SingPost Q4 plunges into the red after massive impairment on TradeGlobal

POSTAL and e-commerce group Singapore Post slashed dividends after booking a significant impairment from its United States e-commerce unit TradeGlobal in its fiscal fourth quarter.

It cut dividend per share to 0.5 Singapore cent, a fifth of the 2.5 Singapore cents declared in the previous year, it said at around 8pm, 90 minutes after the results were originally scheduled to be released.

This came after it posted a net loss of S$65.2 million for the three months, down from net profit of S$105.4 million in the previous year, the group said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Friday evening. Earnings fell even though for the three months ended March 31 revenue rose 2 per cent to S$324.0 million from the previous year.

SingPost booked a substantial S$208.6 million in impairment charges in the quarter, more than its total earnings the previous year and nearly two-thirds of its topline in Q4 this year. That came mainly from a S$185 million writedown at TradeGlobal. "Instead of a projected profit of S$9.4 million . . . TradeGlobal incurred a significant loss of S$25.8 million" for the full year ended 2017, the group said in a statement.

It made a loss per share of 3.03 Singapore cents, down from earnings per share of 4.36 Singapore cents in the previous year. SingPost shares ended flat at S$1.39 on Friday before the results.