Singtel Q1 profit grows 2%

Singtel has announced a 2% increase in net profit for the quarter ended in June to S$944 million ($701.5 million), on the back of strong mobile data and cyber security services revenue growth.

Barring one-off gains in the same quarter last year, profit would have grown 7%, or 9% in constant currency terms.

But total operating revenue for the quarter fell 7% to S$3.9 billion, largely as a result of mandated cuts to mobile termination rates in Australia, which affected the contributions from wholly-owned subsidiary Optus.

Group consumer revenue declined 15.6% year-on-year to S$2.19 billion while group enterprise revenue grew 5.1% to S$1.58 billion.

In Singapore’s consumer market, strong demand for mobile data offset declines in voice, text and roaming revenue. But operating revenue still fell 8.5% to S$558 million. Mobile revenue dipped 1.4% to S$323 million, but fixed broadband revenue was up 3.4% to S$55 million.

Singtel’s Group Digital Life revenue meanwhile increased 34% due to solid contributions from its ICT subsidiaries. Particularly strong performers included digital marketing arm Amobee and the operator’s Trustwave security-as-a-service unit, which Singtel acquired for $770 million last September.

Post-tax earnings from the Singtel Group’s regional mobile affiliates meanwhile climbed 19% as a result strong performances from Telkomsel in Indonesia and Bharti Aitel in India.

The group’s combined mobile customer base grew by 8.2 million during the quarter to 613 million.

Looking ahead to the full financial year, Singtel currently expects to report a slim 0.3% increase in net profit to S$944 million, but a 7.1% decline in group revenue to S$3.9 billion.