SINGAPORE - StarHub has posted a 27.6 per cent fall in third-quarter net profit to $86 million on lower handset sales and mobile revenue.

Excluding a one-time gain of $15 million from the partial divestment of subsidiary Shine Systems Assets in the third quarter last year, the decline in net profit would have been 17 per cent.

Revenue for the three months ended Sept 30 slid 3 per cent to $585.3 million, on lower revenue from mobile services and sale of equipment.

Total service revenue, which excludes equipment sales, was $546.1 million, down 2.2 per cent.

Mobile revenue fell 3.6 per cent to $299.4 million in the quarter owing to lower revenue from voice services, IDD and roaming services, partially offset by higher subscription revenue from higher take up of 4G tiered plans.

Third-quarter earnings per share was 5 cents, down from 6.9 cents in the same period a year earlier.

Net asset value per share was 13.3 cents as at Sept 30, up from 10.8 cents as at Dec 31.

A dividend of 5 cents a share has been declared, the same as last year. StarHub said it intends to keep the annual cash dividend of 20 cents a share this year.

StarHub said on Wednesday (Nov 2) it expects its 2016 service revenue to be at about 2015's level.

Earnings were posted after market close. The counter gained a cent or 0.3 per cent to close at $3.38 on Wednesday.