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SingTel Posts First Profit Increase in Five Quarters (Update2)
By Andrea Tan
Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest phone company, posted its first profit gain in five quarters, helped by higher earnings from India.
Net income rose 7.7 percent to S$945.4 million ($654 million), or 5.92 Singapore cents a share, in the three months ended June 30 from S$878.1 million, or 5.5 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Profit from wireless units overseas, including India and Indonesia, gained 16 percent, generating more than half of SingTel’s earnings.
Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s biggest phone company, accounted for 24 percent of SingTel’s income and was the biggest profit contributor from overseas. SingTel is counting on Bharti, which is negotiating a merger with South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd., to tap countries with higher growth potential as markets including Singapore and Philippines become saturated.
“The current operating environment remains a challenge,” Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong said in the statement. “We will also explore and monitor investment opportunities and will be disciplined when reviewing these opportunities.”
SingTel fell 1.6 percent to S$3.18 in Singapore trading yesterday. First-quarter net income was in line with the S$943.5 million median of four analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 1.9 percent to S$3.85 billion.
Bharti, MTN Merger
Bharti and MTN on Aug. 3 extended their merger talks, pushing back the potential formation of a mobile-phone operator with annual sales of $20 billion and 200 million wireless users from Johannesburg to Mumbai. The Indian carrier posted a 24 percent increase in net income to 25.2 billion rupees ($521 million) last quarter, after adding 8.4 million mobile-phone subscribers. That’s the biggest user increase SingTel had in the eight markets in which it operates.
Earnings from PT Telekomunikasi Selular, Indonesia’s largest mobile-phone operator, accounted for 19 percent of SingTel’s profit during the quarter. SingTel’s regional mobile units contributed 53 percent of the operator’s profit, compared with 50 percent a year earlier.
Income at Sydney-based SingTel Optus Pty rose 13 percent to A$139 million ($116 million). In Singapore dollar terms, earnings dropped 0.8 percent.
In Singapore, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 11 percent to S$578 million. Sales gained 10 percent to S$1.38 billion.
For Related News and Information: For analysts’ ratings on SingTel: ST SP <Equity> ANC <GO> Today’s most read technology news: MNI TEC <GO> Stories on SingTel’s earnings: ST SP <Equity> TCNI ERN <GO> Top Stories: TOP <GO> Earnings Matrix: ST SP <Equity> EM <GO> Stories on share movements: ST SP <EQUITY> TCNI MOST <GO> Earnings estimate history: ST SP <Equity> EEG <GO> Business groups: ST SP <Equity> PGEO <GO> Comparison to peers: ST SP <Equity> PPC <GO> Last Updated: August 12, 2009 20:17 EDT
By Andrea Tan
Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest phone company, posted its first profit gain in five quarters, helped by higher earnings from India.
Net income rose 7.7 percent to S$945.4 million ($654 million), or 5.92 Singapore cents a share, in the three months ended June 30 from S$878.1 million, or 5.5 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Profit from wireless units overseas, including India and Indonesia, gained 16 percent, generating more than half of SingTel’s earnings.
Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s biggest phone company, accounted for 24 percent of SingTel’s income and was the biggest profit contributor from overseas. SingTel is counting on Bharti, which is negotiating a merger with South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd., to tap countries with higher growth potential as markets including Singapore and Philippines become saturated.
“The current operating environment remains a challenge,” Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong said in the statement. “We will also explore and monitor investment opportunities and will be disciplined when reviewing these opportunities.”
SingTel fell 1.6 percent to S$3.18 in Singapore trading yesterday. First-quarter net income was in line with the S$943.5 million median of four analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 1.9 percent to S$3.85 billion.
Bharti, MTN Merger
Bharti and MTN on Aug. 3 extended their merger talks, pushing back the potential formation of a mobile-phone operator with annual sales of $20 billion and 200 million wireless users from Johannesburg to Mumbai. The Indian carrier posted a 24 percent increase in net income to 25.2 billion rupees ($521 million) last quarter, after adding 8.4 million mobile-phone subscribers. That’s the biggest user increase SingTel had in the eight markets in which it operates.
Earnings from PT Telekomunikasi Selular, Indonesia’s largest mobile-phone operator, accounted for 19 percent of SingTel’s profit during the quarter. SingTel’s regional mobile units contributed 53 percent of the operator’s profit, compared with 50 percent a year earlier.
Income at Sydney-based SingTel Optus Pty rose 13 percent to A$139 million ($116 million). In Singapore dollar terms, earnings dropped 0.8 percent.
In Singapore, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 11 percent to S$578 million. Sales gained 10 percent to S$1.38 billion.
For Related News and Information: For analysts’ ratings on SingTel: ST SP <Equity> ANC <GO> Today’s most read technology news: MNI TEC <GO> Stories on SingTel’s earnings: ST SP <Equity> TCNI ERN <GO> Top Stories: TOP <GO> Earnings Matrix: ST SP <Equity> EM <GO> Stories on share movements: ST SP <EQUITY> TCNI MOST <GO> Earnings estimate history: ST SP <Equity> EEG <GO> Business groups: ST SP <Equity> PGEO <GO> Comparison to peers: ST SP <Equity> PPC <GO> Last Updated: August 12, 2009 20:17 EDT
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SingTel has spent $18 billion in recent years buying stakes in mobile operators in high-growth Asian countries such as India, Indonesia and in the bigger Australian market. -- ST PHOTO: HOW HWEE YOUNG
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SINGAPORE Telecommunications , Southeast Asia's biggest telco, reported on Thursday a lower-than-expected increase in first-quarter underlying net profit, citing a weaker Australian dollar against the Singapore currency.
SingTel, around 55 per cent-owned by state investor Temasek , made underlying net profit excluding goodwill and exceptionals of $945 million in April-June, compared with an average forecast of $985 million from a Reuters survey of analysts.
The quarterly profit was up 10.3 per cent from last year's revised $857 million, while first-quarter attributable net profit rose 7.7 per cent to $945 million.
Faced with a domestic market of just 4.8 million people where virtually everyone has a mobile phone, SingTel has spent $18 billion in recent years buying stakes in mobile operators in high-growth Asian countries such as India, Indonesia and in the bigger Australian market.
The company, the biggest by market value on the Singapore stock market, derives around three-quarters of its revenue and EBITDA from operations outside the city state.
SingTel shares have gained nearly 25 per cent so far this year, underperforming a 46 per cent rise on the broader Singapore share index. -- REUTERS