StarHub Q3 Ebitda falls 26.3% to S$72.1 million as staff costs eat into higher revenue

Detailed summary

Consumer segment retreats with mobile, broadband, entertainment revenues down 6%, 4% and 10%, respectively

Consumer segment retreats with mobile, broadband, entertainment revenues down 6%, 4% and 10%, respectively

[SINGAPORE] StarHub on Thursday (Nov 12) reported a 26.3 per cent drop in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to S$72.1 million for the third quarter ended Sep 30, from S$97.8 million the previous year.

Net profit stood at S$3.9 million; the telco noted that it reflects the impact of high operating leverage as well as higher depreciation and amortisation.

It said that despite rising revenue, Ebitda continued to decline because of lower gross profit, higher operating expenditure and lower income from other avenues.

The higher operating expenditure is attributable to higher staff cost as a result of deliberate investments in capabilities and business growth, offsetting improvements in gross profit, said the telco.

Revenue rose to S$486.8 million, up 4.5 per cent from S$464.8 million a year earlier.

Service revenue grew 2.9 per cent to S$396.1 million, from S$384.9 million the previous year.

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The telco attributed the growth in service revenue to an 18.4 per cent year-on-year revenue increase in the enterprise segment.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Business Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.