SingPost – BT
SingPost to launch digital mailbox in H2
It also announced the sale of its pawnbroking business
Total mail volumes are still on the rise in Singapore, but to pre-empt their inevitable decline, SingPost has decided to launch digital mailboxes as an alternative to physical ones.
By the second half of this year, consumers here will be able to opt to have their receipts, bank statements, and bills sent to a digital mailbox instead of a physical one, for free.
‘We are excited to get into this digital space. The postal landscape is changing as customer demands evolve,’ Ng Hin Lee, CEO of postal and corporate services, told BT.
In its latest bid to push the envelope, companies and other organisations which need to mail out business correspondence regularly can deliver these bills and statements electronically to a secure inbox. They will have to pay postage fees, but it is a move Mr Ng thinks will ‘help businesses to enjoy savings in their operating costs’.
Consumers can then access online and via mobile devices this digital mailbox which promises to be spam-free and offers features such as consolidated bill payment and an online storage vault with five years of archiving.
While the take-up rate naturally depends on how many mailers get on board and use the service, SingPost expects more than 500,000 end-users to sign up within three years.
Postal service operators in other countries have begun to offer similar digital mailbox services too. Finland Post’s NetPosti is one example. And the concept behind SingPost’s digital mailbox offering is not new either – companies such as Zumbox and Pitney Bowes offer similar digital mail delivery in the US, bearing witness to the global push to counter falling physical mail volumes.
For now, total mail volumes in Singapore are still rising, but at a slowing pace. Business mail (periodicals, bills, annual reports and the like) volumes have risen to account for about 85 per cent of the 882.8 million items sent in the financial year ended March 2010, but the increase is narrowing.
And as e-mail replaces snail mail and lifestyles change thanks to improved digital connectivity, public mail volumes have shed, on average, 5 per cent a year for the last five years.
Hence the need for the transformation strategy which spurred its recent corporate restructuring exercise and new initiatives, SingPost said.
In line with this transformation, the company also announced yesterday the $1.1 million sale of its pawnbroking business.
All six SpeedCash outlets will be sold to GL Group, an entity of Peng Kwee Watches and Jewellery – SpeedCash’s partner in the valuation, pawning, and retailing of branded second-hand watches.
This divestment, Mr Ng said, will align SingPost’s resources to focus on regional logistics and e-commerce.
SingPost – BT
SingPost to launch digital mailbox in H2
It also announced the sale of its pawnbroking business
Total mail volumes are still on the rise in Singapore, but to pre-empt their inevitable decline, SingPost has decided to launch digital mailboxes as an alternative to physical ones.
By the second half of this year, consumers here will be able to opt to have their receipts, bank statements, and bills sent to a digital mailbox instead of a physical one, for free.
‘We are excited to get into this digital space. The postal landscape is changing as customer demands evolve,’ Ng Hin Lee, CEO of postal and corporate services, told BT.
In its latest bid to push the envelope, companies and other organisations which need to mail out business correspondence regularly can deliver these bills and statements electronically to a secure inbox. They will have to pay postage fees, but it is a move Mr Ng thinks will ‘help businesses to enjoy savings in their operating costs’.
Consumers can then access online and via mobile devices this digital mailbox which promises to be spam-free and offers features such as consolidated bill payment and an online storage vault with five years of archiving.
While the take-up rate naturally depends on how many mailers get on board and use the service, SingPost expects more than 500,000 end-users to sign up within three years.
Postal service operators in other countries have begun to offer similar digital mailbox services too. Finland Post’s NetPosti is one example. And the concept behind SingPost’s digital mailbox offering is not new either – companies such as Zumbox and Pitney Bowes offer similar digital mail delivery in the US, bearing witness to the global push to counter falling physical mail volumes.
For now, total mail volumes in Singapore are still rising, but at a slowing pace. Business mail (periodicals, bills, annual reports and the like) volumes have risen to account for about 85 per cent of the 882.8 million items sent in the financial year ended March 2010, but the increase is narrowing.
And as e-mail replaces snail mail and lifestyles change thanks to improved digital connectivity, public mail volumes have shed, on average, 5 per cent a year for the last five years.
Hence the need for the transformation strategy which spurred its recent corporate restructuring exercise and new initiatives, SingPost said.
In line with this transformation, the company also announced yesterday the $1.1 million sale of its pawnbroking business.
All six SpeedCash outlets will be sold to GL Group, an entity of Peng Kwee Watches and Jewellery – SpeedCash’s partner in the valuation, pawning, and retailing of branded second-hand watches.
This divestment, Mr Ng said, will align SingPost’s resources to focus on regional logistics and e-commerce.
ComfortDelgro – BT
ComfortDelGro full-year net up 4% to $228.5m
Revenue increased 5.1% to a record $3.21b on broad- based growth
COMFORTDELGRO’S net profit edged up 4.1 per cent to $228.5 million for the full year ended Dec 31, 2010, as taxation for the land transport giant rose 33.7 per cent to $78.1 million.
Revenue increased 5.1 per cent to a record $3.21 billion on broad-based growth. The world’s second-largest land transport group said group revenue would have been $206.1 million, or 6.8 per cent, higher if not for the negative foreign currency effect.
The group posted 11 per cent higher operating profit at $388.4 million, while earnings per share were 10.95 cents – up from 10.52 cents a year ago.
‘We are pleased that we have continued to grow both our topline and bottom line for the year just ended,’ said ComfortDelGro managing director and group CEO Kua Hong Pak.
‘We have also expanded our global fleet to more than 46,000 vehicles, giving us the flexibility to do even more in terms of leveraging on technology.’
Growth was recorded from all business segments except automotive engineering services. Revenue for the group’s full-year bus business climbed 5.3 per cent to $1.61 billion, although this was partly eroded by the negative foreign currency translation effect of $25.8 million. Operating profit of $149.2 million for 2010 was 20.4 per cent higher than in 2009.
ComfortDelGro added that the overseas bus business continued to power ahead by accounting for 72.5 per cent of group bus operating profit – the first time it has crossed the 70 per cent mark.
The taxi business saw revenue rise 5.9 per cent to $981.9 million, thanks partly to Singapore’s higher rental income from a larger fleet and more new replacement taxis and a higher volume of cashless transactions. Singapore’s taxi business revenue was 9.6 per cent higher at $696 million, contributing to overall operating profit of $76.4 million, or a jump of 30.8 per cent.
Revenue from the rail business was 11.5 per cent higher at $121.7 million on the increase in average daily riderships on the North East Line and Light Rail Transit, leading to operating profit rising 24.9 per cent to $25.6 million.
But revenue from the automotive engineering services business was $11.2 million lower at $395.1 million, mainly on fewer buses assembled and the divestment of the car dealership business in Chengdu. Operating profit of $39.1 million was $12.1 million less due to the lower revenue and higher cost of materials.
Over at the vehicle inspection and testing business, revenue grew $6.5 million to $86 million because of the higher number of cars inspected by Vicom and higher sales achieved by Setsco Services. Operating profit rose $2.6 million to $27.3 million.
As for group operating expenses, they rose 4.3 per cent to $2.82 billion due to, among other things, increases in payments to drivers for contract services in line with the increases in cashless transactions, contracted services for the Youth Olympic Games and Irish Citylink, higher staff costs, higher fuel and electricity costs, and higher depreciation and amortisation with a newer fleet.
Other contributing factors were higher costs of diesel purchased for resale, and higher road and diesel taxes from the absence of savings from the Singapore government Budget.
StarHub – OCBC
Single-digit revenue growth in 2011
Margins slightly softer than expected. StarHub Ltd’s 4Q10 revenue rose 1.6% YoY and 1.2% QoQ to S$559.0m, about 3.1% above our estimate, while net profit came in around S$80.4m, up 8.2% YoY; but it fell 1.9% QoQ and was also 8.8% below our forecast, due to higher staff cost and dearer content cost. As a result, 4Q10 service EBITDA margin came in at 31.5%, down slightly from the 32.3% seen in 3Q10, but still stronger than the 29.2% recorded in 4Q09. And as guided, StarHub maintained its S$0.05/share cash dividend for the quarter. For the full year, revenue grew 4.1% to S$2237.7m, just 0.8% ahead of our estimate, while net profit fell 17.7% to S$263.2m, or around 2.9% shy of our forecast.
Maintaining mobile market share. Mobile revenue grew 7.9% YoY and 1.5% QoQ to S$302.7m, as StarHub added 12k new postpaid (+1.2% QoQ) and 12k prepaid customers (+1.1%) in the quarter; this helping to keep its market share stable at 29.4% (versus 29.5% in 3Q10 and 28.0% in 4Q09). And due to the higher take-up of smartphone plans, postpaid ARPU for the quarter rose further to S$74/month from S$72 in both 3Q10 and 4Q09, despite a continued drop in MOU (minutes of use). While this increased its acquisition cost per user from S$109 in 4Q09 to S$120 in the quarter, it was lower than the previous quarter’s S$130.
Pay TV business stabilizing. While Pay TV revenue fell 10.5% YoY, it was down by a much smaller 0.6% QoQ to S$91.8m, suggesting that the impact from the loss of several key sports content is not as bad as feared. Subscriber base was also stable at 538k versus 537k in 3Q10 and 539k in 4Q09, although monthly ARPU fell 14.3% YoY and 4.0% QoQ due to lower sports package pricing. Broadband revenue, though down 0.2% YoY to S$59.0m, but up 1.2% QoQ, also suggesting that it is starting to see some stability. However, with the slower-than-expected roll-out of NBN, any near-term pickup in ARPU looks unlikely.
Guides for 30% service EBITDA margin. For 2011, StarHub expects to see single-digit revenue growth, with service EBITDA margin coming in around 30% (versus 28% in FY10); capex should also not exceed 13% of operating revenue and maintains S$0.05/share quarterly dividend. In view of the latest guidance, we raise our FY11 revenue forecast by 1.1% but cut our earnings forecast by 9.9%. However, our DCF-based fair value remains unchanged at S$3.02. Maintain BUY.
StarHub – BT
StarHub posts 8.4% rise in Q4 net profit as mobile business revs up
But acquisition expenses of iPhones and other smartphones puts a drag on full-year profit
STARHUB posted an 8.4 per cent year-on-year rise in fourth quarter net profit to $80.4 million as revenue for the three months ended Dec 31, 2010, increased 1.6 per cent to $559 million.
Its main mobile business saw a 7.9 per cent climb in Q4 revenue to $303 million. Also contributing to its better results was an ‘other income’ of $3 million, which came from government grants for the NBN (Nationwide Broadband Network) project.
Earnings per share for the quarter came to 4.69 cents, up from Q4 2009’s 4.33 cents. The group proposed a final dividend of five cents a share, bringing the full-year dividend payout to 20 cents. StarHub CEO Neil Montefiore said he expects the cash dividend payout to be maintained at 5 cents per share per quarter.
Full-year revenue increased 4 per cent to $2.24 billion. Higher cost of sales and expenses, however, pulled 2010 net profit down by 18 per cent to $263 million.
Kwek Buck Chye, StarHub’s chief financial officer, said acquisition expenses of high-end handsets such as the Apple iPhone and other smartphones was a significant cost.
‘2010 bears the brunt of a full year’s investment in iPhones,’ he said.
StarHub began carrying the iPhone in December 2009. The increased use of smartphones and mobile data helped push up ARPU (average revenue per user) and revenues for StarHub’s mobile business, which contributes 53 per cent of its overall revenue.
Mobile revenue over the year grew 8 per cent to $1.18 billion, with post-paid services revenue rising 10 per cent to hit $917 million for the year. Pre-paid services revenue also grew 2 per cent over the year to hit $264 million.
StarHub’s total mobile customer base saw an addition of 227,000 customers over the year, an increase of 12 per cent. Post-paid ARPU rose $2 in the last quarter of 2010 to reach $74.
Mr Montefiore said this rise, together with a drop in revenue from voice services, was due to the trend of using data services more than that of cellular voice. Examples of such data services include people using voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services, as well as data-based text messaging services and social networks.
StarHub’s pay-TV business, which contributed 18 per cent to its revenue, saw revenue drop by 2.5 per cent over the year to $395 million. For the fourth quarter of 2010, it decreased 11 per cent over 2009’s fourth quarter to $91.8 million.
Tan Tong Hai, StarHub’s chief operating officer, said this was a result of the revision of monthly subscription prices of its sports channel group.
In October 2009, StarHub lost the exclusive broadcast rights to the Barclays Premier League (BPL) in a fierce bidding war with rival, SingTel. Mr Montefiore acknowledged the impact of the BPL loss: ‘There is a gap in our sports (offering) without the BPL but we are announcing new sports content.’
Still, its pay-TV subscriber base held steady at 538,000 households in 2010’s fourth quarter, just 1,000 households lower than 2009’s close.
There were fears of SingTel wresting customers away from StarHub with the BPL win.
On SingTel’s end, the BPL has multiplied its mio TV base by about five times over the past two years. It had a base of 59,000 customers at end 2008, a number which swelled to 245,000 by September 2010.
StarHub’s shares lost one cent to close at $2.61 yesterday.