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[SINGAPORE] National carrier Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) chairman Peter Seah was redesignated as a non-independent director at the conclusion of its uneventful 53rd annual general meeting (AGM) on Friday (Jul 25).

The chairman’s re-election was one of the nine resolutions tabled for the proceedings at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. It garnered the lowest votes among all the resolutions, at 87.04 per cent, in favour of retaining him.

He was first appointed to the board as director in September 2015, and his role was elevated to chairman in January 2017.

Thus, Seah was redesignated as non-independent in accordance with the Singapore Exchange rule which stipulates that a director of a listed company will not be independent if he or she has served for an aggregate period of more than nine years.

Presently, Seah also sits on the board of directors at DBS.

A career banker for more than 30 years previously, the 78-year-old was with the former Overseas Union Bank between 1977 and 2001, retiring as vice-chairman and chief executive officer.

The hundreds of shareholders present at the SIA AGM, meanwhile, did not have a single question for the flag carrier’s board and senior management.

They cleared all nine resolutions, including the proposed final dividend of S$0.30 per share for FY2025 ended March, at the proceedings, which lasted about an hour.

The group posted a record full-year net profit of S$2.8 billion for FY2025 because of a one-off non-cash accounting gain of S$1.1 billion from the Air India-Vistara merger. The corporate action in 2024 led to SIA holding a 25.1 per cent share in the merged entity.

Vistara was a 49 per cent associated company of SIA, before the merger took place.

The gain aside, earnings for FY2025 would have been 37.2 per cent lower at S$1.7 billion for SIA.

The counter rose 0.3 per cent or S$0.02 to close on Friday at S$7.57.