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:

  1. The Energy business
  2. The Urban business
  3. The Marine business
  4. Financial and share price performance
  5. 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