Singtel profit rises 43%, shares rise By Investing.com

Investing.com — Shares of Singapore Telecommunications (SGX:) (Singtel) rose on Thursday after the company reported a 43% rise in net profit for the first quarter ended June 30.

At 3:17 am (0717 GMT), Singapore Telecommunications was trading 2.8 percent higher at SGD 2,990.

The increase was primarily driven by a one-off gain on the dilution of its stake in the Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel (NS:) and the sale of assets by its associate, Globe Telecom (OTC:).

Excluding exceptional items, Singtel’s underlying profit still managed to grow, indicating the underlying strength of the company’s core businesses.

Telecoms giant Optus’ Australian unit also posted a rise in operating earnings, thanks to higher prices and an increased prepaid customer base.

In addition, Optus has shown resilience in the face of recent challenges.

“We had a solid start to FY25 with improvements in our core businesses in Singapore and Australia and a boost in our growth engines in the first quarter,” said Singtel CEO Yuen Kuan Moon.

“This helped offset lower contributions from our regional partners, mainly due to significant forex headwinds from Africa,” he added.

With a forecast of high single-digit to low-double-digit growth in operating earnings for the full year, the telecom giant appears to be on strong footing.