SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Singapore Post's (SingPost) net profit for the first half of the fiscal year ended September was up 13.3 per cent to $35 million, from $30.9 million in the corresponding year-ago period.
In a bourse filing on Wednesday (Nov 3), the group attributed the rise to growth in the domestic post and parcel, logistics and property segments.
The overall growth was despite an offset by a reduction in the international post and parcel segment due to Covid-19-related disruptions, it added.
The rise in net profit is in line with growth of revenue to $731.4 million from $707.8 million and the 28.4 per cent rise in operating profit to $51.1 million from $39.8 million.
However, the group reported an increase of 1.8 per cent for its operating expenses to $682.6 million from $670.4 million, as well as increases across most of its expenses categories.
In particular, finance expenses increased 39.8 per cent to $7.1 million from $5.1 million, due to higher interest expense and borrowing costs, SingPost noted.
Rise in volume-related costs by 2.4 per cent to $439.4 million from $429.2 million was driven by higher freight forwarding and e-commerce logistics volume.
Segmentally, revenue from SingPost's logistics segment saw a 29.6 per cent increase to $379.5 million from $292.7 million. The logistics segment delivered an operating profit of $16.2 million, up from $5.7 million previously.
In the property segment, which comprises commercial property, rental and self-storage business, revenue improved by 7.9 per cent to $59.8 million from $55.4 million. This is largely due to lower rental rebates provided for eligible tenants, as well as higher receipts from car park and other charges, said SingPost.
Operating profit in the property segment increased 13.5 per cent to $26.6 million, from $23.5 million.
Revenue from the post and parcel business saw a decline of 17.5 per cent to $325.5 million from $394.8 million, and operating profit declined to $11.3 million from $23.9 million, owing to the absence of government grants in this period, compared with last year.
However, the domestic post and parcel business saw e-commerce delivery revenue growth of 32 per cent in first half ending September that was able to offset the continued double-digit mail revenue decline, the group noted.
The group has declared an interim dividend of 0.5 cent per ordinary share, similar to the amount in the year-ago period. The dividend is expected to be paid out on Nov 30.
SingPost also announced the promotions of Ms Neo Su Yin as chief executive of the Singapore business and Mr Ryan Tang as CEO of the international business.
Group chief executive Vincent Phang said: "We are accelerating our growth plans for our e-commerce logistics business, as demonstrated by our reaching an agreement to bring forward the plan to increase our shareholding in Freight Management Holdings in Australia from 28 per cent to 51 per cent."
Mr Phang highlighted that SingPost will press on with the transformation to position itself as a global e-commerce player while carefully managing expenses, cash flow and liquidity.
"We continue to review our business portfolio, to determine if there are opportunities to divest non-strategic assets and redeploy capital towards strategic initiatives that support long-term growth," he added.
