SBS Transit has reported earnings of $15.2 million for 2HFY2021, down 67.3% y-o-y.
If $21.7 million worth of government relief is excluded, the bus and train operator’s operating loss would be $6.3 million, versus $441,000 incurred for the year earlier 2HFY2020.
Revenue for 2HFY2021 was up 6.7% to $607 million.
For the whole of FY2021, earnings dropped by 34.6% y-o-y to $51.6 million, even though revenue was up 6.5% to $1.31 billion.
Full year operating loss, excluding government relief, has been reduced from $29.8 million for FY2020 to just $2.77 million for FY2021.
Nevertheless, the company cautions that higher fuel and electricity costs have started to bite. Its operating costs for the whole year was up by 9.2%.
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Specifically, its fuel and power bill has jumped by 65.1% to hit $148.7 million.
“While things may have improved compared to 2020, we are certainly not out of the woods. The situation remains fluid as new Covid-19 variants may emerge, we are both cautious and yet hopeful for a recovery,” says CEO Cheng Siak Kian.
“As Singapore’s dominant public transport operator, we continued to see low ridership on our buses and trains as people continued to work from home, nightlife remained non-existent, and COVID-19 restrictions remained in force,” he says.
SBS Transit notes that while more employees are allowed to go back offices, ridership is unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels in the near term as many still continue their existing arrangement of working from home.
Going forward, higher costs, both staff and energy, will be felt as well. And with rising Omicron infections and the possible emergence of new variants in Singapore, easing of Covid-19 curbs may slow.
Hence, it maintains a cautious outlook for the rest of the financial year.
The company plans to pay a final dividend of 2.45 cents per share, which will bring the full year payout to 8.2 cents.
For FY2020, SBS Transit paid 6.3 cents.
SBS Transit shares closed Feb 23 at $3, up 1.01% for the day and 1.35% year to date.
Photo: Albert Chua / The Edge Singapore
