SingPost's net profit jumps almost 10%, revenue up 9

Singapore Post has booked an almost 10 per cent climb in earnings for its fiscal second quarter, thanks to higher postal revenue as well as gains by its logistics and retail businesses.

Net profit for the three months ended in September amounted to SUSD 39.66 million.

SingPost’s new CEO Wilson Tan said at a news briefing Tuesday that he looks forward to pushing new plans of expansion into 2008.

SingPost has turned in earnings numbers that were slightly better than market forecasts.

Net profit jumped almost ten per cent from the same period a year ago while revenues climbed nine per cent. This takes its net profit at half-time to SUSD 78 million.

“We have been able to see good organic growth and that is something that we are very pleased with. Certainly there were some price adjustments that we’ve been doing, and finally (on) the productivity side of things, we have been able to be a little bit more effective and efficient in our operations.”

While the earnings were better than market forecasts, SingPost also saw a 9 per cent increase in operating expenses mainly caused by rising labour costs, which rose by 7.9 per cent to SUSD 30.8 million.

The postal operator, however, is positive in its outlook, saying it is well-positioned to address challenges arising from the liberalisation of basic mail services market.

It also plans to grow its hybrid mail and online shopping service vPost businesses in the region.

SingPost has declared a dividend of 1.25 Singapore cents per share for the second quarter