StarHub 1H17 profit falls 21%

Singapore’s StarHub has reported a 21% slump in net profit for the first half of the year to S$85.7 million ($63.1 million), as  result of declining revenue and margins.

Service revenue for the six-month period fell 2% year-on-year to S$1.08 billion due to lower mobile, broadband and pay TV service revenues.

Total mobile revenue fell 1% to S$599 million despite an increase in postpaid and prepaid customers of 21,000 and 33,000 respectively.

Broadband revenue fell 1% over the same period to S$107 million, but enterprise fixed revenue was up 2% to S$198 million, with enterprise data and internet services revenue up 5% to S$176 million.

StartHub also reported a decline in ebitda margin to 31.6% from 34.2% a year earlier.

“In the quarter, we announced our acquisition of Accel to enhance our enterprise-grade cyber security offerings. This acquisition dovetails perfectly with our strategy to grow our enterprise business and demonstrates our push for inorganic growth,” StarHub CEO Tan Tong Hai said.

“In the consumer space, we are happy to see continual improvements in customer satisfaction levels… We remain focused on addressing our customers’ digital lifestyle needs by offering them relevant products and services to enjoy a better StarHub experience.”

For the full year, StarHub is currently projecting flat service revenue and a group ebitda margin of between 26% to 28% of service revenue. The company expects capex payments to be around 13% of total revenue.