How to Manage Shareholder Expectations When Performance Is Down

At a listed company in Singapore, performance was flatlining. Profitability was down. Share price had stalled. And the Board wanted aggressive financial targets for the year ahead. But internally, no one knew how to get there — or if those numbers were even possible. This is the moment when shareholder expectation becomes a strategic risk. The executive team lacked a unified view. There was no grounded target-setting approach, no storyline that bridged aspiration and reality. And without clear guidance from the strategy, budgeting became a game of guesswork and optimism. We partnered with the CHRO and CFO to bring clarity. First, we analysed past performance — including returns, margins, and capital deployment. Then we benchmarked peers, decoded investor signals, and translated the company's strategic intent into credible financial targets. The result was a budget that was anchored in reality, transparent in its assumptions, and defensible in the boardroom.