Optus full-year profit climbs 16%
Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SGT) subsidiary Optus reported a net profit of $676 million for the year, up 16% on the previous corresponding period. Optus said it delivered its strongest free cash flow in five years, with full-year free cash flow exceeding $1 billion.
The company said revenue rose 8% to $8.95 billion and EBITDA increased 4% to $2.15 billion in the same period.
Looking at the fourth quarter results, Singapore Telecommunications said Optus’ net profit jumped 14% to $220 million, revenue rose 6% to $2.23 billion and EBITDA increased 5% to $610 million.
“Optus’ strategy to provide innovative, value driven offers as well as exceptional customer experience is clearly reaping results with six consecutive quarters of double-digit mobile service revenue growth, the strongest quarter for new mobile customer additions in five years,” Optus CEO, Paul O’Sullivan said.
The company said it added 254,000 new mobile customers in the quarter, its strongest quarterly performance in five years, bringing net additions for the year to 709,000.
Optus’ mobile service revenue grew 11% and EBITDA margin was 30%.
The company said postpaid subscribers increased 17% year-on-year and now comprise 49% of the total base, up 3 percentage points from a year ago.
Optus said the number of 3G subscribers increased to 3.61 million including a base of 907,000 wireless broadband subscribers.
Singapore Telecommunications reported a 6.6% increase in fourth quarter profit to $1.02 billion for the group on the back of a 25.4% rise in revenue to $4.47 billion.
Profit for the year to end of March was $3.91 billion on revenue of $16.87 billion.
The company expects operating revenue to grow at mid single-digit level for the financial year ending 31 March 2011, driven by higher mobile, IT & Engineering and mio TV revenue.
However, Singtel said EBITDA margin is expected to decline to around 35%, partly due to the rollback of job credit stimulus measure by the government.
As at 1012 AEST, Singapore Telecommunications shares were up 3c to $2.43.
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