THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Thursday (May 23):

Singapore Airlines (SIA) : C6L 0%: The national carrier’s flight SQ321 encountered severe turbulence on its way from London’s Heathrow Airport to Singapore on Tuesday, resulting in the death of a British man and multiple people’s injuries. SIA said on Wednesday that 131 passengers and 12 crew members who were onboard arrived in Singapore via a relief flight in the early morning. Another 74 passengers and six crew members from SQ321 remain in Bangkok, including those receiving medical care, as well as their family members and loved ones who were on the flight. Shares of SIA closed Tuesday 0.2 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$6.76.

Singtel : Z74 0%: The telco sank into the red with a net loss of S$1.3 billion for its second half ended Mar 31, compared with a net profit of S$1.1 billion in the same period the year before. This was mainly due to a marked increase in exceptional losses, which included S$3.1 billion in non-cash impairment charges, it said on Thursday. Its counter ended 0.4 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$2.40 on Tuesday.

COMPANIES paid out a record amount of money in dividends to shareholders in the first quarter of 2024 as Alibaba and Meta made the their first-ever payments, a report said Thursday.

Asset manager Janus Henderson tracks dividend payments by 1,200 of the largest publicly traded companies in the world and found that together they paid a record US$339.2 billion in dividends in the January through March period.

That represents an increase of 2.4 per cent from the same period in 2023.

The first quarter “saw broad strength across the different sectors, with most making steady, single-digit progress,” said the report.

Janus Henderson said the banking sector drove the growth with a 12 per cent gain, accounting for a quarter of the overall increase.

The first ever dividend payments by Alibaba (US$2.6 billion) and Meta (US$1.1 billion) accounted for half of the first quarter growth.

The report noted that the dividend payment accounted for just 20 per cent of the profits that Meta returned to shareholders via stock buybacks.

The transport sector was an outlier, registering a large drop, in particular due to a large dividend cut by Maersk as the Danish shipping company’s profits plunged last year as it was forced to avoid the vital Red Sea trade route due to attacks by Yemeni rebels.

By regions, the United States set an all-time quarterly record while Canada and Sweden broke first quarter records.

“Investors have enjoyed a strong start to 2024, with share prices rising globally and dividend growth sustaining the strong underlying momentum it reached towards the end of 2023,” said Ben Lofthouse and Jane Shoemake at Janus Henderson.

They added that the second quarter has demonstrated “continued resilience” and Janus Henderson made no change to its full-year 2024 forecast for a 3.9 per cent increase in dividend payments to a record US$1.72 trillion. AFP

A HONG Kong regulator on Wednesday (May 22) served an enforcement notice to Worldcoin Foundation directing it to cease all operations of the cryptocurrency project in the country, citing risk to privacy and personal data.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data added that Worldcoin should stop scanning and collecting iris and face images of the public using its devices. It also dubbed the data collection as “unnecessary and excessive”.

Worldcoin did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

More than five million people in over 160 countries have signed up to have their irises scanned by Worldcoin’s “orb” devices, according to its website. But the project has drawn criticism over the collection, storage and use of personal data.

Worldcoin, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, said its aim is to create a global identity and financial network akin to India’s Aadhaar biometric ID system, suggesting on its website a variety of ambitious use cases, including distinguishing people from artificial intelligence bots.

Regulators around the world, particularly in European countries, have expressed concern that the database could be misused. REUTERS