Absence of impairment charge sends SingPost to S$24m Q4 profit; to pay 2 S cent dividend

SINGAPORE Post (SingPost) swung back into the black for its fiscal fourth quarter, booking profit of S$23.95 million in the absence of one-off impairment charges in the corresponding period last year.

Revenue for Q4 was also up 13.5 per cent to S$367.54 million on growth in e-commerce related activities across its postal and logistics segments, SingPost said.

Earnings per share in Q4 was similarly up to 0.90 Singapore cent from a loss per share of 3.03 Singapore cents last year.

For the full year ended March 31, 2018, SingPost booked a profit of S$126.4 million on the back of S$1.46 billion in revenue.

The board recommended a final dividend of 2 Singapore cents per ordinary share to be paid out on July 31, 2018.

For Q4 last year, SingPost was hit with an impairment charge of S$208.6 million related largely to the TradeGlobal and Postea acquisitions, as well as Toh Guan building, which SingPost highlighted was partially offset by a fair value gain on investment properties of S$108.7 million, mainly for SingPost Centre building.

The postal segment's revenue rose 18.2 per cent in Q4 and 15 per cent for the full year as strong growth in international mail revenue helped offset the decline in domestic mail revenue, SingPost said.

Domestic mail revenue declined 6.6 per cent for the full year to S$229.4 million, due to lower letter mail volumes with the "continued migration" towards electronic forms of communication.

Revenue for SingPost's e-commerce segment rose 15.7 per cent in Q4 to S$65.31 million, and was stable for the full year.

"SingPost is well positioned to benefit from the strong growth in global e-commerce and last-mile deliveries as we progress to the next phase of our strategy," said group chief executive Paul Coutts.

"We continue to execute on our transformation and build on our partnership with Alibaba in e-commerce. We are integrating and scaling our e-commerce businesses in the US and South-east Asia, as well as the rest of our overseas operations, and optimising the cost structure of the SingPost Group," he added.