Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights.

DFI Retail Group (SGX: D01)

DFI Retail Group released its first half of 2025 (1H 2025) earnings this week.

Revenue stayed flat year on year at US$4.4 billion, but the retailer reported a net loss of US$38 million because of divestments in Yonghui Superstores and a minority stake in Robinsons Retail.

Underlying net profit, which strips out these effects, surged by 39% year on year to US$105 million.

DFI Retail Group also generated a positive free cash flow of US$422 million for 1H 2025, up 13.2% year on year.

With the divestment of its Singapore Food business, along with proceeds from Yonghui and Robinsons Retail, DFI Retail Group should see a stronger balance sheet with a net cash position of US$442 million.

Because of this capital recycling, DFI Retail Group announced a special dividend of US$0.443, its first in 18 years.

The interim dividend of US$0.035 stayed constant year on year, taking the total dividend for 1H 2025 to US$0.478.

The retailer also upped its full-year underlying profit guidance to between US$250 million to US$270 million.

The previous guidance was for underlying net profit of between US$230 million to US$270 million.

Looking ahead, DFI Retail Group will focus on five key deliverables.

They are: retail excellence, customer access, omnichannel and data ecosystem, lean and agile operations, and evolving portfolio.

These pillars involve expanding DFI Retail Group’s store network, delivering good customer service, and streamlining the business for more efficient decision-making.

Trump’s trade deal with Japan

US President Donald Trump announced another trade deal recently, this time with Japan.

The agreement places the tariff rate at 15% on Japanese goods entering the US, a reduction from the original tariff rate of 25%.

This deal was hammered out as part of Trump’s ongoing tariff campaign to bring jobs and manufacturing back to the US.

It will also include US$550 billion of Japanese investments in the US.

At the same time, Japan will also increase its market access to American producers of cars, trucks, rice, and certain agricultural products.

However, this trade deal does not cover spending on defence, and the US has also not budged on its sector tariffs of 50% on Japanese steel and aluminium.

The Bank of Japan has been raising interest rates to combat inflation, but the uncertainty around US trade policy is making policymakers pause.

There could be more deals hammered out in the coming weeks or months on areas that were not covered by this recent agreement.

Singapore Post (SGX: S08)

Singapore Post, or SingPost, recently held its latest Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2025 (FY2025).

The board of directors was quizzed by shareholders on its strategies moving forward as the group announced a strategy reset after selling off its Australian logistics business.

Chairman Simon Israel said that the decision on whether to sell SingPost Centre will lie with the reconstituted board, which will have to assess if the asset is non-core to the postal group.

With the core Australian business gone, shareholders were still left in the dark as to what would replace SingPost’s core revenue driver.

Many questions were also asked about the new CEO and what the board was looking for.

Incoming chairman Teo Swee Lian replied that the board was working on the search and had a few candidates in mind.

She said that the new CEO should have leadership qualities, be able to think out of the box without feeling constrained, and have an enterprising mindset.

Meanwhile, Simon Israel reiterated that the board never set out any timeline for the sale of SingPost Centre.

This segment contributed an operating profit of S$48.4 million for FY2025, higher than any other division.

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Disclosure: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.