Five journalists from Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) were among the winners when the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or Sias, handed out its annual awards last night.
Business Times senior correspondent Angela Tan scooped the coveted Financial Journalist of the Year prize while her colleague, correspondent Tan Hwee Hwee, received a special award for her in-depth coverage of the troubled offshore and marine sector during the recent downturn.
There were honours also for Lianhe Zaobao business correspondent Wong Kang Wei, named Most Promising Journalist of the Year, and special awards for business correspondent Chen Jing and correspondent Tang Ai Wei, also from the Chinese daily.
SPH itself was lauded as runner-up in the Singapore Corporate Governance Award in the Diversity category. Chief financial officer Chua Hwee Song received the award on behalf of the company at the ceremony held at Mandarin Orchard Singapore.
SPH chief executive Ng Yat Chung said in a statement: "We are proud to be honoured once again for our commitment in upholding good corporate governance, integrity and board diversity. This has helped to sustain investors' confidence in us. We would also like to congratulate our award-winning journalists, whose dedication in delivering insightful news is good testimony of our quality journalism."
The event, now in its 19th year, attracted an audience of around 500 people from business, academia and the investing communities, as well as officials from regulatory bodies. The guest of honour was Mr Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State for Law and Health.
Apart from SPH, Mediacorp unit Channel NewsAsia's Money Mind programme bagged the Investor Education Award.
Last night, a range of firms were honoured for their achievements. Singtel won the Singapore Corporate Governance Award in the big cap category; Vicom was the winner in the mid cap, Sing Investments & Finance in the small cap and CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) in the Reits (real estate investment trusts) and Business Trusts categories.
Singtel was the winner of the Most Transparent Company Award in the transportation/storage/communication category and it also picked up the Golden Circle Award for being the overall winner for Most Transparent Company.
The telco also won the Shareholder Communication Excellence Award in the big cap category while Del Monte Pacific clinched the mid cap category and Micro-Mechanics the small cap. CMT and CapitaLand Retail China Trust were both winners in the Reits and Business Trusts categories.
CapitaLand noted that it led the way with seven award wins, adding: "This is the third consecutive year the group has emerged the most lauded company at the awards."
CapitaLand shared the Most Transparent Company Award (Properties) with Ascendas India Trust, and was also recognised for its diversity and investor relations efforts, coming in as the runner-up in the Singapore Corporate Governance Award (Diversity) and Shareholder Communication Excellence Award (big cap) categories. The other awards were won by its Reits.
Maybank Kim Eng Securities won the Best Retail Broker Award. City Developments and Olam International were winners of the Sustainability Award.
Sias president and chief executive David Gerald told the ceremony that the association's evolution over the past 19 years has seen its mandate widened.
He noted that the association is now directed at helping not only retail shareholders, but also the entire gamut of stakeholders, including firms, institutional investors and bond holders.
"Sias has mediated many proxy fights, shareholder and boardroom disputes, including Yellow Pages, DataPulse and Noble," Mr Gerald added.
"More recently, we have actively participated in the restructuring efforts of distressed companies, including Ezra, Ezion and Hyflux.
"We take into account the interests of all stakeholders because we believe that it is in the best interest of every party - and this includes the capital market as a whole - that everyone contributes to the rescue process to return the companies to a financially more stable footing."
