Singapore Post (SingPost) has announced its results for the quarter and half year ending September 30, 2019.
Revenue for the quarter rose 2% to S$324.4m, led by higher international post and parcel revenue arising from cross-border e-commerce deliveries. This is partially offset by a decline in domestic post and parcel revenue, which is accelerated by a sharp reduction in both business letter volumes and advertising mail. For H1, revenue was stable against last year.
Net profit attributable to equity holders increased by 10.3% to S$27.7m for Q2 and 21.8% to S$53.4m for H1, due to improved performance from associated companies and joint ventures, as well as an absence of exceptional fair value loss on warrants from an associated company incurred last year.
Excluding the impact of exceptional items, underlying net profit slipped 4.6% to S$26.8m for the quarter, as improved results from associated companies and joint ventures remained insufficient to offset the drop in earnings from the post and parcel segment and freight forwarding business. Underlying net profit for the first half of the financial year held stable at S$52.4m.
Paul Coutts, group CEO, said, “Domestic letter mail volume continues to decline while e-commerce-related package volume continues to grow, leading to the overall lower blended margins of our financial performance, partly offset by our cost leadership program.
“To further mitigate the impact of this trend, we have recently announced a streamlining of domestic postal products and an increase in international mail rates that will come into effect from December 2, 2019.
“SingPost remains optimistic in the actions we are taking to reposition ourselves for the future. These initiatives, such as our Smart Letterbox system, will undoubtedly transform Singapore’s postal landscape and position us for the future,” Coutts added.