StarHub H1 earnings up 7.1% to $82.1 million despite revenue staying largely flat
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An interim dividend of 3 cents per share has been declared for the period.
ST PHOTO: JOEL TAN
Yong Jun Yuan and Jude Chan
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SINGAPORE - Mainboard-listed telco StarHub posted a net profit of $82.1 million for the half-year ended June, up 7.1 per cent from $76.7 million in the year-ago period.
Earnings per share rose 8.5 per cent to 4.6 Singapore cents, from 4.2 cents in the corresponding period the year before.
The improvement in earnings comes despite revenue staying largely flat at $1.1 billion in the first half-year, mainly due to lower contributions from its mobile, broadband and entertainment segments, as well as sales of equipment.
Revenue from these segments fell 4.3 per cent, 1.4 per cent, 3.9 per cent, and 6.4 per cent, respectively.
The total revenue decline was partially mitigated by higher contributions from the telco’s enterprise business, which registered a 7.2 per cent increase to $425.7 million.
This was mainly due to higher revenues from managed services and cyber security services; partially offset by lower revenues from data & internet, voice services and regional ICT services.
StarHub has declared an interim dividend of 3 cents per share for the first half, compared with an interim dividend of 2.5 cents per share in the corresponding year-ago period.
The group said this took into account short to mid-term business conditions, cash flow and investment requirements, and results expected from its ongoing business transformation initiatives.
As at end-June, StarHub’s cash and cash equivalents stood at $564.6 million, with free cash flow of $101.6 million.
Shares of StarHub closed unchanged at $1.29 on Aug 15. THE BUSINESS TIMES
