SINGAPORE – Singapore Post is back in the black with a net profit of $11.5 million for the fiscal first half ended Sept 30, from a net loss of $9.9 million a year before.
The better performance was despite a fall in revenue.
The net profit was driven by lower volume-related expenses and operating expenses, as well as a smaller loss on exceptional items.
The logistics business in Australia and the international cross-border business also boosted the results, said the group on Thursday.
SingPost posted a 13.7 per cent year-on-year fall in revenue to $827.3 million from $958.9 million.
The decline was mainly due to the “normalising of sea freight rates and volumes post pandemic, as well as foreign exchange impact”.
With about 85 per cent of the revenue generated internationally, the group is highly exposed to the risks of foreign currency depreciation.
It highlighted the importance of leveraging the momentum of the international cross-border e-commerce logistics business, and said that the business has been focusing on trade lanes from Hong Kong to Australia and South-east Asia, as well as Europe to Asia, to acquire new customers.
SingPost’s group chief executive Vincent Phang said: “Our diversified portfolio and global presence, including our expanded operations in Australia, have enabled us to demonstrate resilience in the current uncertain global economic climate despite adverse currency movements.”
However, its domestic postal business continued to incur a loss in the first half because of declining mail volumes and rising inflationary costs, particularly in operating fixed infrastructure such as the post office network.
“SingPost has raised domestic postage rates by 20 cents from Oct 9, which is expected to improve the domestic business in the second half,” said the Republic’s postal service provider.
The group added that it is in discussions with the authorities to review the domestic postal business model, and develop a framework to ensure commercial viability.
“The board has advanced in the strategic review to enable the group and its individual businesses to be valued appropriately,” Mr Phang added.
SingPost’s shares closed 2.2% higher at 46 cents on Thursday. THE BUSINESS TIMES
