Revenue growth in its Australia and Singapore segments help to offset declines in international cross-border business

 

SINGPOST&rsquo S net profit for the first half ended September nearly doubled to S$22.6 million on higher revenue.

 

This represented a 97.3 per cent increase from S$11.5 million in H1 FY2023, as revenue rose 20 per cent to S$992.4 million from S$827.3 million a year prior.

 

Earnings per share (EPS) excluding distributions to perpetual securities holders stood at S$0.0076, up 181.5 per cent from S$0.0027 in H1 FY2023.

 

During the period under review, distributions amounting to S$5.4 million were recognised and the bulk was paid to perp holders. Including this, EPS for the period was S$0.01 or 96.1 per cent up from the prior year&rsquo s S$0.0051 EPS.

 

The group declared an interim dividend of S$0.0034 per share to be paid out on Dec 2 this year.

 

SingPost noted that this was an 89 per cent year-on-year increase from the prior year&rsquo s interim dividend of S$0.0018, and amounted to 30 per cent of underlying net profit for the current period.  

 

Revenue by segment

On Wednesday (Nov 6), the postal services provider said revenue growth in its Australia and Singapore segments helped to offset declines in international cross-border business, which continued to &ldquo face a difficult business environment&rdquo .

 

Revenue of the Australia business increased 44.1 per cent year on year to S$574.8 million, while operating profit rose 30.2 per cent to S$30.4 million. SingPost said this was largely due to the consolidation of Border Express following its acquisition in March.

 

In Singapore, revenue for the group&rsquo s postal and logistics business rose 12.4 per cent year on year to S$129.6 million on higher contributions from the delivery business, after it implemented a postage rate increase in October 2023.

The segment&rsquo s operating loss for H1 narrowed to about S$900,000 from S$14.7 million previously.

 

&ldquo While the delivery business has improved significantly, profitability continues to be impacted by the post office network which remains unprofitable,&rdquo said SingPost.

 

In the property leasing sub-segment of the Singapore business &ndash which largely comprises SingPost Centre &ndash property revenue grew 13.2 per cent on the year to S$43 million, while operating profit rose 11.7 per cent to S$23.9 million.

 

This was driven by higher rental income from SingPost Centre as the overall occupancy rate improved to 98.2 per cent as at Sep 30, versus 96.2 per cent as at end-March.

 

In the international segment, SingPost noted that its international cross-border delivery business&rsquo operating profit improved, despite a 26.8 per cent year-on-year decline in revenue amid a &ldquo difficult business environment&rdquo .

 

Though the freight-forwarding business sub-segment&rsquo s revenue grew 9.7 per cent on higher sea freight rates, operating profit declined 29.2 per cent due to &ldquo significant cost escalation&rdquo in sea freight rates, which in turn led to margin compression.