SingTel second quarter net profit down 6.7 per cent

November 11, 2010 | 14:41

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Singapore Telecommunications Thursday saw second quarter net profit slide 6.7 per cent from last year, dragged down by losses suffered by a regional mobile associate.

The telecoms firm, the largest in Southeast Asia by revenue, said net profit in the July-September quarter totalled 892 million Singapore dollars compared with 956 million dollars last year.

Singtel said revenue for the quarter increased 8.1 per cent on-year to $4.44 billion from $4.1 billion during the same period a year ago.

The company said profit was hit by the inclusion of losses from African operations acquired by its Indian ally Bharti Airtel.

"The group's earnings were impacted by the inclusion of the first full quarter of losses from the newly-acquired Africa operations by Bharti (Bharti Africa) and the related acquisition financing cost," SingTel said in a statement.

Bharti Africa -- which serves 15 African nations -- suffered a pre-tax loss of $18 million in its first quarter of operations after being bought from Kuwaiti telecom operator Zain in June.

Together with related acquisition financing costs totalling $19 million, Bharti Africa dragged down SingTel's net profit by 3.7 per cent.

As well as Bharti, SingTel also has stakes in Indonesia's Telkomsel, Globe Telecom in the Philippines, Thailand's Advanced Info Service, Warid of Pakistan, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom and various regional mobile associates.

"The group continues to generate strong revenue growth and cash flows from Singapore and Australia," said SingTel chief executive officer Chua Sock Koong.

"We are committed to achieving an optimal capital structure and have raised our dividend payout... while maintaining financial flexibility for our growth initiatives," she said.

AFP

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