SINGAPORE - The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Friday (Feb 15):
Singtel: Management lowered its expectations for the telco giant as third-quarter results showed another profit decline. Full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) is now expected to see a year-on-year percentage drop in the low single-digits, on a crunch in the core consumer and enterprise businesses. Singtel had previously reaffirmed its forecast of a stable Ebitda in its half-year results last November.
StarHub: StarHub is slashing its dividends for 2019, while earnings for 2018 fell below street forecasts. The telco is switching from a fixed to a variable dividend policy from 2019, and will distribute at least 80 per cent of net profit each year. It intends to pay a quarterly cash dividend of at least 2.25 cents per share for the 2019 financial year, down from four cents per quarter in 2018.
SIA: Singapore Airlines' bottom line for the third quarter sank 27 per cent to $284 million from a year ago's restated profit of $389 million, hurt by a higher jet fuel bill and share of losses of its joint ventures, chiefly low-cost Thai airline NokScoot. The share of losses of the group's joint ventures totalling $27 million added more salt to injury to the airline, which was already hit with a 22 per cent rise in net fuel costs over the period.
Creative Technology: It sank deeper into the red for its second quarter ended Dec 31, dragged down by lower revenue. The group recorded a net loss of US$4.9 million, compared to a net loss of US$4.2 million a year ago. Creative said that it expects no significant change in the market conditions, and overall market for the group's products remains challenging. Revenue is expected to be lower in this non-holiday season quarter, and the group expects to report an operating loss. Revenue contribution from Super X-Fi products for the quarter is not expected to be significant to the overall revenue for the group, it added.
Thai Beverage: Net profit for the first quarter ended Dec 31 more than doubled to 7.42 billion baht (S$0.32 billion) on higher revenue and the absence of non-recurring expenses. Revenue rose 60 per cent to 72.6 billion baht mainly due to an increase in sales in the spirits business of 29 per cent and beer business of 129 per cent. Bottom line was also lifted by the absence of costs relating to business acquisition.
Addvalue Technologies: The company narrowed third-quarter net losses to US$580,000 from US$1.2 million the year before. For the nine months ended Dec 31, the company also saw net loss narrowing to US$2.4 million, compared with US$3.4 million the year before. The company attributed this to a drop in expenses for selling and distribution, administrative and other operating expenses. The 49.1 per cent drop in other operating expenses was due mainly to the reduced amortisation of intangible assets brought about as a result of the impairment made in prior years. No dividend has been declared for the quarter.
Kitchen Culture Holdings: Half-year net losses widened to $1.9 million from a year-ago deficit of $1.7 million, as the supplier of high-end kitchen systems continued to face a slump in its residential and distribution and retail segments. Residential projects revenue dropped by 57.1 per cent to $1.8 million, due to fewer ongoing projects carried forward from calendar year 2016. The segment has in the last three years faced "significant challenges due to the dearth of projects in the premium market", said the group. Likewise, sales from the distribution and retail segment fell 19.2 per cent to $2.9 million, with declines in its Singapore and Hong Kong businesses.
