Singtel Q1 gain drops 71% to S$818 million in absence of Airtel stake sale; weaker Singapore business
The group’s underlying profit still robust at S$831 million, up 21% from before
Singtel reported a significant 71.6% drop in its Q1 net profit to S$818 million, falling from S$2.88 billion the previous year. The decrease was mainly due to the absence of exceptional gains from selling a stake in Airtel and the merger of Intouch-Gulf Energy recognized in the previous quarter. Underlying net profit, however, was up 21% at S$831 million, driven by strong performances from Airtel, AIS, NCS, Optus, and the Digital InfraCo arm.
Operating revenue grew 4.9% to S$3.6 billion, while EBITDA increased 8.7% to S$1.1 billion. However, Singtel Singapore's operating revenue fell 3.1% to S$901 million, primarily due to intense price competition and lower mobile and IT services. Despite this, the company remains focused on executing its tri-brand strategy to serve different customer segments.
Regional associates' contributions grew at double-digit rates, with Airtel's post-tax contribution rising 15.9% and AIS' by 32.7%. Digital InfraCo's EBITDA increased 20.8% to S$70 million. Despite intense competition in Singapore, the regional associates, Optus, and growth investments delivered year-on-year expansion, even in a challenging macro environment.
Written by urgent.news from The Business Times - Companies & Markets's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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