Author: kktan
SingTel – TODAY
SingTel Q4 profit up 30% on-year to S$1.29 billion
Telco easily beats analyst forecasts
Surpassing analyst forecasts, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) this morning announced that fourth quarter net profit for the Group grew 30 per cent to S$1.29 billion, up from S$991.7 million a year earlier, primarily from an exceptional net tax credit of S$270 million on an increase in value of assets transferred to an associate.
Excluding this and other one-off items, underlying net profit grew 3 per cent, driven by strong mobile revenue growth from Singapore and improved contributions from the regional mobile associates. The stronger Australian Dollar also lifted net profit.
Profit beat the S$966 million average of seven analysts’ estimates, reported Bloomberg.
“We assume both Singapore and Australia achieve 2012 financial year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation guidance but only by the slimmest of margins, and with a strong fourth quarter,” Commonwealth Securities said before the earnings report.
For the full year, net profit increased 4 per cent to S$3.99 billion, while underlying net profit declined 3 per cent. Group revenue grew 4 per cent to S$18.83 billion, boosted by mobile growth in Singapore as well as its overseas subsidiries.
SingTel reported yesterday morning that its global mobile customer base had grown 42.9 million, or 11 per cent, to 445 million in the 12 months ending March 31, led by an 19.1-million spike in its Airtel unit in India. the company added about 12 million mobile-phone subscribers in during the quarter.
That number includes customers at six phone companies in Asia and Africa in which the company holds minority stakes, as well as the 13 million mobile subscribers in SingTel’s domestic business and its Australian subsidiary Optus.
“There’s strong demand for handsets, especially the iPhone 4S,” analyst Carey Wong at OCBC Investment Research said before the announcement. “Most people are more and more mobile. You’re not on a computer, you’re on a smartphone or tablet.”
In the fourth quarter, revenue for the group rose 3 per cent to S$4.78 billion, SingTel said in its press release this morning. Ordinary pre-tax earnings from the regional mobile associates grew 6 per cent to S$510 million.
The Singapore company controls around a third of India’s biggest mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel, which this month reported a ninth straight fall in quarterly profit partly due to amortisation and interest costs on its 3G network investments, as well as higher tax provisions.
Bharti’s earnings have been on a downtrend since it paid US$9 billion (S$11.3 billion) to expand into Africa.
SingTel’s Indonesian affiliate PT Telekomunikasi Selular posted a 23-per-cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended in March as growth in data services due to the popularity of smartphones offset its declining voice segment.
Said SingTel group CEO Chua Sock Koong in the press release: “It was a challenging quarter but we kept focused on executing our strategy and met the guidance we had set out. The regional mobile associates turned in marked improvements in their operating and financial performance.”
SingTel – BT
Singtel's Q4 net profit up 30% to S$1.29 bln
Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) announced on Thursday a 30 per cent increase in its Q4 net profit to S$1.29 billion, from S$992 million a year ago.
Earnings per share for Q4 increased by 2.6 per cent to 6.42 Singapore cents from 6.26 Singapore cents a year ago.
For its full year results in the year ended March 31 2012, its total net profit increased by 4.3 per cent to S$3.99 billion.
The overall earnings per share for the year ended March 31 2012 was at 23.07 Singapore cents, a 3.3 per cent drop from 23.86 Singapore cents a year ago.
SIAEC – DBSV
Resilience pays
• 4Q and FY12 results in line with expectations; higher revenues offset by lower operating margins
• Final dividend slightly better than expected at 15Scts
• No major signs of stress in the aviation market and outlook for MRO services remains steady,
• Maintain BUY with revised TP of S$4.30
Highlights
Another strong quarter. 4QFYMar12 results were in line with our estimates, as SIE reported S$269m in net profit for FY12, up 4% y-o-y, on the back of 6% rise in revenues. While 4Q was another record quarter for revenues, operating margins were subdued at 10.3%, due to the higher proportion of revenue from fleet management programme and cabin interior reconfiguration projects, which involve higher overheads and subcontract costs. Despite the weak US$, contribution from associates and JVs continued to recover– up almost 9% y-o-y to S$157m – and represented 52% of SIE’s PBT.
Dividend adds cheer. The company ended the year with close to S$500m net cash and declared a final DPS of 15Scts for FY12, in addition to the interim DPS of 6Scts paid earlier. This is higher than the final DPS of 14Scts declared in FY11 (though there was a special payout of 10Scts in FY11), and represents a healthy payout ratio of about 85%.
Our View
Stable outlook. The risks of slower global economic growth and high fuel costs continue to weigh on the airline industry in 2012. However, we do not see any alarming signs yet and most carriers in the Asia-Pacific region continue to add capacity. Passenger and aircraft movements at Singapore’s Changi Airport continue to hit new records (13% y-o-y growth during 1Q-CY12) and SIE’s management believes demand for its core businesses will remain stable in the near term. We expect SIE to record steady 5-6% growth in FY13/14F.
Recommendation
Maintain BUY with fairly secure yield of 5.5%. With its steady earnings outlook, strong balance sheet and healthy dividend prospects, SIE has outperformed the choppy market in recent months. Given the prevailing economic uncertainties, high oil prices and limited signs of growth acceleration in the US and EU, we believe SIE will continue to generate interest as a safe haven stock with limited possibility of earnings shocks. Hence, we maintain our BUY call on the stock. Our TP is rerevised up to S$4.30 as we roll over our valuations to FY13.
SIAEC – DBSV
Resilience pays
• 4Q and FY12 results in line with expectations; higher revenues offset by lower operating margins
• Final dividend slightly better than expected at 15Scts
• No major signs of stress in the aviation market and outlook for MRO services remains steady,
• Maintain BUY with revised TP of S$4.30
Highlights
Another strong quarter. 4QFYMar12 results were in line with our estimates, as SIE reported S$269m in net profit for FY12, up 4% y-o-y, on the back of 6% rise in revenues. While 4Q was another record quarter for revenues, operating margins were subdued at 10.3%, due to the higher proportion of revenue from fleet management programme and cabin interior reconfiguration projects, which involve higher overheads and subcontract costs. Despite the weak US$, contribution from associates and JVs continued to recover– up almost 9% y-o-y to S$157m – and represented 52% of SIE’s PBT.
Dividend adds cheer. The company ended the year with close to S$500m net cash and declared a final DPS of 15Scts for FY12, in addition to the interim DPS of 6Scts paid earlier. This is higher than the final DPS of 14Scts declared in FY11 (though there was a special payout of 10Scts in FY11), and represents a healthy payout ratio of about 85%.
Our View
Stable outlook. The risks of slower global economic growth and high fuel costs continue to weigh on the airline industry in 2012. However, we do not see any alarming signs yet and most carriers in the Asia-Pacific region continue to add capacity. Passenger and aircraft movements at Singapore’s Changi Airport continue to hit new records (13% y-o-y growth during 1Q-CY12) and SIE’s management believes demand for its core businesses will remain stable in the near term. We expect SIE to record steady 5-6% growth in FY13/14F.
Recommendation
Maintain BUY with fairly secure yield of 5.5%. With its steady earnings outlook, strong balance sheet and healthy dividend prospects, SIE has outperformed the choppy market in recent months. Given the prevailing economic uncertainties, high oil prices and limited signs of growth acceleration in the US and EU, we believe SIE will continue to generate interest as a safe haven stock with limited possibility of earnings shocks. Hence, we maintain our BUY call on the stock. Our TP is rerevised up to S$4.30 as we roll over our valuations to FY13.
SingTel – BT
SingTel buys Silicon Valley advertising startup
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd , Southeast Asia's largest telecoms company, has acquired a Silicon Valley startup in the mobile advertising sector, its second such purchase in two months.
SingTel's Amobee unit said on Tuesday it bought AdJitsu, which provides tools to make three-dimensional animated ads in mobile apps for iPhone and iPads. The acquisition of AdJitsu follows SingTel's purchase of mobile advertising firm Amobee in March for US$321 million.
Terms of the latest deal were not disclosed.
AdJitsu will be folded into Redwood City, California-based Amobee, according to both companies.