SingTel rings up rise in profit, eyes acquisitions
SingTel, Southeast Asia's top phone firm, reported a 3.3 percent rise in quarterly profit, with a strong performance at home and record subscriber growth at its Indian affiliate but weaker earnings at its Australian unit.
Chief Executive Chua Sock Koong told reporters yesterday that Singapore Telecommunications will still look for acquisitions in Central Asia, the Middle East and even Africa, although the focus remains on developing markets in Asia.
"We are forging ahead in growth segments and are pursuing strategic initiatives to develop new revenue streams," she said.
Facing a domestic market of just 4.7 million people where virtually everyone owns a mobile phone, SingTel has spent S$18 billion ($12 billion) in recent years on stakes in mobile phone operators in high-growth Asian nations, and in the bigger Australian market, where its Optus unit posted a 5.6 percent fall in underlying net profit in a highly competitive market.
Chua declined to comment on SingTel's bid for a majority stake in state-owned Ghana Telecom, the West African country's dominant operator, reported by Reuters last month.
SingTel completed its purchase of a 30 percent stake in Pakistan's Warid Telecom in September.
SingTel, which now derives about two-thirds of its pretax earnings from operations outside Singapore, maintained its guidance for single-digit sales growth this year and earnings growth of more than 10 percent in the medium term.
The state-controlled group - Singapore's largest listed company - reported July-September attributable net profit of S$988 million ($683 million) compared with S$956 million last year.
The result was in line with an average forecast of S$997 million from analysts polled by Reuters.
"SingTel is maintaining its strategy of investing in growth (and) this is reflected in the higher-than-expected revenue growth and lower EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) margins," Goldman Sachs said in a note.
SingTel's operations at home - a market long viewed as saturated - saw sales rise 9.6 percent in July-September, lifted by a rise in business IT and mobile phone sales.
"Singapore operations were strong with revenue and EBITDA 5-6 percent higher than our expectations," Morgan Stanley said in a note. The bank kept its "overweight" rating on the stock.
Shares in SingTel, which have risen 21 percent this year, slightly lagging the Straits Times Index, were up 1.5 percent by 0540 GMT. The broader market was up 0.15 percent.
Agencies
(China Daily 11/08/2007 page16)
