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PR Newswire
07-05-2013, 07:44 AM
The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on May 07, 2013
SingPost's Q4 profit slips 14.6% amid challenging times
It needs more revenue from other business streams to stay competitive
By Magdalen Ng
AS THE postal environment continues to be challenging, Singapore Post has to derive more revenue from its other business streams to remain competitive, said chief executive Wolfgang Baier.
The national postal service provider yesterday posted a fourth- quarter profit of $26.1 million, down 14.6 per cent from a year ago. This was despite 25 per cent revenue growth for the quarter ended March 31 from the same period last year to $182.6 million.
There was broad-based revenue growth across the four main business streams, including mail, despite the sixth consecutive quarter of decline in domestic mail volume. Mail revenue was up 9.8 per cent in the fourth quarter to $105.8 million, accounting for 57.9 per cent of total revenue, as growth in domestic and international e-commerce packets offset the mail volume decline.
"Mail volume is expected to decline by 30 per cent by 2018, while the number of households will increase by 30 per cent, which will impact revenue by about 50 per cent," he said.
Rental and property-related income was up 12.5 per cent to $11.2 million, while revenue from the logistics business was up 11.2 per cent to $60 million.
The rising costs of doing business in Singapore, continued investments and consolidation of new businesses saw expenses up 32.4 per cent to $163.8 million.
For the full year, profits were down 3.9 per cent to $136.5 million. Total revenue was up 13.9 per cent to $658.8 million, but expenses were up 19.1 per cent to $546.9 million. Excluding one- off items, underlying net profit grew 4.1 per cent to $141 million.
Dr Baier said the global postal industry is under tremendous pressure, as SingPost faces a rapidly changing and challenging landscape amid rising costs.
"Inflationary cost increases continue to impact our business despite the group's mitigating measures which included raising productivity and optimising resources and operations," he said.
SingPost said in February that it was investing more than $100 million over the next few years to raise productivity, improve service standards, and to support productivity training for staff and provide assistance to those with school-going children. He added: "We have been prudent in spending only in areas that contribute directly to either service improvement or revenue growth."
SingPost is proposing a final dividend of 2.5 cents per share for the full-year period. This brings the proposed total dividend for the full year to 6.25 cents per share. Earnings per share for the quarter fell to 1.186 cents from 1.553 cents a year ago, while net asset value per share as of March 31 was 35.29 cents, up from 34.93 cents a year ago.
SingPost's counter closed unchanged at $1.29 yesterday.
songyuan@sph.com.sg
www.straitstimes.com
Published on May 07, 2013
SingPost's Q4 profit slips 14.6% amid challenging times
It needs more revenue from other business streams to stay competitive
By Magdalen Ng
AS THE postal environment continues to be challenging, Singapore Post has to derive more revenue from its other business streams to remain competitive, said chief executive Wolfgang Baier.
The national postal service provider yesterday posted a fourth- quarter profit of $26.1 million, down 14.6 per cent from a year ago. This was despite 25 per cent revenue growth for the quarter ended March 31 from the same period last year to $182.6 million.
There was broad-based revenue growth across the four main business streams, including mail, despite the sixth consecutive quarter of decline in domestic mail volume. Mail revenue was up 9.8 per cent in the fourth quarter to $105.8 million, accounting for 57.9 per cent of total revenue, as growth in domestic and international e-commerce packets offset the mail volume decline.
"Mail volume is expected to decline by 30 per cent by 2018, while the number of households will increase by 30 per cent, which will impact revenue by about 50 per cent," he said.
Rental and property-related income was up 12.5 per cent to $11.2 million, while revenue from the logistics business was up 11.2 per cent to $60 million.
The rising costs of doing business in Singapore, continued investments and consolidation of new businesses saw expenses up 32.4 per cent to $163.8 million.
For the full year, profits were down 3.9 per cent to $136.5 million. Total revenue was up 13.9 per cent to $658.8 million, but expenses were up 19.1 per cent to $546.9 million. Excluding one- off items, underlying net profit grew 4.1 per cent to $141 million.
Dr Baier said the global postal industry is under tremendous pressure, as SingPost faces a rapidly changing and challenging landscape amid rising costs.
"Inflationary cost increases continue to impact our business despite the group's mitigating measures which included raising productivity and optimising resources and operations," he said.
SingPost said in February that it was investing more than $100 million over the next few years to raise productivity, improve service standards, and to support productivity training for staff and provide assistance to those with school-going children. He added: "We have been prudent in spending only in areas that contribute directly to either service improvement or revenue growth."
SingPost is proposing a final dividend of 2.5 cents per share for the full-year period. This brings the proposed total dividend for the full year to 6.25 cents per share. Earnings per share for the quarter fell to 1.186 cents from 1.553 cents a year ago, while net asset value per share as of March 31 was 35.29 cents, up from 34.93 cents a year ago.
SingPost's counter closed unchanged at $1.29 yesterday.
songyuan@sph.com.sg
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