DBS shares hit record high but SGX slides on proposals to boost exchange

More earnings announcements to follow this week with all eyes on Budget statement

- Kang Wan Chern

Last week's earnings announcements kicked off with DBS Group reporting $2.62 billion in net profits for the fourth quarter of 2024, bringing its full-year profit to a record $11.4 billion.

The 10 per cent year-on-year jump in the fourth quarter profit enabled Singapore's largest bank to pay a final dividend of 60 cents per share, higher than the 54 cents paid in 2023, and taking the total dividend for 2024 to $2.22 per share, a 27 per cent increase.

Additionally, DBS said it will start paying in 2025 a capital return dividend of 15 cents per share per quarter, on top of the ordinary dividends it is already paying, as part of a three-year plan to reduce excess capital.

These announcements took the bank's shares above $46 for the first time, to an all-time high of $46.38 on Feb 10, which, in turn, drove the Straits Times Index (STI) above 3,890 points, a record high, on Feb 11.

Several other companies reported their earnings over the past week.

Data centre real estate investment trust (Reit) Digital Core rose 5.66 per cent to 56 US cents, after it reported net profits attributable to unit holders of over US$205 million (S$274.7 million) for 2024. It declared a second-half distribution of 1.8 US cents, up 1.1 per cent year over year, bringing its full-year distribution to 3.6 US cents.

The Reit said that while artificial intelligence (AI) is driving rapid growth in data centre demand, AI still represents a small portion of the overall market. It added that data centre supply for non-AI functions remains "severely constrained" in key global markets.

Digital wealth platform iFast closed the week up 5 per cent at $7.89, after reporting its net profit surging 135.7 per cent to a record high of $66.63 million in 2024, driven by higher fee income from its managed investments and its digital bank turning profitable for the first time.