Hong Leong Asia (HLA) continued with its winning streak and emerged a big winner at the 20th Singapore Corporate Awards (SCA) 2025. The awards honour listed companies and business leaders in corporate governance excellence.

This year’s ceremony was held on 1 September at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, with Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Edwin Tong as the guest of honour.

The industrial conglomerate emerged a gold winner for “Best Managed Board” in the mid-cap category for listed companies with market capitalisation between S$300 million and under S$1 billion.  The HLA Board also won gold in 2024, and silver in 2022 and 2023.

In the same categories, HLA also scored gold for “Best Investor Relations” for the first time, and bronze for “Best Annual Report”.  The company’s annual report achieved silver last year, and bronze in 2022 and 2023.

Best Chief Executive Officer

At the same time, HLA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr Stephen Ho bagged his first “Best CEO” award. He was previously named “Best Chief Financial Officer” in 2019 during his tenure with Wilmar International. According to SCA, he is the second person in its 20-year awards history to claim both awards.

“The board has in place sound corporate governance practices and adhere to robust compliance processes that are integrated into all our decision-making, ensuring businesses are resilient and can operate sustainably,” said Mr Ho.

When asked about the role a CEO plays in navigating their organisation amid ongoing tariffs and geopolitical conflicts, he added that CEOs are “intensely focused on ensuring operational efficiency, driving organic growth, spurring innovation and delivering synergies.”

The annual SCA 2025 is co-organised by The Business Times, the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID). It is supported by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

This year’s awards saw 26 companies and six individuals emerge as winners across seven award categories.