StarHub Q3 profit grows 21.5% on equipment sales, one-time gain

STARHUB'S net profit rose 21.5 per cent in the third quarter on higher equipment sales and a one-time gain from the deconsolidation of a subsidiary.

The telco's net earnings rose to S$118.7 million, or 6.9 Singapore cents per share, for the quarter ended September. For the first nine months of 2015, net profit gained 5.5 per cent to S$291.5 million, or 16.9 Singapore cents per share.

The company will maintain an interim dividend payout of 5 Singapore cents per share for the quarter. The cumulative full-year dividend is expected to remain at 20 Singapore cents per share.

Total revenue during the quarter rose 1.9 per cent to S$603.1 million as equipment sales grew 14.4 per cent to S$44.9 million.

Service revenue increased by one per cent to S$558.2 million as fixed-network services turnover grew 4.3 per cent to S$99.3 million and broadband revenue rose 3.8 per cent to S$51.1 million. Mobile revenue, however, was lower by 0.1 per cent at S$310.6 million, and pay TV sales shrank by 0.2 per cent to S$97.2 million.

StarHub also booked a S$15 million gain in non-operating income that significantly lifted its bottom line. That gain was a result of deconsolidating SHINE Systems Assets, a unit in which Singapore Technologies (ST) Telemedia took a 70 per cent stake as part of the MediaHub project. ST Telemedia's investment in SHINE was S$36.9 million.

StarHub said it expects service revenue in 2015 to be maintained at about the 2014 level, with group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin to be about 32 per cent of service revenue. Capital expenditure is expected to be about 13 per cent of total revenue.