StarHub's Q1 profit up almost 26%, revenue down 4.4%

STARHUB, after the market closed on Thursday, posted a nearly 26 per cent rise in net profit attributable to equity holders of the company to S$92.8 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, up from S$73.7 million a year ago.

This comes on the back of a 4.4 per cent fall in revenue from S$617.9 million in Q1 2015 to S$590.0 million in Q1 2016, primarily due to lower revenue from the sale of equipment (down 37.3 per cent to S$48.6 million).

Service revenue was S$1.9 million higher at S$542.3 million, driven mainly by higher contribution from its broadband and enterprise fixed services, and offset by lower revenue from its mobile and pay TV services.

Mobile service revenue came in 2.4 per cent lower at S$298.1 million from lower post-paid and pre-paid revenue, while pay TV service revenue fell by 1.2 per cent to S$94.9 million due to a lower subscriber base.

Earnings per share in Q1 2016 stood at 5.4 Singapore cents, compared with 4.3 Singapore cents a year ago.

The telco has proposed an interim dividend of five Singapore cents apiece for the period, payable on May 27. For 2016, StarHub said that it intends to maintain the annual cash dividend of 20 Singapore cents per ordinary share.