Singapore Telecommunications said Thursday its past year earnings more than tripled to 4.49 billion Singapore dollars (2.64 billion US dollars) on the sale of non-core assets and an increasingly strong performance in its regional operations.
The record year to March net profit for SingTel, Southeast Asia's biggest phone company, exceeded analyst forecasts of 4.07-4.14 billion dollars and compared with the year earlier 1.4 billion dollars.
Group operating revenue rose 17 percent to a record 12 billion dollars, with 75 percent coming from its wholly owned Australian unit, Otpus, and its four other regional associates.
On a quarterly basis, the group's profit after tax in the three months to March totalled 1.96 billion dollars, up from 313 million dollars a year earlier, as revenues rose 16 percent to 3.16 billion dollars.
"This has been an exceptional year for the SingTel Group," said president and chief executive Lee Hsien Yang.
"Our successful strategy to achieve geographical diversification of our business has contributed to the group continuing its strong financial performance."
Lee said SingTel raised 3.3 billion dollars from the sale of three major non-core assets - European telecoms company Belgacom, which alone brought in 2.03 billion dollars, SingPost and Singapore's Yellow Pages.
Following the report card, Lee said SingTel would reward its shareholders with a record 4.1-billion-dollar payout.
This will be done through a three billion dollar capital reduction exercise coupled with 1.1 billion dollars in gross dividends for the year to March.
"In recognition of the group's strong profit and cash flow growth for the year, the board of directors is recommending a 16 percent increase in the final dividend... to 6.4 cents from 5.5 cents a share," Lee said.
The results showed revenue at the company's overseas operations continued to grow, with the 75 percent total income figure up from 65 percent in the previous financial year.
Pre-tax earnings from SingTel's regional associates - Telkomsel of Indonesia, Globe of the Philippines, India's Bharti and AIS of Thailand - were 9.7 percent higher at 1.13 billion dollars for the year to March and up 34 percent for the March quarter alone.
Optus exceeded SingTel's financial targets with net profit for the year climbing to 440 million Australian dollars (322 million US dollars) from 28 million Australia dollars.
Full year operating revenues for Optus were 19 percent higher at 6.61 billion Australian dollars.
"Optus is making a healthy contribution both to the group's profit as well as cash flow," Lee said at a media briefing.
"Optus exceeded all of the specific financial targets that we set."
The strong Optus results and earnings from SingTel's associates helped to offset a 14.5 percent dip in operating revenues to 4.05 billion Singapore dollars in the domestic market where the company's earnings are under pressure from stiff competition.
Barclays Capital telecoms analyst Imogine Baker said the results underlined SingTel's credentials as a regional player and believed there was more room for the company to further its presence in the neighbouring markets.
"It's a solid result... excluding the exceptional items, it was still a strong performance," Baker told AFP.
"They can still continue to grow the business in the region or increase their stakes in existing investments."
In afternoon Singapore trading, SingTel slipped two cents to 2.42 dollars on profit-taking after investors pushed the stock to an intraday high of 2.48 dollars in reaction to the earnings results.
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