Dear Shareholders,

Global economies remained murky in the shroud of COVID-19 pandemic, further exacerbated by the Ukraine war that broke out in February 2022. International oil and gas prices have since doubled or trebled. With skyrocketing freight rates and raw material prices, business operation became extremely challenging.

Singapore’s economic growth slowed down from 8.9% in the previous year to 3.6% in 2022. The total turnover of AP Oil Group increased slightly but net profit after tax was halved.

In view of ongoing travel restrictions, we had to adopt remote management practice for our joint ventures and subsidiaries overseas in Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai and Chongqing during the past two years. Despite the challenges, AP Saigon Petro JSC remained profitable and continued to distribute dividends.

The Group has, in 2022, introduced a new state-of-the-art fully automatic bottle filling line for lubricating oils. This investment will boost productivity and save labour cost significantly. The other investment was purchase of a JTC factory by our subsidiary, GB Chemicals at SGD 1.62million. The factory building has 3 floors with 15,000 square feet useable area and 18 years of lease remaining. These investments were funded internally.

Looking at 2023, China has relaxed pandemic curbs. Our two subsidiaries and a joint venture in Shanghai and Chongqing are gradually resuming normal operations. I have resumed business trips to our Ho Chi Minh City joint venture and planning visits to China soon.

Escalating bank interest rates significantly increase business costs. However, given our healthy reserves, we were thus able to save interest costs by making early repayment of the construction loan for our headquarters and have capacity to embark on new feasible business opportunities.

The China-United States rivalry appears to be intensifying while new geopolitical turmoils, dim prospects of peace in the Ukraine war and associated uncertainties point to a highly challenging environment ahead for businesses. The Management will adjust our short, medium-term developmental plans and strategies accordingly.

The Board of Directors has proposed to set the dividend for financial year 2022 at half a cent per ordinary share. Once again, we are deeply grateful to shareholders, business partners and friends for their support and concern for the Group throughout all these years.

敬爱的各位股东：

全球冠病疫情依然笼罩下，2022年二月爆发的俄乌战争，又给经济环境雪上加霜。 国际石油天然气价格倍增，运费狂涨，原材料与营业成本也因此水涨船高。

在高度挑战的商业环境下，新加坡的经济增长从上一年的8.9%下降到2022 年的3.6%。 环球石油集团的总营业额略有增加，净利却大幅减半了。

2022年集团引进装置了一条最先进的全自动润滑油装罐生产线。 这项大投资将会显著提高生产力且节省劳工成本。 另一项投资是子公司 GB 化工以162 万买下JTC 厂房。 该厂房三层楼总面积约一万五千方尺，还剩18 年的契约，相信在租金不断攀升的大环境下，这项投资是个未雨绸缪的决策。

2023年初，中国开始松绑疫情管控，集团在上海和重庆的两家子公司和一家联营企业正在逐步恢复正常运作。 在越南胡志明市的联营工厂，疫情期间影响较小，我本人从去年12 月开始已经恢复出差视事。

展望2023年的前景，中美两国的较劲似乎还在加剧，新的地缘政治动荡，俄乌战事的和平遥不可及，种种变量，估计对集团的经营环境都充满挑战。

银行不断大幅加息，对商业成本是一项莫大的负担。 值得庆幸的是，由于集团有充裕的储备金，除了把原来建设新总部厂房的银行贷款全额还清以节省成本外，也有足够的流动资金可以调动，以及进行新的投资。 寻找新的可行性商机是集团长期发展计划，也是我身为执行主席的主要任务之一。

应对国际与区域的时局变迁，集团的中长期发展计划与策略也会随着短期的战略而进行适当的调整。董事部已建议把2022年度的股息订在每股新币半分。 我们再次深深感谢股东及各商界伙伴和朋友们对集团的多年支持与爱戴。