SingTel's 4th quarter profit grew 10.5 percent on regional contributions

The Associated Press ,  Singapore   |  Wed, 05/14/2008 1:09 PM  |  Business

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. said Wednesday its January-March quarter profit grew 10.5 percent compared with a year ago, on higher revenue and stronger contributions from its regional associates as well asa one-time gain.

The company, also known as SingTel, said in a statement its net profit for the fiscal fourth quarter rose to 1.1 billion Singapore dollars (US$804 million), up from S$989.4 million a year earlier.

A Dow Jones poll of analyst had forecast net profit of S$905.3 million.

The quarterly figures included an exceptional gain of S$153 million (US$112 million) from Bharti Airtel Ltd.'s. sale of shares in a subsidiary. SingTel has a 30.4 percent stake in the Indian mobile operator.

Underlying net profit for the quarter, excluding government compensations for iving up its monopoly status in Singapore, rose 9.2 percent to S$968 million (US$708 million).

The strong performance of Bharti and Indonesian operator PT Telkomsel, in which SingTel holds a 35 percent stake, helped boost sales. Quarterly revenue rose 11 percent to S$3.76 billion (US$2.75 billion).

SingTel said it expects double-digit underlying earnings growth in the medium term. It also expects revenue from the Singapore operations to grow at the mid single-digit level in the fiscal year through March 2009.

The company said earnings from its stakes in regional mobileoperators are expected to grow at double-digit levels, although the rate of growth will be slower than that in the past two years.

SingTel has stakes in six regional operators, Bharti, Telkomsel, the Philippine's' Globe Telecom Inc., Pakistan's Warid Telecom Ltd., Pacific angladesh Telecom Ltd. and Thailand's Advanced Info Service PCL.

SingTel reiterated that it continues to look for new investment opportunities and "explore opportunities in adjacent markets - Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa."

SingTel Group Chief Executive Chua Sock Koong, however, declined to elaborate on the company's involvement in talks by Bharti to buy a majority stake in South African telecommunications company MTN Group Ltd.

Bharti is seeking financing from SingTel in the MTN acquisition, which is expected to cost over US$20 billion.

For the full fiscal year, SingTel's net profit rose 4.8 percent to S$3.96 billion (US$2.89 billion) from S$3.8 billion. Revenue rose 11 percent to S$14.8 billion (US$10.82 billion) from $13.4 billion.

The company's board recommended a final dividend of 6.9 Singapore cents (5 U.S. cents) per share. If approved, total dividend for the financial year will be 12.5 Singapore cents (9.1 U.S. cents) per share.(**)

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