SingTel’s FY net income climbs 4.8%, revenues up 11%

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), Southeast Asia’s largest telco by subscribers, reported net profits of SGD3.96 billion (USD2.88 billion) for its financial year ending 31 March 2008, up 4.8% from SGD3.78 a year earlier, and beating market expectations of profit of around SGD3.77 billion. Group operating revenue climbed 11% year-on-year to SGD14.84 billion, while underlying net income (excluding exceptional items) rose 14.3% in the year to March to SGD3.68 billion on the back of a strong performance from its regional subsidiaries and associates. ‘The associates contributed 53% to the group’s underlying net profit, up five percentage points from a year ago,’ SingTel said in a press release. The company’s chief executive officer Chua Sock Koong went on to say: ‘We have navigated these tough markets in Singapore and Australia remarkably well as demonstrated by this set of earnings. All our businesses are performing well giving us a diversified revenue base … The environment remains challenging with the outlook for the global economy looking more uncertain. The Group’s fundamentals are strong and we believe we have put in place strategies to continue to grow the business.’