SEMBCORP INDUSTRIES 22ND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
- Responses to substantial and relevant questions
Singapore, May 21, 2020 - Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) would like to thank shareholders for submitting their questions in advance of our 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be convened and held by way of electronic means on May 21, 2020 at 10.00 am (Singapore time).
As there were overlaps in the questions received, we will not be providing responses to every question. Instead, we have set out our responses to the substantial questions relevant to the resolutions tabled for approval at the AGM through the following themes:
- The Energy business
- The Urban business
- The Marine business
- Financial and share price performance
- Others
Please refer to our responses as set out in Appendix 1.
Other questions relating to the impact of COVID-19 and future outlook
In addition, there were questions received relating to the outlook for Sembcorp's businesses including the impact arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Shareholders can refer to our press release "Update on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic" released on the SGXNet on May 18, 2020. More information on this topic as well as responses to some other questions will be covered by our Group President & CEO, Neil McGregor and Group CFO, Graham Cockroft during their presentations at the AGM. The presentation slides will be available on our websitefollowing the AGM.
Appendix 1
Responses to substantial questions relevant to the resolutions tabled for approval at the Sembcorp Industries 22nd Annual General Meeting
Questions | Responses |
The Energy Business | |
General | |
Have low oil prices affected | We see limited impact of low oil prices on our power plant operations in |
your power plants in | China, India and the UK. However, the performance of the Singapore |
Singapore, China, India and | Energy business is expected to be negatively impacted as a result of |
the UK? | the indexation of many of its energy contracts to commodity prices, |
including its energy-from-waste operations. In addition, the decline in | |
the price of oil and its derivatives has significantly reduced the net | |
realisable value of the inventory of gasoil reserves in Singapore that is | |
required to fulfil certain regulatory requirements. | |
Do you have any coal | Currently, Sembcorp owns 100% of two 1,320MW supercritical coal- |
powered utility plants? If so, | fired power plants in India and 49% of a 1,620MW coal-fired power |
do you plan to exit or have | plant in China. In response to climate change, we have set a target to |
an exit strategy for your coal | reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity to 0.42 tonnes of CO2 |
assets? | equivalent per megawatt hour by 2022. Our power portfolio going |
forward will be guided by this aim and we will restrict investments in | |
coal-fired power plants. | |
We continue to explore an initial public offering as well as other | |
strategic options for our Energy business in India. | |
The Energy segment of | As a Group with multiple businesses, our valuation by the market is |
Sembcorp (with its sizeable | subject to many factors. |
renewable energy portfolio) | |
is under-valued by the local | Sembcorp's renewables portfolio has been growing. Over the last two |
financial market. This is | years, we have grown our global renewables capacity by about 20% to |
especially so compared to | over 2,600MW. Profit contribution from our renewables business has |
recent renewable energy | grown nearly five-fold since 2016, and the business delivered S$80 |
M&A transactions e.g. the | million of net profit in 2019. |
sale of Equis Energy in 2017. | |
What are your strategies to | Going forward, we will continue to focus on growing our renewables |
unlock value or raise market | portfolio and on lifting the performance of our Energy business, which |
perception for the Energy | we believe will be recognised by the market in due time. |
segment? | |
2
Sembcorp has traditionally | Backed by the strong track record and scale Sembcorp has |
focused on markets such as | established in the region, our strategy has been to focus on |
India, Singapore, Southeast | deepening our presence in our key markets. However, should the |
Asia (e.g. Vietnam), China | right opportunities surface for other markets, we will consider them |
and the UK. Has Sembcorp | on a case-by-case basis. |
considered venturing into | |
other markets that have | |
potential for renewable | |
energy like Japan and | |
Taiwan? | |
How confident is the Group | Sembcorp is today one of Singapore's largest home-grown |
in its ability to compete in the | renewable energy players, operating an international portfolio of wind |
renewables sector? | and solar assets. Backed by our strong market positions, project |
development and operations & maintenance expertise, we believe | |
that we are well-positioned to compete and grow in this sector. | |
In key growth markets such as India, we have the highest | |
renewables capacity under self-operations for an independent power | |
producer in the country. In Singapore, we have 238 megawatt-peak | |
(MWp) of solar capacity, including a 60MWp floating solar | |
photovoltaic (PV) system recently awarded by PUB, which will be | |
one of the world's largest, inland floating solar PV systems. Across | |
our markets, we leverage innovative technologies as a key | |
differentiator. For example, we have introduced our Virtual Brain | |
platform, an analytics-based digital asset management platform for | |
our renewable energy portfolio in India. In addition, we are able to | |
offer a suite of solutions to support the sector including battery | |
storage and distributed energy solutions. | |
Singapore | |
Kindly provide more details | We are in the final stages of making a replacement decision on one |
on the plan to replace your | of our cogeneration power facilities in Singapore. Given that we have |
Singapore power generation | yet to make a final investment decision to proceed, it is too |
asset, in particular the | preliminary to guide on the timeline and financial impact of the |
timeline and the financial | project. |
impact on the Singapore | |
Energy operations. | |
When are your solar power | In Singapore, we currently have 87MWp of solar capacity in |
partnerships in Singapore | operation with another 151MWp under construction. We do not |
expected to contribute | expect material profit contribution from the current portfolio. |
materially to earnings? | |
3
China
How did the illegal discharge | The incident occurred as a result of the illegal and isolated activities |
of off-specification | of a few employees of the joint venture company for a period prior to |
wastewater by Sembcorp | early 2017. The Group again wishes to express its deep regret for |
Nanjing SUIWU occur? What | the illegal and criminal activities of the joint venture employees |
has been done to ensure | involved. This is an isolated incident and we do not tolerate or |
something similar does not | condone any illegal activities. The employees have since been |
occur in another Sembcorp | charged, tried and sentenced in their individual capacities by the |
plant? | local courts. Their employment was also terminated. |
We have strengthened our internal controls and processes in our | |
water operations in China. We also enhanced internal audits and | |
operation reviews led by a cross-functional team at Group level, | |
implemented a proprietary technology platform to track and monitor | |
plant performance and compliance, and established a Country | |
Centre of Excellence in Shanghai. | |
UK | |
How was the acquisition | The acquisition price for UKPR was determined taking into account |
price for UK Power Reserve | discounted cash flows and relevant transaction multiples. |
(UKPR) arrived at? Please | |
explain the significant | However, market conditions in the UK have been challenging. The |
impairment. Was there | business has been impacted by a combination of political, economic |
enough due diligence | and industry factors. The retirement of the UK's coal and older gas- |
conducted and what will you | fired power plants has been slower than expected and there has |
enhance in the future? | been increased competition from new entrants. In addition, there was |
a reduction in underlying demand. The increase in energy capacity | |
and reduction in demand naturally led to more competition causing | |
lower prices and impacting the earnings of UKPR. | |
Considering the challenges faced by the business including the | |
factors outlined above, the business' future performance was | |
projected to be below the investment case. As part of the annual | |
impairment testing exercise, we therefore prudently assessed the | |
value-in-use of its assets and decided to impair the assets. | |
We believe that appropriate due diligence was conducted for the | |
acquisition. However, market conditions and the regulatory | |
environment in the UK are undergoing rapid change which has | |
altered the current outlook on future expectations. We have since | |
strengthened our in-house domain expertise in the area of the UK | |
electricity market trading and grid services to sharpen our forecasting | |
abilities, especially for merchant markets in disruption. We still | |
believe that flexible generation will create value in the future as the | |
UK, and other markets, stride towards their decarbonisation targets. | |
4
The Urban Business
What is the business model of the Urban business and its value proposition compared to other real estate players?
Sembcorp's Urban business owns, develops, markets and manages integrated urban developments comprising industrial parks as well as business, commercial and residential space in Asia.
Our key capabilities include master planning and urban design, industry positioning and investment promotion, infrastructure and land development, permits and licensing, facilities and operational management. As such, our offering goes beyond that of typical real estate developers. We do however selectively undertake property development in our projects. We are a valued partner to governments, with the ability to deliver the economic engine to support industrialisation and urbanisation by attracting local and international investments.
The Marine Business
Are you looking to divest, | We continue to regularly review our portfolio for opportunities to |
privatise or merge Sembcorp | maximise value for our shareholders. |
Marine with other oil and gas | |
companies given the | |
downturn in the offshore and | |
marine sector? | |
Given the downturn in the | In light of the challenging and deteriorating business environment, |
offshore and marine sector, | Sembcorp Marine's current priority is to ensure that it has adequate |
what are the initiatives in | liquidity to sustain operations and ride through this severe downturn. |
place to improve Sembcorp | Sembcorp Marine will continue to focus on safe and timely execution |
Marine's performance so that | of its projects and to hunt for pockets of opportunities less affected |
it returns to profitability? | by the current business climate. |
What is the business' | |
strategy? | Sembcorp Marine is moving towards businesses and product |
segments that focus on cleaner fuel sources and provide greener | |
energy solutions in partnership with its key customers. It will also | |
continue its selective investments in strategic innovations, | |
technologies and production capabilities to strengthen its competitive | |
edge and improve new orders flow. | |
With low oil prices, how has | Sembcorp Marine has made substantial strategic investments and |
Sembcorp Marine diversified | acquired new technologies which allow it to offer diversified solutions |
its product offerings to shift | across the offshore, marine and energy value chain. It has |
its reliance from the rigs and | broadened its product suites, especially in green solutions such as |
platforms segment? What is | gas value chain, offshore wind, battery-powered vessels and ballast |
Sembcorp Marine doing to | water treatment solutions. |
secure contracts related to | |
green solutions? Are there | The business aims to gear up for the shift towards cleaner energy |
any targets set and target | use, grow order volume in offshore wind by raising brand awareness |
regions for growth? | in regions unfamiliar with Sembcorp Marine solutions and its track |
record, and develop new design solutions for the battery- and | |
hydrogen fuel cell-powered ship segments. | |
5
Financial and Share Price Performance | |
The financial performance | The share price of Sembcorp Industries has been weighed down by |
and share price of Sembcorp | a challenging operating environment for our businesses as well as a |
have been underperforming | prolonged and severe downturn in the offshore and marine sector. |
over the last few years. What | Our subsidiary Sembcorp Marine recorded losses in 2018 and 2019. |
are the challenges / | |
weaknesses that have led to | Positioning our Energy business for the global energy transition also |
this? What actions are you | has its challenges with the business model disruption that comes |
taking and what are some | with the megatrends of decarbonisation, digitalisation, |
opportunities for the future? | decentralisation and demand disruption. There has also been |
intense competition in some of our markets. While we are acting to | |
stay ahead of the curve, reshaping our energy asset portfolio | |
towards gas and renewables takes time, and so does enhancing | |
capabilities and building new skills for the future. However, we | |
believe we are making progress. In 2019, net profit in India improved | |
from S$47 million to S$100 million, with the thermal portfolio turning | |
in a profitable year. Net profit from our renewables business has also | |
increased nearly five-fold since 2016 to S$80 million in 2019. Our | |
Urban business has been performing well and delivered its third year | |
of record profits in 2019. | |
Notwithstanding the difficult market conditions, we remain committed | |
to managing our portfolio for performance and on executing our | |
transformation plan. Anchored by strong fundamentals, we believe | |
that Sembcorp is uniquely positioned to deliver solutions to support | |
the shift to a sustainable future. With Singapore as our home base, | |
we are well-placed to serve markets in Asia where population growth | |
is driving rising demand for sustainable solutions that enable rapid | |
industrialisation, urbanisation and electrification. Our goal is a strong | |
portfolio of businesses that will support sustainable development and | |
create value for our stakeholders. | |
Others | |
There has been significant | The value of our assets will be subject to regular review and testing |
impairment charges across | for impairment. |
various business units. Are | |
we expecting more | |
impairment given the twin | |
adverse impact of COVID-19 | |
and the energy price crisis? | |
Was Sembcorp fairly | The commercial construction business under Sembcorp Design & |
compensated for the | Construction was divested for gross proceeds of approximately S$50 |
divestment of Sembcorp | million. The consideration for the sale was arrived at pursuant to a |
Design & Construction? Was | competitive sale process and on an arm's length willing-buyer- |
there any divestment gain? | willing-seller basis. We recognised a net gain of S$14 million arising |
from the divestment. | |
6 |
Are there plans to restructure | As required, we will evaluate various options in the best interest of |
Sembcorp to improve its | Sembcorp Industries and our shareholders. We continue to focus on |
profitability, especially given | repositioning ourselves as an integrated energy and urban player |
the downtrend in the offshore | and on lifting performance for the Group. |
and marine sector? | |
Can you share more about | Sembcorp is actively building its digital capabilities around four |
Sembcorp's investment in | themes: establishing a strong and secure information technology |
technology and | foundation, digitising our business, embedding innovation and |
digitalisation? How will this | managing the digital journey and change. Embracing digital |
enhance Sembcorp's | technologies is critical for us to stay ahead of the game as it enables |
operations and how much | new business models that offer competitive advantages to early |
has been budgeted for | adopters. |
building such capabilities? | |
For example, we have built insight platforms using machine learning | |
and artificial intelligence to radically improve how we operate and | |
optimise our thermal and renewables assets. These platforms run on | |
an advanced, secure data lake that has over 200,000 internet of | |
things sensors streaming real-time operational data from multiple | |
markets. Some of the initiatives that we are currently driving, such as | |
our work in advanced predictive analytics, are the first of their kind in | |
the energy sector. These could also help differentiate us in our | |
industry. While we have not disclosed our budget for developing | |
these capabilities, majority of our investment in research and | |
development goes towards building intellectual property that will help | |
improve how we maintain and optimise our assets and reduce | |
greenhouse gas emissions in our energy business. | |
- End -
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SCI - SembCorp Industries Ltd. published this content on 21 May 2020 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 20 May 2020 23:33:06 UTC