Optus profits up, growth strong

August 12, 2010 - 9:54AM
AAP

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) says Optus Pty Ltd's net profit was up steeply in the June quarter, with the subsidiary recording its strongest growth in five years.

Optus, wholly-owned by SingTel, posted net profit for the three months to June 30 of $170 million, up 22.4 per cent on the equivalent period in 2009.

Operating revenue at Optus was up 2.6 per cent to $2.26 billion.

Advertisement: Story continues below"Optus recorded the strongest quarterly EBITDA (earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation) growth in five years, mainly driven by strong mobile growth and prudent cost management," SingTel said in a statement on Thursday.

The operational EBITDA of Optus was $553 million, up 9.7 per cent on the equivalent period of 2009.

Overall the SingTel group's net and underlying profit was down 0.2 per cent, at $S943 million ($A773.2 million), while operating revenue was up 11.5 per cent on the prior corresponding period, at $S4.29 billion ($A3.51 billion).

SingTel said Optus had experienced seven consecutive quarters of double-digit mobile service revenue growth.

"In (Optus) mobile, service revenue rose 11 per cent year-on-year, matched by strong EBITDA growth of 11 per cent," SingTel told the stock exchange.

"Optus's continued investment in the mobile network has delivered significant improvement in coverage and performance over the last 12 months," it said.

It said that during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Optus delivered over 350,000 live streams of the FIFA World Cup matches to customers on their compatible 3G handsets.

Talking about SingTel's overall result, group chief executive Chua Sock Koong said competition in emerging markets led to lower earnings, as those divisions responded to competition to protect market share.

"The Singapore and Australia businesses turned in strong performances, especially in mobile with both reporting double-digit revenue growth," Ms Chua said in a statement.

SingTel forecast operating revenue and EBITDA at its Australian arm to grow at mid single-digit levels for the year ending March 31, 2011, and for capital expenditure to be about $1.2 billion.

It said consolidated operating revenue and operational EBITDA of the group would be impacted by exchange rate movements in the Australian dollar.

"If the Australian dollar had been stable from the same quarter last year, operating revenue would have increased by five per cent and operational EBITDA would have been up by six per cent," the company said.

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