Thursday May 13, 9:56 AM
Singapore Telecom (SingTel) said Thursday its net profit rose 12
percent in the fourth quarter to March from the year before on
strong performances at home and regional associates. SingTel, which
has a corporate footprint across the Asia Pacific market, said net
profit in the three months to March was 1.02 billion Singapore
dollars (740 million US), beating market expectations. Fourth
quarter revenue totalled 4.47 billion dollars, up 25.4 percent over
last year. For the full year ended March 21, SingTel earned 3.91
billion dollars, up 13.3 percent. Full-year revenue was 16.87
billion dollars, representing a 13 percent increase, the company
said in a statement. "The fourth quarter concluded a successful
year for us, despite the global financial crisis," said the SingTel
Group's chief executive Chua Sock Koong. "With unrelenting focus on
execution, we outperformed the markets in Singapore and Australia
and met our guidance for the financial year." Full-year revenue in
the home market jumped 8.0 percent to 6.0 billion dollars, the
company said. Net profit for SingTel's wholly owned Australian
subsidiary Optus for the entire financial year grew 16 percent to
676 million Australian dollars (605 million US). "Optus delivered
its strongest free cash flow in five years, with full-year free
cash flow exceeding one billion Australian dollars," SingTel said.
Full-year pre-tax profit from SingTel's regional mobile associates
was up 19 percent to 2.30 Singapore dollars, with higher
contributions from Indonesia's Telkomsel. SingTel has grown beyond
the small domestic market to hold strategic stakes in mobile phone
companies in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the
Philippines and Thailand. On Wednesday, SingTel said its mobile
subscriber base across the region rose an annual 17 percent to 293
million by the end of March.
Source: Yahoo Finance