View - Singapore Technologies Engineering

10,000 staff.We need to tap the hugetechnological base that exists outside thecompany.To facilitate this, we have set upa US$30 million technology fund, with theobjective of enabling us to find innovativeideas and technologies and invest in them.This fund is on top of the 3% of our revenuethat we spend annually on R&D in our corebusiness areas.Q3: Could you elaborate on yourglobalisation efforts?BSF: We have started with the US andChina. In the US, the Aerospace sector hasspearheaded our drive with Mobile andDalFort Aerospace. In China, the Electronicssector has set up shop in Shanghai.We havesmaller outfits in London and Perth; marketingoffices in Dubai,Tokyo and Taipei.However, we musttake globalisation seriously.Weexpect toexport more and sellmore outside Singaporethan in Singapore. Hence,unlike American andEuropean MNCs, wemust send our very bestoverseas to run and manage these outfits. InUS we now have Chang Cheow Teck, in Europeit will be Wee Siew Kim or Wu Tzu Chien. Intime to come, the Electronics and Marine Headsmust move overseas and manage inwards.Q4: Are ST Engg’s shares a good investmentfor the future?TPH: Creating value for our shareholdershas always been the core of our business philosophy.Wehave implemented EconomicValue Added or EVA to ensure that we haverobust processes to generate shareholdersreturns year after year.We have increasedour EVA since ST Engg’s formation at the endof 1997. Over the past three years, EVA hasincreased from S$75.3 million in 1998, toS$135.6 million in 1999, to S$189.3 millionin year 2000. Going forward, our growth inthe next three to five years is not an issue aswe have a healthy order backlog.We are nowpositioning ourselves for growth beyond thenext five years, with investments in newtechnologies, our e-initiatives and continuedglobalisation efforts.In form, we have come a longway since the formation ofST Engg. In substance there isstill a lot to do and the challengefor us now is to propel the Groupinto its next phase of growthwhich is in the US, followed byEurope in the medium term.Q5: How do you keep your investors abreastof your performance and plans?TPH: We place a lot of emphasis on ourcommunications with our investors and onkeeping them abreast of the company’sperformance and plans.We go to threeoverseas investors’ conferences every yearto brief our shareholders and potentialinvestors about our plans and our performance.Wewere the first company inSingapore to publish results quarterly eventhough it was not a requirement of theSingapore Exchange (SGX). IncorporatedCreating value for our shareholders has always beenthe core of our business philosophy.into these announcements are the results ofour four core businesses as if they werelisted entities themselves. In addition wealso hold investor and analyst briefing sessionswhere we keep our investors updated on ourplan and initiatives. Last year, ST Engg wasvoted the most transparent company inSingapore by the Securities InvestorsAssociation (Singapore).In fact if you look at what we have beendoing over the last three years, you can seethat we have progressively been increasingand improving our transparency level as wellas providing timely information to ourinvestors and public.In our briefing on our FY 2000 results, wehad the session recorded as a delayed webcast.It was intended as a learning experience toprepare ourselves for the ‘live’ webcasting laterin the year of our quarterly results. In fact ourbriefing session is now on our website.This ispart and parcel of our philosophy of continuouslyimproving our corporate transparency.Q6: There are many investment funds outthere in the market. How is your technologyfund positioned vis-à-vis these other funds?TPH: Our technology fund is focused onengineering-related technology development.In some cases, the investment would give usan advantage by providing access to newtechnologies that are not readily available inthe open market.They could be in areaswhere the success of the new technologieswould act as a force multiplier for our customers.Or they could be in areas that aresynergistic with our business and reinforcewhat we are doing today. For example, theycould be investments in new materials thatwe did not know of before and that mightgive us a competitive edge or could give usnew capabilities. At the end of the day, someof these technologies could well becomenew core capabilities and new businesses forST Engg. Even if none of these opportunitiesare realised, we might be able to divestthese investments at the right time and reapgood financial returns.Q7: We understand that the company offersfinancial help for employees to help them buycomputers or software. Does this also fit intoyour e-initiatives?TPH: We see this as helping our employeesbecome more e-literate as part and parcel of44 • visionq&a • 45