SINGAPORE (Feb 5): The trustee-manager of NetLink NBN Trust reported earnings of $21.7 million for 3Q18, 32.5% higher than IPO forecast, thanks to lower operating and staff costs.
EBITDA came in at $63.2 million, 10.8% higher than $57 million in forecast for the same reasons.
There is no distribution for 3Q18.
In 3Q18, NetLink NBN Trust posted revenue of $83.4 million, exceeding forecasts by 0.6%.
This was due mainly to higher monthly recurring residential and non-residential connection revenue, higher ducts & manholes services revenue and central office revenue.
However, this was partially offset by lower installation revenue from a decrease in demand for installation of fibre termination points (FTP) in the residential homes and the installation of FTPs for non-building address points (NBAPs).
Tong Yew Heng, CEO of the trustee-manager NetLink NBN Management, says, “Our better-than-forecast earnings is a testament to the resilience of our business model. We are on track to deliver the financial performance forecast in our IPO prospectus.”
As of Dec 31 2017, there were 1,165,028 residential connections and 43,228 non-residential connections, compared to 1,142,648 residential connections and 42,028 non-residential connections as of Sept 30 2017.
The group has also been working proactively with the requesting licensees to anticipate future demand in the non-residential and non-building address points (NBAP) segments, and to support the requesting licensees’ efforts to acquire new corporate and NBAP customers.
Looking ahead, the trustee-manager expects to deliver the financial performance and distribution forecast as stated in the prospectus.
Shares in NetLink NBN Trust closed at 83 cents on Monday.
