Public transport operator SBS Transit has reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $46.1 million for the 3QFY2020 ended September, down 10.3% from the $51.4 million reported a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter fell 17.0% y-o-y to $302.0 million mainly due to lower service fee, lower rail ridership and lower advertising revenue.
Revenue for its Public Transport Services and Other Commercial Services segments fell 15.7% y-o-y and 45.5% y-o-y for the 3QFY2020.
Operating costs fell 16.6% y-o-y to $282.5 million mainly due to lower staff costs that were mitigated by government reliefs, as well as lower costs from fuel, electricity, repairs and maintenance.
Operating profit fell 23.1% y-o-y to $19.5 million while profit after tax (PAT) fell 3.3% y-o-y to $19.4 million.
Without the Covid-19 government reliefs of $23.6 million, SBS says it would have recorded an operating loss of $4.04 million for the quarter.
Year-to-date (y-t-d) ended September, SBS Transit reported a 18.4% y-o-y decline in EBITDA to $159.8 million.
Revenue for the same period fell 15.7% y-o-y to $1.07 billion.
Operating profit y-t-d fell 30.5% y-o-y to $51.7 million.
Without the reliefs of $85.2 million, SBS would have logged losses of $33.4 million year-to-date.
Q-o-q, 3QFY2020 EBITDA was up 5.8% while revenue for the quarter rose 14.3%.
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SBS says most of its bus services that were suspended during the circuit breaker period from April to June have resumed since Phase One of the re-openings. Its Night Owl and Cross Border Bus services will remain suspended till the end of 2020.
The company adds that there was a gradual increase in daily ridership on the Downtown Line (DTL) and the North East Line (NEL) after the circuit breaker measures ended.
As at end September, ridership for DTL and NEL stood 53% and 60% levels pre-Covid-19 respectively.
In the same update, the Public Transport Council (PTC) says it will not grant any fare adjustments in this year’s Fare Review Exercise (FRE) to help commuters mitigate the impact of Covid-19.
The maximum allowance fare adjustment computed for FRE 2020 of 4.4% will be rolled over to the next FRE in 2021, it says.
Other commercial services remain slow in its recovery due to the poor economic outlook.
As at end September, total assets for SBS rose 3.8% y-o-y to $1.18 billion mainly due to the increase in short-term deposits and bank balances. This was partially offset by the depreciation of vehicles, premises and equipment.
For the same period, SBS reported that it had over $250 million of available cash and bank facilities undrawn.
Shares in SBS Transit closed flat at $2.90 on Nov 11
See Also: CGS-CIMB starts SBS Transit at 'add' on ridership recovery
