Keppel shares up 5.5% on H1 earnings growth and plan to divest S$14.4 billion of non-core assets

[SINGAPORE] Shares of Keppel rose on Thursday (Jul 31) morning after the asset manager said H1 net profit grew 24.2 per cent and that it planned to divest a portfolio of non-core assets worth S$14.4 billion.

As at 9.50 am, the counter was trading as high as S$8.63, with some 6.1 million shares changing hands. This was 5.5 per cent or S$0.45 higher than Wednesday’s closing price of S$8.18.

This is S$1.79 or 26.2 per cent higher than its closing price of S$6.84 on the last trading day of 2024.

This comes as Keppel on Thursday posted a 24.2 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to S$377.7 million for H1 amid higher contributions from its real estate segment.

The growth came even as its top line declined 5.2 per cent to S$3.1 billion.

Revenue from the infrastructure segment was down 12 per cent at S$2 billion while revenue from the connectivity segment – which includes data centres and telco M1 – rose 13.9 per cent to S$742.4 million.

The company’s planned divestment portfolio comprises legacy offshore and marine assets, residential landbank, selected property developments and investment properties, and S$2.9 billion of embedded cash and receivables. It also includes hospitality and logistics assets and other non-core investments.

The non-core assets are no longer aligned with Keppel’s asset-light, recurring income-focused strategy, even though many are profitable, such as residential landbanks carried at historical costs.