Singapore's Temasek delays annual report due to pandemic

SINGAPORE: Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings said on Thursday it had delayed its annual report until September as the coronavirus pandemic had affected financial reporting for many of its portfolio companies.

CEO Ho Ching announced the delay in a Facebook post, noting that Temasek's portfolio companies had businesses spread across many countries. Temasek was set to release its report this month.

"To accommodate this delay of global consolidation for financial reporting, Temasek's own annual reporting will be delayed from July till September," Ho said.

In the year to March 31, 2019, Temasek's net portfolio value grew 1.6% to a record S$313 billion ($224.6 billion). It had a 66% exposure to Asia by underlying assets.

"Although we didn't anticipate a COVID pandemic, the economic indicators had become worrisome since last year," Ho said, adding that Temasek had been making plans to beef up its balance sheet further.

"This has come in handy as we work through the COVID crisis that is threatening to bring on global recession. Clearly, COVID is now a bigger problem than we had expected," she said.

After the pandemic outbreak, Temasek led a multi-billion dollar rescue package for Singapore Airlines and supported a rights issue by money-losing rig builder Sembcorp Marine.