Here’s why Singtel’s earnings could pick up in 2019

SINGAPORE (Jan 23): DBS Group Research is reinstating coverage for Singapore Telecommunications with a “buy” rating, with the expectation that the telco’s digital business will turn profitable at the pretax earnings level in 2019.

According to Sachin Mittal, DBS’ research analyst, SingTel’s digital advertising and cybersecurity businesses – collectively its digital businesses – could turn positive on the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) level in as early as FY19.

Driving that growth is the cyber security business which could see annual EBITDA increase from $10 million in FY16 to $54 million in FY19. Mittal believes the global demand for managed security services providers to counter cyberattacks, and the increased connectivity coming from the local Smart Nation Programme would boost the need for SingTel’s cyber security capabilities.

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