FAREWELL NOTE BY KWA CHONG SENG, BOARD CHAIRMAN Dear Shareholders As part of Board renewal, I am stepping down as Chairman of ST Engineering after being a director for 10 years, with nine of those years as Chairman. As such, this is my last letter to you. Teo Ming Kian, who was appointed as an independent director in August 2021 and Deputy Chairman since April 2022, will succeed me as Board Chairman. During my service with the Group, I have witnessed the transformation of ST Engineering as it set its sights on pursuing global success and sustainable long-term growth. Many major initiatives undertaken are foundational to the Group’s future. First of all, the management team made significant changes to strengthen the Group. We simplified the Group’s business structure, reduced the number of legal entities by streamlining its business portfolio, set up corporate shared services functions and harmonised over 30 corporate brands to one ST Engineering masterbrand. In 2021, the Group reorganised its legacy structure into one that is customer-centric and that facilitates growth in its core business, as well as in Smart City and International Defence businesses. The legacy structure had served us well, but in an evolving external environment, it had to be adjusted to better enable the execution of our global growth strategy. The re-tooled Group is now more focused, and thus, better able to adapt to fast-changing business environments. To help investors better understand our growth story, the management team released and articulated the Group’s five-year plan, with clear financial targets, at Investor Day in 2018 and 2021. As part of our plan for long-term sustainable growth, the Group made several strategic acquisitions from 2019 to 2022 to expand our Aerospace and Smart City businesses. At the same time, the management team undertook a continuous portfolio review involving closing or divesting businesses that were non-core or that no longer fit into our strategic goals. The Group also intensified its talent development initiatives, including focusing on developing women in leadership and technical roles. In addition, we strengthened our sustainability practices and enhanced disclosure to be more aligned with international standards. Many of these initiatives involved taking calculated risks and making bold decisions to leverage Group scale and strength, channel resources to strategic growth areas, as well as support continual investments in technology and innovation to make a greater impact on the world stage with the aim of enhancing shareholder value. With your continued support, we have accomplished much, especially in the last several years despite significant external challenges. Through all this, the Board worked with the management team in navigating those challenges, and successfully balanced between short-term needs and long-term success. We have overcome what can be said to be our biggest challenge ever—the COVID pandemic—which tested the stamina and resilience of the whole organisation. As we are recovering from the pandemic at good pace, other macroeconomic challenges started to impact businesses. Yet, we have built a record order book that is significantly higher than the pre-COVID period. It provides strong revenue visibility that will contribute to the further growth of the Group and is a leading indicator of our ability to achieve our fiveyear (2022-2026) financial targets and our growth trajectory. In closing, I would like to say that it has been an honour to chair the ST Engineering Board. My priority as Chairman has always been to help accelerate value creation for our shareholders and our stakeholders based on a strong governance framework. I believe the Board and the management team have collectively succeeded in doing so and that the best is yet to come, given the strengthened foundation of the Group. I thank my fellow directors for their unwavering support during my tenure as Chairman. I am confident that ST Engineering, under the chairmanship of Ming Kian, will continue to build on its track record and excel in the years ahead as the Group continues to move towards its vision of becoming a global technology, defence and engineering powerhouse. 12 ST ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2022
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NjMyNDM=