SINGAPORE Post reported on Wednesday a 15.8 per cent rise in its net profit to S$46.6 million for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015, compared to S$40.2 million a year ago.

Miscellaneous income amounted to S$13.6 million, compared to S$5.9 million a year ago. This was largely due to one-off gains from the disposal of Novation Solutions and DataPost HK. Excluding these, underlying net profit increased 8 per cent to S$40.3 million, from S$37.3 million a year ago.

Operating profit grew by 14.5 per cent to S$57.7 million. Excluding the one-off gains, underlying operating profit showed a 8.3 per cent improvement to S$51.4 million.

Continuing growth in eCommerce and logistics lifted SingPost's revenue for by 20.7 per cent to S$254.6 million. Excluding the impact of M&As including the divestment of subsidiaries, revenue remained constant.

In the mail division, the postage revision in October 2014 helped to offset the impact of declining traditional letter mail volumes. Logistics revenue continued to increase on the back of growing contributions from ecommerce logistics activities and the inclusion of new subsidiaries. In retail & eCommerce, revenue was higher as increasing ecommerce contributions offset the decline in financial services.

Total expenses ballooned to S$222.7 million, an increase of 24.9 per cent from S$178.4 million a year ago, as a result of the inclusion of new subsidiaries and continued investments in resources for the group's transformation.

By end June, SingPost was in a net cash position1 of S$329.0 million, which will be used to support investment, capital expenditure, working capital and other funding needs.

It has declared an interim dividend of 1.50 cents per share, to be paid on August 27, 2015. This compares to an interim dividend of 1.25 cents per share paid a year ago.