SINGAPORE (Aug 4): Singapore Post (SingPost) posted 1Q earnings of $31 million, down 13.6% from $35.9 million a year ago on higher expenses and loss from associated companies and joint ventures.
Revenue for the quarter grew 6.2% to $354.1 million from $333.4 million a year ago due to higher contributions from the group’s postal and logistics segments.
Strong international mail growth drove postal revenue to a 9.3% increase to $149.8 million, even as domestic mail revenue decreased with more organisations moving to electronic statements.
Logistics revenue increased 6.1% to $166.3 million as SP Parcels and CouriersPlease made more ecommerce-related deliveries, and as Famous Holdings saw higher contributions from its overseas operations.
The higher revenue from the logistics and postal segments were offset in part by a 0.9% decline in the ecommerce segment to $64.7 million, which was mainly due to TradeGlobal being impacted by a loss of revenue from two large customers.
However, total expenses widened 11.1% in 1Q to $330.6 million, largely due to the increase in volume-related expenses which were up 15% to reflect the change in business mix as part of the group’s transformation.
In all, operating profit fell 15.2% to $41.9 million compared to $49.4 million a year ago due to lower operating profit from the postal and logistics segments for the abovementioned reasons.
Share of results of associated companies and joint ventures swung to a loss of $2.8 million, largely due to share of losses from 4PX, which is incurring higher depreciation and other expenses as a result of business expansion.
The group expects to recognise rental income progressively from 2H FY17/18, following the opening of its retail mall at the new SingPost Centre in Oct.
SingPost has declared an interim dividend of 0.5 cent, to be paid on Aug 31.
Shares of SingPost closed flat at 1.32 on Thursday.
