A cash cow, CBA’s dividend payout began at 1.7 cents for FY2021, to 3.4 cents for the next two years, before reaching 4.0 cents in FY 2024. On Nov 12, the company announced plans to return 9 cents per share, or nearly $20.7 million, to shareholders, which it deems excess capital. On a pro forma basis, CBA’s ROE would improve drastically to 33.4% from 24.8%.
Even before the AGM, which sought shareholders’ approval for the capital reduction, CBA had maintained its steady pace of share buybacks. In its most recent filing dated Jan 15, CBA has bought back a total of 719,600 shares under the current mandate, representing 0.31% of the shares issued.
From an IPO price of 93 cents, CBA’s share price jumped within weeks to as high as $1.54, but quickly entered a down trend to reach below $1.00 for more than two years between September 2022 and October 2024, before some recovery to nearly $1.40 last August and September before easing again to the $1.20 to $1.30 range. Relative to the broader market, which is at record highs, CBA’s share price has underperformed, gaining just 10% in 2025. At its current price, the dividend yield is around 3.1%, with a P/B of about 5.6 and a P/E of nearly 27.
To recap, Credit Bureau Asia (CBA) is a provider of consumer and commercial credit risk information solutions in Southeast Asia — namely Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar — a relatively sticky niche yet one with room to grow.
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It has two business segments — financial institution (FI) data business (commercial) and the non-financial institution data business (consumer).
CBA claims that together with its joint ventures, it is the market leader in Singapore’s FI data business and the sole market player in Cambodia’s and Myanmar’s FI data business. CBA says that it has more than 255 financial institution members across Singapore, Cambodia and Myanmar as at end-2024. Its entities in various markets provide subscribing members, mainly banks and financial institutions, with access to credit information on consumers and business entities. Subscribing members contribute to the database.
For its consumer segment, which operates in Singapore and Malaysia, CBA says it has more than 6,000 customers, comprising MNCs and SMEs, who can access a database containing more than 580 million business records as at end-2024. In addition to business information, this segment provides risk management services, sales and marketing solutions, commercial insights, and other services.
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For the most recent half-year ended Jun 30, 2025, CBA reported revenue of $30.2 million, up 2% y-o-y. Net profit before tax (NPBT) contracted 3% to $15.4 million while patmi declined by 8% to $5.4 million. Despite the lower bottom line, cash holdings increased by approximately $8.7 million, or 14.8% y-o-y, to $67.3 million, more than sufficient to cover total liabilities of approximately $30.9 million.
CBA says it can manage “fairly well” the uncertainty caused by ongoing US trade policies and maintain an NPBT margin above 50%. It points out y-o-y growth of 8% and 6% in revenue and NPBT, respectively, for its commercial segment, with Singapore continuing its “outperformance”. In comparison, Cambodia faces headwinds from the prospect of a 19% US tariff.
For the consumer segment, CBA notes that revenue and NPBT declined y-o-y by 2% and 11%, respectively. CBA attributes the dip in demand for its services to a more “subdued” economic outlook arising from global trade policy shifts. CBA declared an interim dividend of two cents.
Growing earnings, consistent margins, and dividend payouts suggest a resilient business model, trotting along just fine for those seeking a calm, steady ride.
