Singapore Telecommunications has reported net profit of $445 million for the 1QFY2022 ended June, reversing from its net loss of $20 million in the corresponding period the year before.
The figure includes the group’s net exceptional losses during the quarter, which comprised mainly restructuring costs and its share of one-off items from Telkomsel and Airtel.
Underlying net profit for the 1QFY2022 rose 31% y-o-y to $451 million, largely attributable to the strong operating performance from Australia Consumer and net profit contribution from Airtel.
1QFY2022 operating revenue increased by 7.5% y-o-y to $3.80 billion due to an overall improvement across its segments, with the exception of Singtel-originated business. The latter has been progressively transferred to Singapore since April 1 as part of the group’s restructuring.
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1QFY2022 EBITDA improved by 11.1% y-o-y to $997 million while EBIT for the period increased by 19.1% y-o-y to $312 million.
Share of associates’ pre-tax profits increased by 33.0% y-o-y to $533 million.
“The easing of Covid-19 restrictions has improved the overall operating and business environment and we are seeing the return of growth across the board in the first quarter. Some of the bright spots included Optus’ improved performance, continued broad-based growth in NCS’ ICT business and Airtel’s profit turnaround,” says Singtel group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon.
Yuen adds that the group is seeing “good demand from enterprise customers for [its] services in digital, cloud, data centre and cyber security” following the Covid-19 pandemic, which “underscored the importance and urgency of digital transformation for business resilience”.
“NCS, a key growth engine of our strategy, made gains with growth across all lines of business, and we also extended our lead in 5G, as the first to launch 5G standalone network in Singapore and most recently, 5G roaming,” he says.
“While the resurgence of Covid-19 in many parts of Asia adds to an already challenging environment, we remain focused on investing in 5G and our digital capabilities which underpin our efforts to drive recovery and growth. The strategic reset that we have set in motion, positions us to capitalise on this rising trend of digitalisation to support post-pandemic economic recovery and we continue to be disciplined in capital deployment and focused on delivering shareholder value,” he adds.
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Shares in Singtel closed 2 cents lower or 0.9% down at $2.31 on Aug 11.
Photo: Bloomberg
