Pacific Century's FY17 net profit up by 9.9%

PACIFIC Century Regional Developments posted a net profit of S$95.6 million for the full year ended Dec 31, 2017, up 9.9 per cent from a year ago.

Revenue went up 13.2 per cent to S$14.7 million, partly due to dividends received from the company's investment in HKT, Hong Kong's largest telecoms company.

Earnings per share stood at 3.608 cents for FY17, up from 3.283 cents previously.

A final proposed dividend of 2.2 cents was declared for the year.

In its outlook, the group said that its results are substantially dependent on its major investment, Hong Kong-listed associate PCCW.

It said that PCCW has been able to progress its businesses in accordance with its plans in the past year. PCCW successfully completed a number of strategic activities, including a partial sell-down of its stake in HKT, the introduction of strategic and financial investors to the over the top (OTT) Media business and the divestment of its non-core wireless broadband business in the UK which all contributed to the strengthening of PCCW's overall capital structure and unlocking value within the PCCW Group.

PCCW Solutions will continue to look for opportunities in South-east Asian markets in which it has made inroads in the past year, said the group. This will complement its success in Hong Kong and mainland China.

In 2018 PCCW will focus on maintaining its leadership in its respective markets while nurturing new business opportunities, it added.