Question 1
Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) under its Singapore Airlines and Scoot brands
provide both passenger and cargo flights as well as numerous airline-related segments including engineering, maintenance, repair, etc. Singapore Airlines is a member of the global Star Alliance and is one of the world’s premium airlines while also operating as a low-cost carrier under the Scoot brand.

It was incorporated in Singapore in 1972 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings and subsequently listed on the SGX Mainboard in 1985.

The SARS-CoV-2 strain of coronavirus was first identified in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China, and led to the World Health Organization declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) from 30 January 2020 to 5 May 2023, often referred to as the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the many strategies employed to combat and contain the virus was to restrict the movement of people, with many countries imposing travel restrictions from quarantine of newly arrived travelers to entry bans.

This severely impacted the aviation industry, including SIA, as passengers represent a large proportion of their operations.

Required

(a) Read and appraise the independent auditors’ report found in the Singapore
Airlines Limited 2022-23 annual report. Name the firm that carried out the
audit and explain what was their opinion of the financial reports of the
company. Based on the opinion, is there any cause for alarm to investors and
potential investors?

(b) Using financial ratios covered in this course, evaluate and compare the
profitability of SIA before and after the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Do you think the airline has fully recovered? Provide clear justification as to
why you think so.

(c) Using financial ratios covered in this course, assess the liquidity and solvency of SIA during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. Do you think it
deteriorated significantly compared to before the pandemic? Based on the
financial position of the company as at the reporting date of the 2022-23
annual report, do you think that it has recovered to pre-pandemic levels?
Provide clear justification as to why you think so.

Question 2
Download and review the Sustainability Report published by Singapore Airlines Ltd for the year 2022-23. Based on your understanding of the company and its industry, pick one environmental topic from the SGX Core ESG Metrics which you think has the greatest impact for SIA. Explain why you pick that topic. Critique the disclosures provided by SIA in that topic.

Include in your analysis the following points:

(a) Do you think that the disclosures are sufficient?
(b) Do you think that SIA’s performance on this topic is satisfactory?
(c) What additional reasonable disclosures do you think SIA can provide that will help you in your analysis of this topic? Why do you think it is useful?