At the other end of the market value spectrum, a slew of relatively unknown penny stocks made much bigger gains in 1Q2025. Leading the entire universe of Singapore-listed counters was OneApex, which gained 175.3%. Earlier this year, OneApex completed the sale of two joint venture entities in financial services to former executive director Chiu Joon Sun for $400,000. OneApex says the sale will net it a gain of $1,755, which it will then re-allocate into property investment, development and management. The runner-up was Ascent Bridge , up 113.2%, while the joint third place went to Disa and CapAllianz, both of which are micro-penny stocks that doubled in value.
If these penny counters were excluded, Yangzijiang Financial Holding was the top-performing stock in 1Q2025. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding’s finance and investment spin-off gained 91.6%, giving it a market cap of more than $2.7 billion. On March 30, the company announced that it was selling 193.5 million treasury shares at 72 cents to two unnamed investors, raising a total of $139.3 million. The shares sold were previously bought back by Yangzijiang Financial at an average of 34 cents. According to the company, money raised from these two investors will go towards its so-called core maritime investments.
Zhongxin Fruit & Juice gained 83.3% in 1Q2025. The company on Feb 11 reported earnings of RMB21.8 million ($4.03 million) for the six months ended Dec 31, 2024, a 652% jump from RMB2.89 million reported a year earlier. Revenue was up 187.7% y-o-y to RMB168.1 million. Zhongxin Fruit and Juice says the better showing was due to higher customer demand for the concentrated fruit juices and fructose produced by the company. These customers were looking to increase their inventory levels to manage the stability of their supply chain.
Construction firm OKP Holdings came in 7th with a gain of 73.8%. This company is enjoying renewed investors’ interest in construction stocks. As a whole, the sector is seeing strong demand from a bunch of big public sector projects such as the airport’s Terminal 5, Tuas Megaport, the various MRT lines and also the construction of a slew of public housing. Private sector projects are aplenty as well. Specifically for OKP, the company has won a series of contracts from the government to refurbish pavements and cycling paths throughout the island.
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In his April 1 initiation report, Lim & Tan’s Nicholas Yon describes OKP as a “prime candidate” to capitalise on Singapore’s construction boom. “This long-awaited multi-year upcycle will see construction demand reaching historical highs,” says Tan, who has a “buy” call and 93 cents target price on this stock. Yon notes that OKP has an order book of $600.7 million and a solid net cash position of 35 cents per share, equivalent to 63% of its market cap. The company, according to Yon, is expected to deliver record profits and potentially raise dividends for the current FY2025. His target price of 93 cents is pegged to a conservative eight times forward earnings that is in line with peers’ average.
SLB Development, which develops industrial properties, gained 73.1% to earn 8th place. In 2018, the company was spun off for its own listing from construction firm Lian Beng Group . On Jan 24, Lian Beng made an offer of 23 cents per share to privatise SLB Development.
Another construction play was among the top gainers. OKH Global, which is now in industrial property, is acquiring the construction business of Acrophyte for $118.6 million. Acrophyte, previously known as Chip Eng Seng Corp, shares common controlling shareholders with OKH in Gordon and Celine Tang. The acquisition will be funded by issuing 2.26 billion new OKH shares at 5.252 cents each. According to OKH, the construction business it is acquiring made a profit of $12.2 million in FY2024 ended Dec 31, 2024 versus a loss of $27.8 million in the preceding FY2023.
KOP, which runs a hospitality business, rounds up the top 10 of 1Q2025 with a gain of 53.2%. On Feb 14, Sam Goi, a substantial shareholder of the company, raised his stake via a married deal. Goi paid 3 cents each for just over 38.7 million shares, costing him around $1.16 million. Following this deal, Goi now owns just over 289 million shares, equivalent to a stake of 26.09%, up from 22.59%. For the nine months ended Dec 31, 2024, KOP reported earnings of 1.35 million, up 32% y-o-y, even though revenue dropped 15% y-o-y to $65.8 million.
