Hot stock: Sats up 6.8% on heavy trading after H2 earnings surge

SHARES of Sats rose as much as 6.8 per cent on Thursday (May 30) after the company reported stellar results the day before.

As at 9.46 am, the counter was up S$0.18 at S$2.81 with 14 million shares changing hands. The last time it closed at this level was in Feburary.

The in-flight caterer and ground handler reported earnings of S$64.1 million for the second half ended Mar 31, more than 10 times the S$6 million in the year-ago period.

This comes amid a robust post-pandemic recovery by the aviation sector, and the acquisition of global air-cargo handling company Worldwide Flight Services, which Sats acquired in April 2023 for S$1.8 billion.

Revenue for the period more than doubled to S$2.7 billion, from S$953.8 million the year before.

For the full year, Sats swung back into the black with a net profit of S$56.4 million, a turnaround from its net loss of S$26.5 million in the year-ago period. The group’s full-year revenue more than trebled to S$5.1 billion from S$1.8 billion.

As at 1.15 pm on Thursday, shares of Sats were up 5.7 per cent or S$0.15 at S$2.78, as one of the top 10 heavily traded securities on the Singapore Exchange.