Meet SGX’s (potentially) most underrated company

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Hi readers,

Last weekend, I went on a hike with my fiance in a natural wilderness area, which is quite rarely seen in Singapore these days. While it was filled with exciting finds such as an abandoned train track that leads to a hidden tunnel, the “natural” experience meant that we were ankle-deep in mud, climbing over fallen trees, and trying not to walk into trees with thorny stems.

It was an interesting experience, one that I wouldn’t have done if not for the pandemic. You see, the pandemic has gotten many Singaporeans to visit nature parks for the first time. They would then share their experiences online, which will typically cause hordes of people to check out the same places.

This story is kind of similar to Singapore-listed company iFast, which flew under investors’ radar for years until recently, when its share price has been on the up and up.

Today we look at,

• Why this underrated Singapore-listed company is getting the spotlight right now
• How a startup is disrupting companies’ one-size-fits-all health insurance policies for employees
• Other newsy highlights such as how eBay is selling off its South Korean business and why Coupang users are boycotting the company

PREMIUM SUMMARY

The Singapore-listed firm whose share price jumped by over 400% in the last year

Many investors don’t turn to Singapore stocks. That’s not surprising: According to Bloomberg, the city-state was “Asia’s worst stock market” in October last year. But one Singapore-listed company is proving its doubters wrong after having its share price soar by over 400% in the past year.

• iFast: Founded in 2000, iFast is a wealth management platform that provides a variety of products and services for the business-to-consumer segment as well as business-to-business and B2B2C sectors.
• Slow to pick up: The company was listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) in December 2014, but its share price went nowhere for five and a half years. That all changed in June 2020, when iFast was shortlisted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for the country’s digital wholesale bank license. Since then, the company’s stock price has surged.
• Strong financials: The attention from investors was well-founded as iFast’s revenue and profits grew steadily between 2016 to 2020. The company’s assets under administration (AUA), which represents its total net value of investment products, hit a compound annual growth rate of around 24%, climbing from S$6.1 billion to S$14.5 billion.

Read more: IFast could be Singapore’s most underrated public internet company

PREMIUM SUMMARY

Disrupting companies’ one-size-fits-all health insurance policies