Finance Ltd (SGX:S23)?

If you want to know who really controls Singapura Finance Ltd (SGX:S23), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, 'Don’t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

With a market capitalization of S$137m, Singapura Finance is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions don't own shares in the company. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Singapura Finance.

Check out our latest analysis for Singapura Finance

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Singapura Finance?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.

There could be various reasons why no institutions own shares in a company. Typically, small, newly listed companies don't attract much attention from fund managers, because it would not be possible for large fund managers to build a meaningful position in the company. Alternatively, there might be something about the company that has kept institutional investors away. Institutional investors may not find the historic growth of the business impressive, or there might be other factors at play. You can see the past revenue performance of Singapura Finance, for yourself, below.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Singapura Finance. The company's largest shareholder is See Hoy Chan (1988) Pte Ltd, with ownership of 47%. Teo Hang Sam Realty Sdn Bhd is the second largest shareholder owning 5.3% of common stock, and Morph Investments Ltd. holds about 1.7% of the company stock.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 52% stake.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Singapura Finance

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Singapura Finance Ltd. In their own names, insiders own S$7.9m worth of stock in the S$137m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board, though I generally prefer to see bigger insider holdings. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 40% stake in Singapura Finance. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 54%, of the Singapura Finance stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Singapura Finance better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Singapura Finance you should know about.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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