These 5 SGX listcos made it to Forbes Asia’s list of top 200 APAC small- and mid-cap firms

[SINGAPORE] Forbes Asia announced its 2025 “Best Under A Billion” list on Tuesday (Aug 5), which comprises 200 top-performing small- and mid-cap firms in the Asia-Pacific region this year.

The companies on this list have recorded annual sales exceeding US$10 million, but not more than US$1 billion.

A composite scoring system was used to select these companies. These are measures such as debt, sales and earnings per share growth over both the most recent fiscal one- and three-year periods. It also factored in the strongest one- and five-year average return on equity.

Of these 200 companies, five from Singapore made the cut in 2025:

1. Singapore Exchange (SGX)

SGX had the largest market capitalisation among the five listcos that made the Forbes Asia list, of S$17.3 billion, ShareInvestor data indicated.

Its total securities market turnover value rose 23 per cent year on year in June to S$26 billion. In addition, the volume of derivatives was also up 17 per cent to 26.1 million contracts in the same month, for its FY2025 traded volume to reach 315.8 million contracts.

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The local bourse had four new listings this year – of automotive solutions provider Vin’s Holdings, Info-Tech Systems, NTT DC real estate investment trust (Reit), and Lum Chang Holdings, in addition to a secondary listing by China Medical Systems.

Various analysts have said the Singapore market is a “safe haven” amid geopolitical tensions caused by conflict in the Middle East and tariff uncertainty. Its full-year results for FY2025 are expected to be released before trading hours on Aug 8.

2. iFAST

The Singapore-based wealth management platform made its Forbes Asia list debut this year, with a market capitalisation of about S$2.8 billion.

In July, it was one of five counters listed on SGX that led net institutional inflows, with a total returns rate of 37.3 per cent of the month.

The group posted a 34.7 per cent year on year rise in net profit for the first half ended June of S$41.1 million, from S$30 million. Revenue for the same period was up 19.7 per cent to S$194.9 million, from S$162.8 million in H1 FY2024. Earnings per share for H1 also rose to S$0.1368 from S$0.1028 in the same year-ago period.

The fintech company had been boosted by the improving performance of its UK digital bank iFAST Global Bank in Q2, which it acquired in March 2022. It had also been granted a trust business licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore earlier on May 2.

3. Centurion

Founded in 1984, Centurion has purpose-built worker (PBWA) assets in Singapore and Malaysia, and purpose-built student accomodation (PBSA) assets in Australia, the UK and the US. The group also has build-to-rent assets in China. The PBWSA provider has a market capitalisation of S$1.5 billion.

Centurion on Jul 14 announced its proposed listing on a new Reit – Centurion Accommodation Reit – for the mainboard of SGX. Its initial public offering would include 14 assets at launch, made of five PBWA properties in Singapore, eight PBSA properties in the UK and one PBSA property in Australia, with an initial portfolio value of over S$1.8 billion.

The Singapore-headquartered group was recognised as a “small-cap jewel” by RHB Group Research in its May 16 report, and reported a 13 per cent increase in revenue to S$69 million for Q1 ended Mar 31, from S$61.1 million in the same year-ago period.

Its H1 FY2025 ended Jun 30 results are scheduled for release on Aug 7 after trading hours.

4. Credit Bureau Asia

Listed on the SGX on Dec 3, 2020, the credit and risk information solutions player has a market capitalisation of around S$322.2 million.

The investment holding company operates two core segments – first, the Financial Institution (FI) Data Business, which offers consumer or business credit reporting, scoring, analytics and monitoring, and second, the Non‑FI Data Business, which provides commercial credit reports, risk management tools, receivables services and insights.

For the full-year ended Dec 31, 2024, CBA posted a revenue of S$59.7 million, up 10  per cent year on year, with Patmi rising 14 per cent to S$11.2 million. Its net profit before tax stood at S$30.5 million. The board’s recommendation brought the final dividend payout to S$0.04 per share, an 8.1 per cent increase from FY2023.

In April 2025, its subsidiary Credit Bureau (Singapore) received a consumer credit bureau licence from MAS, enabling full consumer credit reporting operations in Singapore.

5. Grand Banks Yachts

The luxury yacht builder has a market capitalisation of S$97 million, and manufactures yachts under the brands of Grand Banks, Eastbay and Palm Beach.

Grand Banks Yachts operates out of its manufacturing yard at Pasir Gudang, Johor, in Malaysia and provides customer support out of its service yard at Stuart, Florida, in the US. These yachts range between 42 feet and 85 feet.

The yacht manufacturer was first established in 1956, and initially named American Marine Limited, Hong Kong. It subsequently opened a factory in Singapore in 1969, and was incorporated in the city-state in 1976 amid a management change.

In recent times, the small-cap’s Q3 net profit dipped by 42.4 per cent to S$2.3 million, from around S$4 million in the corresponding quarter a year prior. This was on the back of its sale of more lower-margin trade-in boats, in addition to higher costs from product enhancements, as noted in a May 19 bourse filing.

Revenue for the third quarter did grow by 37.8 per cent to S$40.1 million, from S$29.1 million in the same year-ago period.