SingPost's third-quarter profit jumps 17% to 33m dollars

SINGAPORE Post (SingPost) achieved a 17 per cent jump in third-quarter net profit to $32.8 million, thanks to a better performance in its mail, logistics and retail businesses.

Operating revenue was up 7 per cent to $108 million for the quarter ended Dec 31.

In its core mail business, international and hybrid mail did well. In the hybrid mail business, companies give documents to SingPost which then prints them out in bulk and mails them.

The logistics business was strong with more demand for its Speedpost express delivery services.

The retail division was also strong with growth in financial services and vPost mail-order transactions.

Operating profit at its mail business rose 12 per cent in the quarter from the previous year to $33 million. Logistics posted a 50 per cent jump in profits to $3 million, while the retail business saw a 27 per cent profit rise to $2.7 million.

Revenue for the nine months was up 9.4 per cent to $307.8 million, while the bottom line rose 10.8 per cent to $92.4 million.

Chief executive Lau Boon Tuan stressed that ‘innovation is still our key driver for growth’.

He added: ‘We will also actively pursue and implement initiatives to grow our core business in mail and logistics.’

New initiatives launched in the third quarter include Speedpost Express, a new international courier service.

For the quarter, earnings per share rose from 1.47 cents to 1.72 cents. Net asset value fell from 17.4 cents as at March 31 to 7.3 cents.

An interim quarterly dividend of 1.25 cents per share has been declared. SingPost will have to take on more borrowings, but said it could manage the financing cost.

The shares closed three cents higher yesterday at $1.17.