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1 min read Investor Frameworks

The Book Value Trap

Ryan Gallinera

by Ryan Gallinera

The Book Value Trap

57% of SGX-listed companies trade below book value (The Straits Times, Dec 18, 2025). MAS and SGX just launched a S$30 million Value Unlock programme to help.

But here’s the truth: book value rarely reflects business quality. Quality businesses have invisible assets—brands, pricing power, moats—that never appear on balance sheets.

Meanwhile, struggling companies hide behind inflated book values: obsolete inventory, uncollectable receivables, failed acquisitions.Book value records history, not reality.

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